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The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre
Jean Henri Fabre, nineteenth-century French entomologist and author of the massive Souvenirs Entomoligies, has inspired perhaps more modern writer/naturalists than any other chronicler of the natural world. Edwin Way Teale's selection of the most compelling of Fabre's writing makes The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre the essential edition of the writer Darwin called "the incomparable observer."
- GenresScienceNonfictionNature
356 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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133 people want to read
About the author
Jean-Henri Fabre
706 books56 followersFabre was born in Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France. Fabre was largely an autodidact, owing to the poverty of his family. Nevertheless, he acquired a primary teaching certificate at the young age of 19 and began teaching at the college of Ajaccio, Corsica, called Carpentras. In 1852, he taught at the lycée in Avignon.
Fabre went on to accomplish many scholarly achievements. He was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvelous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre noted: Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.
Over the years he wrote a series of texts on insects and arachnids that are collectively known as the Souvenirs Entomologiques. Fabre's influence is felt in the later works of fellow naturalist Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, rejected Darwin's theory of evolution; on the other hand he was not a Biblical creationist either but assumed a saltationist origin of biodiversity.
In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot. As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days.
Jean-Henri Fabre's last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence stands today as a museum devoted to his life and works.
The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicated to popularising entomology and a museum on his life.
Fabre went on to accomplish many scholarly achievements. He was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvelous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre noted: Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.
Over the years he wrote a series of texts on insects and arachnids that are collectively known as the Souvenirs Entomologiques. Fabre's influence is felt in the later works of fellow naturalist Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, rejected Darwin's theory of evolution; on the other hand he was not a Biblical creationist either but assumed a saltationist origin of biodiversity.
In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot. As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days.
Jean-Henri Fabre's last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence stands today as a museum devoted to his life and works.
The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicated to popularising entomology and a museum on his life.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 1, 2011
I first made note of the title The Fascinating Insect World of J. Henri Fabre while reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook, and then came across it again while re-reading Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, where Fabre and his experiments are quoted at length.
It was Dillard's interest in Fabre that made me choose to read this book, a collection of excerpts from his other works (with titles such as The Life of the Scorpion, The Hunting Wasps, and The Glow-worm and Other Beetles). Fabre, like Dillard, writes about his observations of nature, although Fabre was much more singleminded in his interests: He was fascinated by instinct and by insects. Many of his experiments centered around the question of whether insects have a kind of rationality or whether they operate entirely on instinct (and he came to conclude that the latter is nearly always the case).
Fabre recounts caterpillars so reliant on their silk trails that they will walk until exhaustion following a circular path if they cannot find a piece of silk leading off of the circle; giant nocturnal moths that travel for miles following the scent of a single female; and scorpions that enact seemingly tender and loving rituals before mating, only to have the female consume the male after the act. Fabre's passion for his experiments and observations is so palpable that it is hard not to share his infatuation with creatures that otherwise might seem like singularly unpleasant material for leisure reading (dung-beetles, weevils, and grubs).
Although I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who didn't already have an interest in nature-writing and a certain love of the less cuddly aspects of creation, I enjoyed Fabre's fascinating insect world and his obvious love for his subjects.
It was Dillard's interest in Fabre that made me choose to read this book, a collection of excerpts from his other works (with titles such as The Life of the Scorpion, The Hunting Wasps, and The Glow-worm and Other Beetles). Fabre, like Dillard, writes about his observations of nature, although Fabre was much more singleminded in his interests: He was fascinated by instinct and by insects. Many of his experiments centered around the question of whether insects have a kind of rationality or whether they operate entirely on instinct (and he came to conclude that the latter is nearly always the case).
Fabre recounts caterpillars so reliant on their silk trails that they will walk until exhaustion following a circular path if they cannot find a piece of silk leading off of the circle; giant nocturnal moths that travel for miles following the scent of a single female; and scorpions that enact seemingly tender and loving rituals before mating, only to have the female consume the male after the act. Fabre's passion for his experiments and observations is so palpable that it is hard not to share his infatuation with creatures that otherwise might seem like singularly unpleasant material for leisure reading (dung-beetles, weevils, and grubs).
Although I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who didn't already have an interest in nature-writing and a certain love of the less cuddly aspects of creation, I enjoyed Fabre's fascinating insect world and his obvious love for his subjects.
July 9, 2017
A book nearly as old as I am and nearly as interesting! Still worth reading.
September 9, 2015
I've grown a little bug-eyed from all the reading tonight in Fabre's "Insect World". J. Henri's descriptive powers were prodigious and his experiments with insects helped to lay to rest a number of flawed theories. I really enjoyed the chapters on the hunting wasps, the sacred (dung) beetles, the burying beetles and the psyche moths. For the immediate future, my appetite for knowledge of the minutae is satisfied.
March 25, 2012
In terms of my own interests I have more background on Arachnology rather than the broad spectrum that Entomology covers. None the less I thoroughly enjoyed this book because the veteran Entomologist, J. Henri Fabre is a very interesting character. The book itself may be a combination of memoirs and studies but the character himself seems to have very fictionalized traits that can be seen through his very poetic language. Before I say anything else, this book is not for everyone, even amateur entomologists like me might find it confusing but once you start to understand that this book is more of a figurative approach to Entomology as a whole, then you will start to enjoy it more. I personally enjoyed the book because the author uses his enthusiasm and excitement of insects to help drive his studies towards goals that are hard to accomplish, but a very revolutionary and gratifying in the field of Entomology. Keep in mid Fabre was not in the realm of taxonomy he was more in the realm of insect behavior, and honestly I think stories in that area are more satisfying to read becuase there is a strong correlation between his own thought and behavior, and the behavior of the insects he is observing. As a whole the only thing I would have liked more of, is background of the characters thoughts, I know this would be hard because Fabre himself was so entranced by the world of insects that I bet it was hard for him to talk about other things in his line of work. But as an insect enthusiast myself I could understand him well. Once again this book isn't for everyone, if you want to learn about the psychology behind insect behavior in a very linguistic tone and vocabulary like manner then pick this book up, if not then you probably won't enjoy it too much.
February 12, 2010
If you are at all interested in plants and insects, this is an important book for you. Fabre is the first entomologist to publish behavioral rather than physiological studies of insects.
Fabre's work revolutionized entymology back before much was going to change. He did it by observing insect populations in the field and in small collections indoors while they were alive and kicking. Contrasting sharply with the the entymologists of his day who tended to capture as many "bugs" as they could and kill them all to pin them on a board with a tag, Fabre wanted to learn how the populations adapted to the world, to challenges and changes in theor environment.
A new approach to entymology although he published his discoveries before my parents were even born, it is a lesson to us all that even when people have a method of study all documented and proven as useful, science is not always barking up the right tree. A new branch (such as behavioral entymology) can sometimes offer the missing links.
Fabre's work revolutionized entymology back before much was going to change. He did it by observing insect populations in the field and in small collections indoors while they were alive and kicking. Contrasting sharply with the the entymologists of his day who tended to capture as many "bugs" as they could and kill them all to pin them on a board with a tag, Fabre wanted to learn how the populations adapted to the world, to challenges and changes in theor environment.
A new approach to entymology although he published his discoveries before my parents were even born, it is a lesson to us all that even when people have a method of study all documented and proven as useful, science is not always barking up the right tree. A new branch (such as behavioral entymology) can sometimes offer the missing links.
June 10, 2012
(I read a bit over half this book - mostly the essays on hymenoptera). I was led to this book through quotes in Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. In it, Dillard waxes poetic and philosophical on life as expressed in its most prolific visible creatures: insects. Fabre is justly famous for bringing the incredible lives of these creatures to a sympathetic readership. These essays brilliantly navigate the path that unites scientific inquiry and neighborly interest. They thus illustrate the true potential of science: to help us learn about this strange place where we live, and about our cohabitants, without the destructive and improprietous attitudes sometimes associated with the approach.
April 5, 2010
We read excerpts from this famous entomological storybook my freshman year of college, and when I'd lost my copy I discovered it was out of print. When Beacon Press put it out again I snatched a copy immediately, and have enjoyed Fabre's enthusisam for the hidden world of insects. This would make a great gift for the budding naturalist--Fabre's zeal for knowledge of instinct prior to Darwin's theories is a helpful glimpse into the quality of the scientific soul. The insect world is at once beautiful and repulsive in its vigor and superabundance. I can't imagine anyone calling themselves a naturalist without having read this compilation from the whole span of the life work of this humble Frenchman hidden away in his dusty, untilled harmas.
May 18, 2014
A wonder-filled collection of Jean-Henri Fabre's detailed and empathic observations on the "simple" creatures that crawl, fly, and die on the periphery and in the undergrowth. Fabre's life-long dedication and passion to explore the ways and means of the insect reveals and honors the fascinating diversity, complexity, and ingenuity of life.
December 27, 2008
An absolute must if one has any interest in the natural world.
January 3, 2014
Interesting support for the idea that nature acts for an end.
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October 23, 2014The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre 12/12/2011; Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos ; with introduction and interpretive comments by Edwin Way Teale ; foreword by Gerald Durr
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews