Insect Architecture: Book Review

Introduction

We’ve had spectacular aurora borealis shows this week with enormous patches of red sky and long fingers of pale-yellow light radiating down through them. I’ve never seen such colour before with just the naked eye. When you look at photographs of the aurora borealis, they always look more colourful than the display actually was. I still haven’t worked out why that this.

Since I started beekeeping, I’ve noticed other insects more and now find myself fascinated by them. The more I learn about them the more I respect them and recognise their important roles in our everyday world. If you like them too, I think that you will enjoy the book that I’ve reviewed for Princeton University Press.

I’ve always been confused by termites and thought they were some sort of ant. I’ve only recently discovered that they are more closely related to cockroaches than ants. Termites and cockroaches are in the Blattodea family, and the Isoptera order, while ants are in the Hymenoptera order along with honey bees and wasps

There are some amazing termite nests in Australia and my confusion might have started back in 1974 when I visited the largest termite mound in the Northern Territory and was told by the tour guide that it was an ‘anthill’. They are commonly referred to as anthills over there. Some of these termite mounds are 10-26 feet tall and have sophisticated systems of ventilation, humidity and temperature control. Tom Jackson’s magnificent book describes how humans have borrowed insect design to make more efficient buildings and it is really quite fascinating how insects have helped innovate human design in so many ways.

I was so inspired by Jackson’s writing that I bought his book called Genetics in Minutes: 200 Key Ideas of Evolution and Biology in an Instant. I haven’t read it through yet, but so far it helps untangles some of  the complications of genetics.

Review

Title: Insect Architecture: How Insects Build, Engineer, and Shape their World

Author: Tom Jackson

Consultant Editor: Michael S. Engel

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 978-0-691-27524-6

Hardback 21 x 26 cm, 176 pages

Cost: £25

Insect Architecture: How Insects Build, Engineer, and Shape their World is a fascinating account of how different insects construct their homes in so many diverse and unique ways, and how humans have copied some of their designs and principles to improve the construction and environmental impacts of our own modern buildings. Tom Jackson, science writer and conservationist, is the author of several other books including Genetics in Minutes: 200 Key Ideas of Evolution and Biology in an Instant. Editor Michael Engel, world authority on bees and other insects, has written the foreword which consists of a brief overview of building.

There is a short section on the evolution of insects followed by an introduction explaining what insects actually are, and how they are all generally constructed and limited in size by their tiny respiratory systems. There are seven chapters featuring the following; beetles and bugs, web spinners and silk weavers, funnels, cases, and stalk builders, wasps, bees, ants, and lastly termites. The afterword addresses the impact of insect building and benefits of nature for mankind, and is followed by a glossary and an index.

This is an easy-to-read informative book beautifully illustrated with magnificent photographs, drawings and diagrams on every page. Each chapter features case studies with examples of how each chosen insect functions and constructs its nest. Each insect is classified with details available in an information box so the reader sees at a glance the relevant order, family, country, habitat, diet and nest material of each insect.
Readers will be amazed to learn that silk is used for more than just clothing material. Its unique structure has been used in the manufacture of many things from space elevators to artificial muscles. Special goats have been genetically engineered to produce silk from spider genes in their milk much faster than spiders can produce it.  This wonderful book will have wide-ranging appeal and be enjoyed by both children and adults, and students of entomology, biology and architecture.