"Parasites are feared, often misunderstood yet are world changing, this fabulous book deserves a round of applause as it encourages curiosity and recognition while highlighting the brilliance and importance of these hidden creatures."
From the beautiful cover to the captivating contents meet twelve chapters highlighting the importance of parasites. With each chapter title the author pairs a positive with the creature, from ‘beautiful bedbugs and likeable lice’, to ‘terrific tapeworms’ and ‘luscious leeches’. It worked, my interest was caught and I was as hooked as a hooked thing can be. Author Dr Dino J Martins, an entomologist and evolutionary biologist, writes in such a way as to include you, to expect you to find these hidden creatures as wonderfully fascinating as he does and I happily joined him on this journey. He melds facts and figures with a light touch, from the introduction where he shares the first time he met parasites as a child through to final few pages where he talks of the interconnectedness of the world and our responsibility for it alongside the balance of human need and our life support systems. I travelled the world, met parasites and hosts, and I fell in love with the author’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and ability to paint a picture with words. I just had to choose this wonderful book as both a Liz Pick of the Month and LoveReading Star Book for its capacity to offer the gift of knowledge and understanding. Hidden Creatures is a wonder and should be celebrated, the LoveReading team recommends you get curious about parasites!
| Primary Genre | Nature and the natural world: general interest |
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Dr. Dino Martins, an awarding-winning entomologist of Kenya's Turkana Basin, where life was born, unspools the hidden, squirming world of parasites? some of the most misunderstood, and important, creatures with whom we share the Earth (and our bodies).'Your world will be larger for reading this book' CHLOE DALTON author of Raising Hare When we think of parasites, we might think of terrifying tiny creatures who suck blood and steal food, and that's definitely a part of what these mysterious organisms are ? but, as Martins shows, it's only a part. From the tapeworm, which can grow a remarkable 120 feet in length within the gut of a whale, to the tsetse fly, a notorious vector of disease that can pierce the skin even of crocodiles with its vicious, needle-like mouth, to perhaps the most universal symbol of parasitic behavior in our language, the much-mythologized leech, all parasites make a living by exploiting other living things.In each chapter, Martins takes us through gaping geological time to explain the history of a particular parasite's evolution and its interactions with humans and animals alike. This is a journey across the world ten times over ? from Nairobi to New York, East Africa to the Amazon, Borneo to London public parks ? and to the outer reaches of the animal kingdom. Along the way, we meet the brilliant and eccentric experts who join Martins on his adventures and encounter not only parasites but their incredible variety of hosts, from hyraxes and hippos to, of course, the elusive human.Throughout history, parasites have been used to cure disease, seen as delicious delicacies, and feared among the most dangerous banes of existence. But there is much to learn about these critters yet, and Martins is just the person to take on the task. Immersive, entertaining, driven by a curiosity that's utterly infectious, Hidden Creatures has the magnetic force of a David Attenborough documentary and never ceases to surprise.
Hidden Creatures features in the following genres: Liz Robinson's Picks of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Popular Science, Wildlife: general interest, Evolution, Conservation of wildlife and habitats, Memoirs, The Earth: natural history: general interest, Biology, life sciences
Hidden Creatures is available in Hardback, Paperback
Hidden Creatures was written by Dino J. Martins and published by William Collins an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Hidden Creatures has 336 pages
