Eric Grissell
Timber Press, Portland, Oregon
2001, 345 pp.
$29.95, hard cover
ISBN 0-88192-504-7

This pleasant read is neither a guide to insects in the garden, nor advice on controlling them. Most entomologists view the insects found in a garden as equally, or even more, interesting than the plants themselves. Much of the public tends to view garden insect life as a threat to the plants or something that shouldn’t be there, the exception being gentle bees and flittering butterflies.

Grissell takes on the task of teaching the average gardener to appreciate the role and beauty of the insect life in the garden. Appreciation can only come with education, so the goal to teach the gardener something about insect orders, biology, and ecology is a respectable one.

Several of the common orders are covered, including their general roles, life stages, feeding habits, and garden habits. A chapter on insect development and reproduction includes a few pages on social behaviors. Other topics include survival, insect–plant interactions, insect–insect interactions, and the many roles of different insects in the garden ecosystem. One chapter I was pleased to see was "Increasing Diversity in the Garden." The book finishes with chapters on "Inviting Insects into the Garden," "Fear and Loathing," and finally "Appreciating Insects." The penultimate chapter touches on the subjects of insects in art, literature, folklore, music, and history.

The final chapter, entitled "The Realistic Gardener," returns the reader to the initial goal of the book—to reflect upon the garden as an artificial ecosystem and to accept that a quiet force exists, despite all our plans, to revert the garden to nature’s way.

This book asks the reader to learn everything that every entomologist wishes the public would know about insects. The result would be a gardening public who appreciate the insects surrounding them; a public that is not fearful of insects and not ready to grab the insecticide spray as the solution to every insect’s existence.

Grissell directs this book toward educated nonentomologist garden lovers who possess at least a little curiosity about nature. Were this book to be a television special, it would be shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting System). The numerous color plates by photographer Carl Goodpasture are outstanding.

Does this book achieve the goal of reducing entomophobia and increasing the appreciation for insects in the garden? That is a question better answered by a nonentomologist, but the effort is a good one and if successful, should expand the pleasure and gardening experience of the reader.

Stephen B. Bambara
Department of Entomology
Box 7613
NC State University
Raleigh, NC
27695-7613
American Entomologist
Vol. 49, No.3, Fall 2003