the complex relationship between humans and insects

Insectopedia

Hugh Raffles

The first chapter "Air" talks about how numerous, varied, everywhere, visible and invisible insects are. so the relationship between humans and insects is complex: every story is unique and curious: some very delightful, others thought-provoking, a couple gross, all with some surprises, even mysteries, in unsuspected corners - as insects are.

I translated chapter G (Generosity), about cricket fight in China. it turns out also to be the most interesting one as casual reading goes.

 "Jews" is an eye-opening novel perspective about Nazis' antisemitism history, which has haunted me ever since. one phrase popped up in my mind is "the logic of logistics" - not even sure it is a correct expression - the chapter explains not only how in general people would degrade others to a non-human status and then kill with an easy conscience, but also how the gas chambers had been conceived and constructed. pure horror. I thought I had learned enough about holocaust reading "man's search for meaning".

I was most delighted by the chapter "Temptation", "gifts for sex" even in lowly insects! (or how "high-minded" is human culture, really?) and the "gifts" look very beautiful!

Dr. Raffles can be very playful. I jumped to chapter "Kafka"confidently, only to be surprised: yes, it's about metamorphoses, no, not a word about that "Metamorphoses"! But I believe he now "owes" his fans another chapter. :)

Dr. Raffles also plays with words. even excessively. I'm talking about the chapter "Ex Libries, Exempla": I lost count of how many ex'es he has used (and started to worry about the meaningless translation of only meanings)

The only criticism I have about the writing is that Dr. Raffles has a tendency to be comprehensive. sometimes in a single sentence, he has to list every more or less related event about a given time or a location, essentially expanding the long sentence into one paragraph. it's somewhat distracting and disrupting the reading flow.

Lastly, with my born insect-phobia, I have to add that I've pretty much read the whole book while holding down a mild nauseous feeling most of the time. what a unique book!