Fabre's Book of Insects

by Rodolph Stawell, Jean-Henri Fabre, Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

Book Overview

Great French entomologist's charming essays on insect life combine scientific rigor with the style of a literary classic. Beautifully written passages reveal the intricate, fascinating worlds of the beetle, cicada, praying mantis, glow-worm, wasp, grub, cricket, locust, and other creatures as they hunt, build nests, feed families, and more. Rare volume will delight any naturalist.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486401529
• ISBN13: 9780486401522
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

This book was originally written in French by my distant relative, Jean Fabre. We are so proud that he spent his entire life studying and analyzing insects the way he did. Recommended.

Personal tribute to Henri Fabre

Since I was a student in the late 1940s Henri Fabre has been one of my heroes. I have had his book of collected observations on the intimate lives of insects since that time. The book was so over used that it badly needed replacing,and I was very pleased to see that it is still in print. It was my pleasure, in 1983, to visit Fabre's House and property in Provence, now a small museum. The museum retains atmosphere of a private place - I and my wife were the only visitors at the time; his desk, microscope and the big black hat remain in the room where he did many of his observations; as do, in a large glass case, the very large collection of natural objects (unrelated to insects) that he amassed in the course of his long life. In a lower floor are exhibited the many letters he received from admiring scientists, including Darwin.

Beautifully Written

It seems unfair to give this book such a low rating due to a lack of illustrations. If you have any curiosity toward insects, I highly recommend this book. While some insect books come from more of an anatomical point of view (and yes, with many illustrations), this book takes you through an intimate and fascinating account of the lives of these amazing creatures, such as: the sacred beetle, praying mantis, psyches, locusts and more. The author will open up a whole other world to you with a gentle view toward insects and with vivid and illustrative language.