My mom is a field biologist who performs invertebrate (insect) stream studies. The first time I joined her in the field, I was six weeks old. So I may be a little more into insects than much of Goulson's readership.

Ever since I read a long-form piece on the insect apocalypse while at Slow Food Nations in Denver in the summer of 2017, I've been looking for a good book on the subject. Unfortunately, I can't say that Goulson's is the one. As this is a subject I've already been interested in, I didn't learn much of anything new.

Goulson does spice up his writing by featuring insect interludes between chapters, but it seems that he was going for choosing particularly bizarre insects, as opposed to helping to build empathy with the insect world.

The book goes off the rails about three quarters of the way through, when Goulson decides to write a short piece of fiction about his grandson in 2080 on the 3:00am garden watch shift with his rifle. For a book that is supposedly about insect, it feels to me myopically anthropocentric. This chapter felt like something out of "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Now, if Goulson had wanted to write a piece of fiction from the perspective of the insect kingdom (and he wouldn't even need to choose a future date to come up with some chilling material), I would be entirely up for that, but this chapter simply has no place in a book supposedly about insects.

Then Goulson moves into climate change, as well as a series of recommendations to a wide range of actors. The bit on climate change feels like it is taking cues from Al Gore's, "An Inconvenient Truth," and feels terribly outdated. And then the recommendations come across as overly prescriptive and, again, not something to put in a book. Goulson should be making recommendation, but these recommendations should be in media targeted to the audiences he's speaking two, such as white paper, interviews, etc.

Yes—the insect apocalypse is very much upon us, and I encourage you to research the subject. But agonizing over the future of humanity and climate change won't do anything for insects. At moment, Goulson does mention that insect matter in their own right, but this book does not make such a case. ( )

I was a little disappointed with this book, which had a good review by the TLS.

Perhaps it was because I had already read a number of books as to insects, their place in the world, the threats them (and the biosphere more generally) etc. eg E O Wilson; Holldobler; Eisner; Carson.

The basic information andt hesis provided was valuable and informative. But (again perhaps it is just me) the vignettes at the end of most chapters as to the characteristics of particular specimens tended to downplay the peril that the book was designed to address.

And the chapter addressing the question as to "what now?" was a little lame...education, planting more if you can etc.

It is of course difficult to suggest options as to addressing inspects in the abstract, as opposed to the holistic situation of climate change.

Goulson certainly makes the case as to the importance of insects in the overall situation and for those who are coming to this for the first or second time, this is an excellent starting point.

Big Ship

25 August 2023 ( )

«Si perdemos a los insectos, todo se derrumbará», con esta contundente afirmación Dave Goulson advirtió en una entrevista reciente en The New York Times sobre el enorme impacto que tendría su desaparición. El científico, que lleva más de treinta años investigando a estos animales y la evidencia de una caída alarmante en su número en todo el mundo, señala que la gran crisis comenzaría con la falta de suministro de alimentos a los humanos.

Goulson explora la conexión intrínseca entre el cambio climático, la naturaleza, la vida silvestre y la disminución de la biodiversidad; y analiza el impacto dañino por el uso excesivo de insecticidas y fertilizantes para la tierra y sus habitantes. Pero no se limita solo a señalar los problemas, sino que propone varias soluciones que pasan por estar informados y actuar para poder revertir la situación.

Planeta silencioso, que ya desde su título remite el clásico de Rachel Carson, Primavera silenciosa, es un libro delicioso escrito por una autoridad mundial en materia de biodiversidad pero también por un gran narrador que logra contagiarnos de su amor por estos seres vivos esenciales para la vida tal y como la conocemos, a la vez que hace un llamamiento para detener su declive, salvar nuestro mundo y, en última instancia, a nosotros mismos.

This book will give you a good picture of the global insect problem. The culprits are: 1) pesticides / herbicides / fungicides; 2) habitat destruction; 3) climate change; and 4) human-aided spread of insect diseases and invasive species. The problem is that the above combine and matriculate into scenarios too complex for even the most seasoned entomologists to unpack. Stubbly heaps of question marks always remain. And insofar as the above all result from standard international corporation practices, they're basically beyond the powers of people like you and me to change. Shall we start a revolution to save the insects, and ourselves? ( )

Sobering look at the state of insect biodiversity, especially in Britain, which looks like a ravaged moonscape compared with New Zealand. But our monoculture farming is probably just as bad, and we're certainly using heaps of glyphosate and neonicotinoids, so the reckoning is likely coming. Goulson uses the in-depth research into insect decline and its causes, which has advanced quite a bit since the first alarming data from Germany, to lay out a general environmental programme that ticks all the Green boxes. Will hopefully push some people off the fence. He still can't spell Fiordland though. ( )