CALS Book Club: Explore The Secret World Of Insects

Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants:

This behind-the-scenes look at the lives of ants by entomology alumna Eleanor Spicer Rice and Applied Ecology Professor Rob Dunn won coast-to-coast acclaim in 2017, spending time as the best-selling entomology book on Amazon.

Powered by a long-running citizen science project, the series also includes books on the ants of New York, Chicago, California and — of course — North Carolina. The Los Angeles Times dubbed the California-based book one of its great stocking-stuffers of 2017, rubbing covers on that list with the likes of Stephen Colbert and Joan Didion.

Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Spiders:

This time, Spicer Rice and co-author Christopher Buddle turn to the talented arachnids in our midst.

Drawing again on CALS-based citizen science, the new book promises to turn “creepy-crawly revulsion into spider wonder,” from the tiny but gymnastic zebra jumping spider to the “naturally shy and woefully misunderstood” black widow.