A book by Marianne Taylor, How Insects Work is by no means a comprehensive work, but it is a fantastic introduction with enough breadth to give one the foundational knowledge they’ll need to go deeper. For a novice, she explores the technical sides of biomechanics and chemistry without drowning the reader in specifics, and while it contains much of the same content as a textbook, I found the pace and curious tidbits thrown it an easy read.
For Love of Insects is an absolute delight of a book, resting comfortably on the border between an academic paper and the work of a romantic naturalist. The content, which is as much chemistry as it is entomology, gave me insight into the stink bugs (shield bugs) I’ve come across on my hikes in the Taipei area—most particularly in one unfortunate encounter that left me with a highly irritated patch of skin that took well over a week to resolve. This book is something I will undoubtedly come back to in the near future, both as reference material and for pleasure.
