Series in Invertebrates
Books in Invertebrates
Leech
A friend and a fiend, the leech is one of nature’s most tenacious yet mysterious animals. Armed with razor-sharp teeth and capable of drinking many times their own volume in blood, these formidable worms are an unlikely candidate to turn to as a cure for sickness. Yet that is the role leeches have played in both Western and Eastern medicine throughout history. Today they continue to be used in post-operative care, helping to heal the body after reconstructive surgery. Leech explores how these surprising animals have helped us to overcome illness, forecast the weather, and better understand how our brains and bodies work. However, for every leech that brings hope, there has been a sinister twin. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula, through twentieth-century film, to twenty-first-century video games, leeches have come to represent the worst in human nature. In Leech, Robert G. W. Kirk and Neil Pemberton reveal how these fascinating creatures have been one of humanity’s most enduring and peculiar companions.
Leech
A friend and a fiend, the leech is one of nature’s most tenacious yet mysterious animals. Armed with razor-sharp teeth and capable of drinking many times their own volume in blood, these formidable worms are an unlikely candidate to turn to as a cure for sickness. Yet that is the role leeches have played in both Western and Eastern medicine throughout history. Today they continue to be used in post-operative care, helping to heal the body after reconstructive surgery. Leech explores how these surprising animals have helped us to overcome illness, forecast the weather, and better understand how our brains and bodies work. However, for every leech that brings hope, there has been a sinister twin. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula, through twentieth-century film, to twenty-first-century video games, leeches have come to represent the worst in human nature. In Leech, Robert G. W. Kirk and Neil Pemberton reveal how these fascinating creatures have been one of humanity’s most enduring and peculiar companions.
Squid
In myths and legends squids are portrayed as fearsome sea-monsters, lurking in the watery deeps waiting to devour humans. Even as modern science has tried to turn those monsters of the deep into unremarkable calamari, squids continue to dominate the nightmares of the Western imagination. Taking inspiration from early weird fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, modern writers such as Jeff VanderMeer depict squids as the absolute Other of human civilization, while non-Western poets such as Daren Kamali depict squids as anything but threats. In Squid , Martin Wallen traces the many different ways humans have thought about and pictured this predatory mollusc: as guardians, harbingers of environmental collapse or an untapped resource to be exploited. However humans have perceived them, squids have always gazed back at us, unblinking, from the dark.
Squid
In myths and legends squids are portrayed as fearsome sea-monsters, lurking in the watery deeps waiting to devour humans. Even as modern science has tried to turn those monsters of the deep into unremarkable calamari, squids continue to dominate the nightmares of the Western imagination. Taking inspiration from early weird fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, modern writers such as Jeff VanderMeer depict squids as the absolute Other of human civilization, while non-Western poets such as Daren Kamali depict squids as anything but threats. In Squid , Martin Wallen traces the many different ways humans have thought about and pictured this predatory mollusc: as guardians, harbingers of environmental collapse or an untapped resource to be exploited. However humans have perceived them, squids have always gazed back at us, unblinking, from the dark.
The Earth Moved
"You know a book is good when you actually welcome one of those howling days of wind and sleet that makes going out next to impossible." — The New York Times In The Earth Moved , Amy Stewart takes us on a journey through the underground world and introduces us to one of its most amazing denizens. The earthworm may be small, spineless, and blind, but its impact on the ecosystem is profound. It ploughs the soil, fights plant diseases, cleans up pollution, and turns ordinary dirt into fertile land. Who knew? In her witty, offbeat style, Stewart shows that much depends on the actions of the lowly worm. Charles Darwin devoted his last years to the meticulous study of these creatures, praising their remarkable abilities. With the august scientist as her inspiration, Stewart investigates the worm's subterranean realm, talks to oligochaetologists—the unsung heroes of earthworm science—who have devoted their lives to unearthing the complex life beneath our feet, and observes the thousands of worms in her own garden. From the legendary giant Australian worm that stretches to ten feet in length to the modest nightcrawler that wormed its way into the heart of Darwin's last book to the energetic red wigglers in Stewart's compost bin, The Earth Moved gives worms their due and exposes their hidden and extraordinary universe. This book is for all of us who appreciate Mother Nature's creatures, no matter how humble.