"We humans have a word for the feeling, whether actual or imagined, that creepy invertebrates are crawling over our skin. That word is formication, and the implied sense of horror and fascination, contends Richard Conniff, is something many of us actually crave. His Spineless Wonders presents an "unabashed wallow in the joy of formication." Spineless Wonders is an engaging, sophisticated, and humorous mix of natural history and human lore. Through his journalistic assignments, Richard Conniff has been in contact with invertebrates for more than twenty years - tarantulas in the upper Amazon region, dragonflies in Arizona, squid in Florida, and flies on the rim of his beer glass. Discoveries about the extraordinary habits and idiosyncrasies of the moth, the leech, the ant, and the slime eel are opening new frontiers in the exploration of our natural universe. Spineless Wonders takes us directly to these wild and wonderful outposts to observe the hazards of being around invertebrates, the bizarre adaptations that enable them to survive in the world, and also the astonishing work they do - work that enables us to survive. Conniff details as well his often hilarious encounters with the highly intelligent and eccentric people who study these creatures and their history. Throughout, he recounts many amazing but true tales of formication, both recoiling from his subjects and marveling at their perfection." -- Dust Jacket.
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