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The butterfly effect : insects and the making of the modern world / Edward D. Melillo.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2020Edition: First editionDescription: 253 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781524733216
  • 1524733210
Subject(s):
Contents:
The Bug in the System -- Shellac -- Silk -- Cochineal -- Resurgence and Resilience -- Nobel Flies -- Lords of the Floral -- A Six-Legged Menu -- Epilogue: Listening to Insects
Summary: "An insightful, entertaining dive into the fruitful, centuries-long relationship between humans and insects, revealing the fascinating and surprising array of ways humans depend on these minute, six-legged pests"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, get dressed, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are the beneficiaries of a vast army of insects. Try as we might to replicate their raw material, our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future. Melillo shows how we have relied on these creatures for, among other things, the key discoveries of modern medical science and the future of the world's food supply. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 595.7163 M522 Available 33111010387443
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Insects might make us recoil in repugnance, but they also manufacture--or make possible in other ways--many of the things we take for granted in our daily lives. When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, try on the latest fashions, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are mingling with the by-products of their everyday lives. Try as we might to replicate their raw material (silk, shellac, and cochineal, for instance), our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future. With illuminating demonstrations and thoughtful histories, and drawing on research in laboratory science, agriculture practices, fashion, and international cuisine, Melillo weaves a colorful world history that shows humans and insects as inextricably intertwined. He makes clear that, across time, humans have not only coexisted with these creatures, but have relied on them for, among other things, the key discoveries of modern medical science and the future of the world's food supply. Here is a fascinating appreciation of the ways in which these creatures have altered--and continue to shape--the very frameworks of our existence.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-237) and index.

The Bug in the System -- Shellac -- Silk -- Cochineal -- Resurgence and Resilience -- Nobel Flies -- Lords of the Floral -- A Six-Legged Menu -- Epilogue: Listening to Insects

"An insightful, entertaining dive into the fruitful, centuries-long relationship between humans and insects, revealing the fascinating and surprising array of ways humans depend on these minute, six-legged pests"-- Provided by publisher.

When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, get dressed, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are the beneficiaries of a vast army of insects. Try as we might to replicate their raw material, our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future. Melillo shows how we have relied on these creatures for, among other things, the key discoveries of modern medical science and the future of the world's food supply. -- adapted from jacket

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