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Title: The Thermal Warriors: Strategies of Insect Survival by Bernd Heinrich ISBN: 0-674-88341-1 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating!!!
Comment: Really neat info on how insects keep warm/cool down and why they move in those ways - shivering, bouncing, etc. The text is really easy to read and interesting to get into - the drawings sprinkled in throughout help make understanding that much easier. I don't have a science background - just have an insatiable hunger to learn about our natural world and this book definitely filled one corner of that hunger......Ever see a dragonfly stand up like its doing a headstand? Well its not because it like the head rush (or maybe that too but the book doesn't talk to that) - the reason they do that is on p. 66 - "When the sun is directly overhead some dragonflies assume the 'oblisk' position, which minimizes surface area exposed to solar heating while maximizing the area available for convective cooling." ....all to say, it was a hot day and the dragonfly needed to cool down :) Excellent book!
Rating: 5
Summary: Unusual topic well presented
Comment: The thermodynamics of insects, from flight and thermoregulation to "thermal wars" between predator and prey. This is fascinating hard science presented in a user-friendly format. Short and pithy.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent information, easy to understand
Comment: Bernd Heinrich has brought us yet another book that appeals both to the complete layperson and the scientist and provides enough detail and entertainment to keep both happy. The Thermal Warriors provides a fascinating look into the details of insect thermodynamics. Did you know that bees and most other flying insects have to shiver their muscles to warm-up their engines before flying because their flight muscles are adapted to work best at flight temperatures? Did you know that some butterflies have to stop and rest frequently on even moderately sunny days to keep from overheating?
Heinrich has taken his in-depth experience in this field and created a summary version for those that want to know more, but don't have any interest in wading through a 600 page monolith. The book is split up into different "problems" that insects must overcome to achieve flight, be active in different environments, and utilize different body shapes and sizes. He explains the physics of the various problems encountered and adaptations to overcome the problems in an easy to read manner. He frequently uses car engine analogies to help things make more sense.
My only qualm with this book is that it was over too soon!
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Title: Winter World : The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich ISBN: 0060197447 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: In a Patch of Fireweed by Bernd Heinrich ISBN: 0674445511 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: One Man's Owl by Bernd Heinrich, Alice Calaprice ISBN: 0691000654 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 13 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: The Trees in My Forest by Bernd Heinrich ISBN: 0060929421 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Why We Run: A Natural History by Bernd Heinrich ISBN: 0060958707 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 07 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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