This was a brilliant book. It was so interesting. I learnt so much from reading it. It is full of wonderful information about bugs and is brilliant for adults. I only wish there were colour pictures. As there's only a few pictures in this book, and they were black and white . It was obvious that the book was well written, and the author was extremely knowledgeable. Everything was explained well and in an interesting way.

Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating such an interesting book.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/extraordinary-insects-by-anne-sverdrup-thygeson-harpercollins-4-stars and my new blog https://ladyreading365.blogspot.com/2023/06/extraordinary-insects-by-anne-sverdrup.html under my name ladyreading365

Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson was a beautiful and very interesting book. I had to purchase it for my nephew who loves it. This book is like a bible to him and takes it everywhere with him especially when he is out for walks in the forest with his mum, dad and his new puppy. This book is a must book for anyone who is fascinated in insects .

Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is very informative about the insect world and the impact insects have on the environment.

This was an eclectic collection of particulars about insects of all types and sizes. The author is well versed in her field, and her joy with the information flows through. It is told simply and in straightforward language, although I was surprised at the number of biblical references in some of the chapters, which did not add anything for me personally, but might for others.
The insect details are layered between ecological information as well as the need for the native species to survive. This is not a book to be read in one sitting, although it can be done. I read a chapter at a time, and each of the chapters focuses on an umbrella of insect characteristics instead of individual insects.
As an average individual (probably)does, I know how valuable, unique, and exciting insects can be, but I am not fond of them in my vicinity. I am among those who flinch at any buzzing or humming near me when I cannot see it, and if I do see it, I will find another spot to sit in! Despite this being my normal state, I really enjoyed what I got from the book and realised anew how unique/valuable/exciting insects are. I commented out loud about some of the things that I picked up in it; even if the actual facts slip my mind at this time, I know I learnt something from it all.
I would recommend it to non-fiction readers with even a remote interest in Nature. Even fiction readers may find it an easy read.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Apologies for the late review- This book is a fascinating study of the insect world and covers a lot of things that are simply too weird to believe about their habits etc. Its a pity that the kindle version couldn't handle the images of the book but overall this was really worth a look, and if you see the fully illsutarted hardback worth purchasing. Excellent stuff.

Many thanks to the author, publishers and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook. I loved this book. Its a beautiful exploration of the insect world. There are detailed descriptions, and the use of accessible language makes this book such a joy.
I highly recommend it.

Insects represent about two-thirds of the known species on Earth. But most of us walk by them - or worse, step on them. Without them, our world would collapse - they break down waste, aid decomposition, and pollinate our agriculture - and yet for most people, there is so much to learn about them. I really love that this book is so full of interesting facts about the insect world that are easily digested. The author's conversational tone keeps what could easily become a stuffy textbook a fun, fascinating read. The only drawback for me was that I was initially drawn to this book by its spectacular cover. The black and white line drawings inside were sufficient, but a bit of a letdown. I wish there was similar color photos inside instead. Even so, Extraordinary Insects really is pretty extraordinary.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read Extraordinary Insects in return for my honest opinions.

I love this book. It's a great introduction to all things Insects and I enjoyed reading this with my kids. Suitable for adults or kids with a little help.

I love bugs! I love this book! But I don’t think you need to love bugs to appreciate this book.

It’s written with such infectious enthusiasm, wisdom and just the right amount of wit. Each chapter is split into smaller sections which means you can pick it up, grab a few facts and put it down again to come back to later. Which meant I spread out relaying them to my partner by reading them out over a much longer period than was strictly necessary! It’s a book to savour.

Here’s a moment where I fell in love with the author.... Did you know there is a horsefly named after Beyoncé? Scaptia beyonceae. Originally collected in 1981, the year Beyoncé was born. But also “because it had such a beautiful backside. The trimming of golden hairs on its rump reminded the scientists tasked with naming the species of the artist’s own rear end when encased in tight, glittering diva dresses.(I eagerly await the day when there are more of us women entomologists, so we can start naming insects for their broad, manly winged shoulders or their ripped abs...)”

Extraordinary Insects is an honest and optimistic look at insects, their relationship to humans and their potential for saving the planet, if only we put aside our prejudices for the less pretty ones and stopped zapping them to death. You never know when a cockroach or mosquito could save your life!

This book was a lovely, conversational romp through the world of insects - I found myself regularly updating my partner with the fun (and sometimes shocking!) facts and case studies woven throughout the book. I would definitely recommend it.

Unlike a lot of other reviewers for this book I came at "Extraordinary Insects" with a strong appreciation for the diversity and importance of insects already. This book helped to solidify that with some new and unusual examples that really drove home how critical insects (and their cousins) are to a healthy, functioning ecosystem and to human communities worldwide. I think this book has a lot to offer both someone completely new to the topic as well as someone who already feels they have a good grasp of the field.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I love books like this one, I love to dip in and out of them as and when.
I haven't finished this book, as I didn't want to rush it.
I will be buying a hardback copy of it when I see it's available, as it's one of those books that you want to pour over again and again.

The language will suit older primary students plus, sitting with an adult.

A great book.

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and her book takes us on a journey through the amazing lives of the small creatures that are vital in keeping the ecosystem of the world turning.

This was a fascinating and inspirational trip that I thoroughly enjoyed. My next step is to buy a reference guide so that I can attempt to identify a few of the extraordinary insects that I come across in future.

Highly recommended.

I find insects peripheral to my life, a bit icky and preferably to be avoided where possible – except for bees of course, because we all love bees. I was therefore surprised to find myself attracted to this book, primarily because the cover photograph of an iridescent beetle was stunning. I imagined it to be a slim, A4 sized book with lots of attractive pictures, and with little snips of information dotted around the edge of each page to augment the pix. I can't tell you how my heart dropped when it landed on my Kindle and I found out it was a proper 'read-your-way-through-this-mate' book, with a mere sprinkling of black and white illustrations. A proper book, all about insects! Three hundred and eleven pages.... Eeeek!

In fact it turned out to be a brilliant read. Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is a wonderful writer, as well as being hugely knowledgeable in her field. For instance who knew that we owe fruit flies so much? They are the perfect creature for laboratory study – cheap and easy to keep, with 77% of disease related gene sequences being found both in human and fruit flies. They have taught us a ton about chromosomes and ways that traits are transmitted. They have also helped with research into cancer, Parkinson's, insomnia, jet lag and alcoholism.... It's amazing that such a humble creature has been able to help us so much.

Coming hot on their heels as another possible human benefactor are blow fly maggots. As we have increasing problems with finding antibiotics that work, we may well return to methods used by Genghis Kahn, then later in the Napoleonic Wars, and even in World War 1 – maggots. They are great at cleaning up wounds, without damaging any healthy flesh that may be present. They are already used in some instances where healing is proving particularly difficult, and are bred in sterile laboratories for that purpose.

What about ordinary houseflies you may ask? Well, they're pretty amazing too. They taste with their feet. Not only that, but they are one hundred times more sensitive to sugar than we are with our tongues. (Insect anatomies are really mind-boggling in various respects. They have ears, but not on their heads, they don't have lungs, but breathe through holes in their bodies. Their blood (called haemolymph) carries nutrition and hormones, but no oxygen, so it isn't red - instead it is yellow, colourless or green....) It turns out that a lot about insect bodies is weird and pleasantly exciting.

Rather more romantically, Sverdrup-Thygeson talks about a dress that was woven from spider thread. [“Spider silk, on a per-weight basis it is 6 times stronger than steel, and also very elastic. You could harvest 100 metres of silk from one spider – but we can't breed spiders like silkworms because they eat one another.

However a beautiful golden dress was woven from silk spun by golden orb spiders from Madagascar broke records for visitor numbers when exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2012. It took four years to make. Every morning 80 workers collected new spiders. They were hooked up to a small hand-operated machine where they were 'milked' of their silk then released again in the evening. In all, 1.2 million spiders were needed. “ (hide spoiler)]

The star of the book for me was the dragonfly [

“Dragonflies are lethal hunters. Their four wings can move independently of one another, which is unusual in the insect world. Each wing is powered by several sets of muscles which adjust frequency and direction. This enables a dragonfly to fly both backwards and upside down, and to switch from hovering motionless in the air to speeding off at a maximum speed of close to 50 kilometres an hour.... But their vision also makes a significant contribution to their success. And it is perhaps hardly surprising that they have good eyesight when almost their entire head consists of eyes. In reality, each eye is made up of 30,000 small eyes, which can see both ultraviolet and polarised light as well as colours. And since the eyes are like balls, the dragonfly can see most of what is happening on all sides of its body.

Its brain is also prepped for super-sight. When we humans see a rapid sequence of images, we see them in a flowing movement, a film, if there are more than around 20 images per second. However, a dragonfly can see up to 300 separate images per second and interpret every single one of them. In other words a cinema ticket would be quite wasted on a dragonfly. Where you and I see a moving film, it would simple see a very rapid slide show – one long stream of separate snapshots or frames.

The dragonfly brain is also capable of focusing over time on one specific section of the enormous quantity of visual impressions being received. They have a kind of selective attention that is unknown among other insects.....The dragonfly brain can lock its attention on approaching prey, coordinating its speed and direction to ensure a strike...”

Perhaps it is no surprise to find that they inspired some of the people designing drone technology.

(hide spoiler)]

All in all this book was a real joy. I've learnt a fantastic amount about insects. Any drawbacks? Well, I couldn't read the section on parasitic insects because they're truly vile.... They put the 'ick' in 'icky'.... but this only comprised a small fraction of the book, and the rest was a delight. Highly recommended.

Book supplied by HarperCollins Publishers in return for an honest review.

I started this book with high expectations and unfortunately was disappointed. I feel insects and their story could be truly fascinating however this book went off in tangents and I had to really work to pull out the interesting A HA moments. Don't get me wrong there was definitely interesting nuggets however I wished the story had been based on the interesting parts rather than the entire insect life.

Oh my goodness me what a book! Everything you could possibly want to know and more about insects in a fabulous book. So many after dinner “did you know” facts to bore my friends with. Brilliant.

Goodness me, as if the cover were not appealing enough, the book is wonderful. Long having been an avid wanna be-entomologist, this is right up my street. This is not, as you might think from the afore-mentioned cover, a David Attenborough style book, with various insects in all their glory, although it does contain a few rather beautiful illustrations.

What it is rather is a biography of bugs, and a fascinating account in every way. For example, did you know that wasps have the capacity to recognise and distinguish between individual members of their community by way of facial features? And bees (marvellous little creatures) do a little bee-dance which tells all their bee friends not only the direction the pollen lies in but the distance? All with a bit of bum-wigging, body jiggling and shimmering of wings.

A lovely, informative and entertaining read, this is a must in any naturalists home.

Many thanks to the publisher, Net Galley and Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson for my ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve always loved insects, and other small things that creep and crawl, so when I saw the beautiful cover of this book, I had to read it.

This book is informative, and engagingly written. It both educates and entertains. Although basically factual, there is a vein of humour running through it, and it’s so well written that it is easy to read. It neither uses too much technical language, nor talks down to the reader, or over simplifies. I think the author has done an excellent job of taking her obviously vast knowledge of the insect world, and teasing out an interesting book that is accessible to all. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, so detailed, and unlike a lot of pictures, come across really well on my black and white kindle.

As well as entertaining and informing us about the insect world, Chapter 9 covers a very important topic - how we (humans) are altering, and in some cases destroying, the insect world. It touches on how devastating that could be for humans, but manages not to be too depressing.

I highly recommend giving this book a read if you have any interest in insects at all. Even if you don’t, I’d imagine it would still be fascinating.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

Extraordinary Creatures by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is an amazing and interesting book. This book tells you about creatures that you’re familiar with or not so familiar with. Well researched and engaging.

OMG what a book! I love reading about nature, especially about animals that are not so familiar. This was an amazing look into these creatures. Very engagingly written, interesting, very well researched.
I'd highly recommend it!

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Never doubt it, insects rule our world. They were around long before us and will be along longer after we are gone. This book is a fascinating account of the bizarre, beautiful, creepy and sometimes down right scary creatures that share their world with us.