Insectopolis

I got my (virtual) hands on Insectopolis: A Natural History by Peter Kuper through Libby. I had been looking forward to it after seeing many positive reviews online. It turned out to be not my cup of tea, but if the idea of ~250 pages of basic natural history with good illustrations sounds interesting to you, I’m sure you would enjoy this. I also did for the most part, despite not being the right target audience for it.

As far as the historical and scientific information presented, this is pretty light reading. I think therein lies the big dilemma for this book: If you have even a mild interest in the topic, you would already know the majority of the information presented. Where that didn’t work for me is when it forces itself to be fun while being educative. When that attempt falls flat, it ends up simply boring. On the flip side of that, when it embraces the cruelty and sorrow of life, humanity, and nature itself, it really shines. A good example of that was the cicada story that ends with a Dollar Tree.

My review: 7 / 10