May 3, 2011 • Category: Blog, Excerpts, Promotions
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Amy Stewart, author of the New York Times bestsellers Wicked Plants and Flower Confidential, is back with her newest book, Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects. (Be sure to see the hilarious trailer for the book at bottom, where you’ll also find an excerpt.) And, as is typical with Stewart’s books, there’s been a wealth of national media attention, including a New York Times interview; a Fresh Air interview; and an NPR Weekend Edition interview.
Wicked Bugs is a darkly comical look at the sinister side of our relationship with the natural world. Stewart details over one hundred of our worst entomological foes–insects that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs. With wit, style, and exacting research, she has uncovered the most terrifying and titillating stories of bugs gone wild. It’s an A to Z of insect enemies, interspersed with sections that explore bugs with kinky sex lives (“She’s Just Not That Into You”), creatures lurking in the cupboard (“Fear No Weevil”), insects eating your tomatoes (“Gardener’s Dirty Dozen”), and phobias that feed our (sometimes) irrational responses to bugs (“Have No Fear”). Intricate and strangely beautiful etchings and drawings by Briony Morrow-Cribbs capture diabolical bugs of all shapes and sizes in this mixture of history, science, murder, and intrigue that begins—but doesn’t end—in your own backyard.
To celebrate, we’re giving away three copies of the book and three cute, cuddly stuffed bookworms, courtesy of Giant Microbes. Just leave a comment detailing your worst bug encounter–you can post it here on our blog or on our Facebook page and you’ll automatically be entered.
Want to purchase an autographed/personally inscribed book for yourself or a friend? Visit Stewart’s website for details. It would make a great Mother’s Day present, don’t you think?
Watch the book trailer:
Read an Excerpt:
Excerpt from Wicked Bugs
Tags: Amy Stewart, bookworm, Briony Morrow-Cribbs, Fresh Air, Giant Microbes, NPR, Terry Gross, The New York Times, Wicked Bugs
Josh says...
My worst experience takes place 2 years ago in my friends house..we just got back from a 3 week vacation in Europe and we walk into his house,into the kitchen and i go to wash my hands, so as i turn on the faucet i hear a fizzling noise and suddenly out of the faucet hundreds of baby cockroaches and eggs pour out with the water, i scream on the top of my lungs and they start flying everywhere and some of them get mushed up by the water pressure and its flowing everywhere,they must of nested in there because my friends house is very dirty and we were gone for a while, i will never forget that horrible cockroach puree
May 9, 2011@ 1:32 PMRandy says...
Trying to do a job interview on the cheap, I stayed overnight in a pretty run-down hotel in Manhattan…the job interview went well, but on my trip home, I noticed a large number of small blisters on my arms and legs–what I eventually realized were a dozen or so bed bug bites. That would have been bad enough, but some of the bites became infected and I spent a lovely day sitting in a walk-in clinic watching my right hand swell up so badly that my fingers were disappearing. My arm was on fire and the blister looked so bad, even the nurse turned away when she exposed it to see what was the matter. Two weeks of antibiotics later, I recovered from my staph infection, but the mental scars are still there 12 years later.
May 6, 2011@ 10:40 PMFun Mama - Deanna says...
My worst bug encounter was last spring. A coworker had given us a huge bag filled with home grown broccoli. I was so excited. I started washing it off, and noticed green lumps about the size of my fingertip all over the stalk. I pushed on one. It was squishy. I tried soaking those suckers in a vinegar solution but only a few of the worms came off. I threw the whole batch away. I hated to waste it but I could not face those worms in my food.
May 5, 2011@ 9:44 PMChristine Holzschuh says...
Yes…chiggers….little invisible monsters that burrowed under the skin along the lines of underwear every summer in the mid-west. The unsocial scratching in public, unbearable itching all night, and generally creepy feelings would always lead to painting the hot mounds with stinging, blood-red nail polish, with the promise that it would suffocate the little buggers. Folks in the North East don’t believe these menacing critters could possibly be real.
May 5, 2011@ 2:51 PMRenee says...
In second grade I kept a praying mantis cocoon in my school desk. Much to my delight one day, hundreds of 1/4″ babies emerged. My teacher was not amused. In fact, she was horrified, scolded me then ordered me to get them (and myself) out. She was so upset that she sent me home way before the end of the school day. I happily filled my lunchbox and took the babies home. The teacher didn’t realize that I rode the bus to school. I didn’t think to mention it since I knew the way home. The prayers of all those baby praying mantis must have kept me safe as I crossed two highways. Mom was furious with the teacher.
May 5, 2011@ 7:38 AMQOE says...
Swear this is true. Driving back to work at lunch time. Hot day. Windows down. Feel a tickle between my legs then OUCH. Yes, a bee stung me you-know-where. Of course, I’m allergic. Shot of epinephrin. Back to the office where I had to like on a couch in the break room because it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. The ‘kind’ men in the office offered to pull the stinger out with their teeth. Really.
May 4, 2011@ 7:11 PMEva-Maria Ruhl says...
Eons ago, while in high school, I was briefly held captive by a wolf spider. It sat just outside the front door, so that my path to school that morning was blocked. I had never encountered a spider of such enormous size and such daring attitude. I immediately retreated and with much panic and gesturing explained to my mother that there was no way out of the house and that I would have to remain home until the creature had disappeared.
My mother, terrified by all crawling things, proved to be quite resourceful that day. She ran upstairs and returned with a can of hairspray. I will never forget how she opened the door with one hand and armed with the spray can in the other, faced the “enemy” and lacquered it!
Well, it worked. After several tense moments, there was no denying that the threat was gone and I could safely go to school. Mom collected the spider in a small box and I proudly presented the huge specimen to my biology teacher.
I sincerely hope that I will never encounter another spider like that, but if I do….
That is my bug story. Can’t wait to read the book!
May 4, 2011@ 5:29 PMSRG says...
I am so very excited about this book! Here is my story of bugs…my son went camping 4 hours away with his grandmother where he promptly stepped into a hornets nest….ahhhh there is nothing more terrifying then getting that phone call! Happily he was fine after a doctors visit and some benedryl…
May 4, 2011@ 11:13 AMMSHDfred says...
If Amy’s book is half as good as May Berenbaum’s The Earwig’s Tail or Bugs in the System, I’ll have to read it at least twice.
- Fred
May 3, 2011@ 11:52 PMtanya says...
The worst day was during a botanical medicine field trip in Arkansas and Missouri. We’d walked through a field with high grass earlier in the day, picked some dioscorea under the trees, and then sat outside to offer our blood to the mosquitoes. And it was hot, so lots of skin was exposed. The chiggers (new to me!) on my legs started intensely itching at about the same time as the poison ivy on my arms and the mosquito bites covering my arms, legs, and face. For 2 or 3 days, my goal in life was to have an itch-free moment.
May 3, 2011@ 9:58 PM