[Steeplechase | BWF] Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps by Seirian Sumner ★★½

[Tien]

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧

We had a big wasp nest by the front door of our house at one point in time and have had a few nests around the house since. The buzzing just sounds scary to me and while this book didn't quite make me love them, I think I may be a little more tolerable towards them as I hear they hunt spiders! There are no ends to spiders down under...

There were quite some interesting facts in this book about wasps and family (bees and ants!). And I never really thought about it but there are different types of wasps too! The author (is also the narrator) set out to change the public's perception of wasps and I think, this is a very difficult job. Her case is set out from how the public formed their perception (thanks, literature!), some historical scientific research and recent scientific research (including how beneficial wasps can be with agriculture etc and how they sit in the balance of the environment).

Despite all the interesting bits and her narration was quite well done, I did feel 12 hours' audio was really quite long. There was also quite a chunk on where she brought historical scientific personage to life and had 'conversations' with them. I thought it was interesting to start with but then she went on and on and it just got a bit too much.

Steeplechase - 6x insects
BWF - Team Sassy Sisters - Letter S - NIL tag

[NancyJ]

I was wondering about this book when I saw you had the insects tag. I used to hate bees until I learned how important they were to agriculture and ecosystems. Wasps scare me more though. We had them in our attic, and it was hard to get rid of them.

Now we have bats in the eaves (I hope not in the attic itself), but they eat mosquitos so I don’t mind. It’s cool to watch them swooping in the backyard, now that I know they won’t get close to us (or in my hair).