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About The Sting Of The Wild
Product Description The “King of Sting” describes his adventures with insects and the pain scale that’s made him a scientific celebrity. Silver, Science (Adult Non-Fiction) Foreword INDIES Award 2017 Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it’s a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the test case. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects. He explains how and why they attack and reveals the powerful punch they can deliver with a small venom gland and a “sting,” the name for the apparatus that delivers the venom. We learn which insects are the worst to encounter and why some are barely worth considering. The Sting of the Wild includes the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index, published here for the first time. In addition to a numerical ranking of the agony of each of the eighty-three stings he’s sampled so far, Schmidt describes them in prose worthy of a professional wine critic: “Looks deceive. Rich and full-bodied in appearance, but flavorless” and “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.” Schmidt explains that, for some insects, stinging is used for hunting: small wasps, for example, can paralyze huge caterpillars for long enough to lay eggs inside them, so that their larvae emerge within a living feast. Others are used to kill competing insects, even members of their own species. Humans usually experience stings as defensive maneuvers used by insects to protect their nest mates. With colorful descriptions of each venom’s sensation and a story that leaves you tingling with awe, The Sting of the Wild’s one-of-a-kind style will fire your imagination. Review Schmidt's tales will prove infectiously engaging even to entomophobes. ― Publishers Weekly On Schmidt's pain scale, this book rates a zero―painless. On the pleasure scale, it rates a ten, a highly enjoyable read. ― Natural History Readers who share my fascination with the natural world, and particularly those who revel in unusual animal facts, will love The Sting of the Wild. ― Between the Covers An excellent book. ― Newsweek A good read, with valuable evolutionary context for bees and their insect relatives interwoven with entertaining travel tales of an engaged entomologist. ― American Bee Journal Even though the pain-laced topic might leave you wincing, Schmidt’s engaging and entertaining writing makes for a tale worth reading. ― Scientific American [Schmidt's] low-down on sting biochemistry and physiology is relentlessly zestful, even as he recounts the swelling, burning consequences of his curiosity. ― Nature The Sting of the Wild is full of the stories of science of stings. Schmidt is an engaging writer, and his youthful enthusiasm for scary critters makes for a book that will sometimes scare you and sometimes make you double over with laughter . . . It’s a masterpiece of nature writing. ― Nature's Cool Green Science If you’re interested in bugs of any kind, and especially the notorious ones, this book will entertain, educate, and excite. ― Discover Magazine Not only does he explain his Schmidt Sting Pain Index, wherein he rates the pain of numerous stings on a scale of one to four, but he also relates the fascinating natural histories of these animals. ― National Geographic Totally fascinating. ― FiveThirtyEight The arms race that created the stinger hypodermic, and its biochemical warfare toxins, was a direct result of communal nesting, because the greater risk of predation demanded a formidable defensive strategy. This is the evolutionary theme through which the author lovingly interjects his own personal anecdotes. ― BBC Wildlife Magazine It's hard to imagine a nature book being more fascinating and fun. ― Virgin Radio UK In addition to providing colorful, connoisseur-grad
