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Bug Book Recommendations

Bug Books & Websites : Resources for the Ent-thusiast

(Compiled by Sharon J. Collman (WSU Extension, Retired))

Entomology and Insect Identification

(A fairly comprehensive list of other scientific or taxonomic guides is listed at The Bug Guide website.

Insects – General

(For the Pacific Northwest – these insect guides are recommended.)

  • Kaufman’s Guide to Insects of North America. 2007.
    Ken Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton. ISBN-13/EAN: 9780618153107; $18.95
    ISBN-10: 0618153101. 392 pages
  • Insects of the Pacific Northwest
    Haggard and Haggard. Timber Press.
  • The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories (Paperback). by Robert Michael Pyle (Author), Idie Ulsh (Photographer), David Nunnallee (Photographer)
    Seattle Audubon, publisher.
  • An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles. Arthur Evans and Charles L. Bellamy
  • Simon and Schuster’s Guide to the Insects. 1981. Ross H. Arnett, Jr. and Richard L. Jaques, Jr. Simon and Schuster. ISBN: 0-671-25014-0 (pb).
  • The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. 1980. Lorus and Margery Milne. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0-394-50763-0.
  • Rodale’s Color Handbook of Garden Insects. 1979. Anna Carr. Rodale Press, Inc. ISBN: 0-87857-250-3
  • The Practical Entomologist. Rick Imes. Simon and Schuster Fireside Book
  • A Golden Nature Guide: Insects. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X.
  • A Golden Nature Guide: Insect Pests. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X.
  • A Golden Nature Guide: Spiders and Their Kin. Golden Press, Western Publishing

Butterflies

  • The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories (Paperback).
    by Robert Michael Pyle (Author), Idie Ulsh (Photographer), David Nunnallee (Photographer)
    Seattle Audubon, publisher.
  • Watching Washington Butterflies by Robert Michael Pyle.
    1974. Seattle Audubon Society.
  • Butterflies Afield by W.A. Neill and D.J. Hepburn.
    1976. Pacific Search.
  • A Field Guide to the Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest by James R. Christensen.
    1981. University of Idaho Press.
  • The Butterflies of Oregon by E.J. Dornfield.
    1980. Timber Press.
  • “Butterflies in the Arboretum” by B.J.D. Meeuse.
    1976. Arboretum Bulletin 39(2):2-9 and 39(3):16-23.
  • Audubon Society Field Guide to the Butterflies by Robert Michael Pyle.
    1981. Alfred A. Knopf.
  • Butterflies and Moths by Robert T. Mitchell and Herbert S. Zim.
    1977. Golden Press.
  • A Golden Nature Guide: Butterflies and Moths. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X

Diagnosis Books (with good color photos)

  • Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs by Whitney Cranshaw. Princeton Field Guides
  • Insects that Feed on Trees and Shrubs. 1991. Warren T. Johnson, and Howard H. Lyons. Cornell University Press. 560pp. ISBN: 0-8014-1515-9

Websites

  • Bug Guide Website
  • Buggy Websites: This list of websites was compiled by Dave Pehling, WSU Snohomish County Extension (Retired). Many websites are themselves comprehensive lists of other insect sites; especially those with .edu in the URL.
  • Scarabs – the Bug Society website

For A Good Read

Nonfiction

  • Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs by Sue Hubbell. 1993. Random House. ISBN: 0-679-40062-1
  • Insects Did It 1st by Roger Akre, Greg Paulsen and E. Paul Catts. 1992. YeGalleon Press, Fairfield, Wa. ISBN: 0-87770-517-8
  • Life on a Little-Known Planet by Howard Ensign Evans. 1968. E.P. Dutton. ISBN: 0-525-47493-5
    • Also by Howard Ensign Evans
      • Wasp Farm;
      • The Pleasures of Entomology;
      • Pioneer Naturalists:
      • The Discovery and Naming of North American Plants and Animals (Paperback)
  • The Man Who Loved Wasps: A Howard Ensign Evans Reader by Howard Ensign Evans, Mary Alice Evans, and Edward O. Wilson (Paperback – May 30, 2004)
  • Ninety-Nine Gnats, Nits and Nibblers by May R. Berenbaum. 1989. University of Illinois. ISBN: 0-252-06027-X (pb).
    • Berenbaum has also written:
      • Buzzwords: A Scientist Muses on Sex, Bugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll,
      • Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs;
      • Ninety-nine More Maggots, Mites, and Munchers and others
  • Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
    • Autobiographical but also enjoyable facts about ants in the process;
      • Includes info on how to keep a colony of ants in a Formicarium.
  • To Know a Fly by Vincent. 1962. G. Dethier. Holden-Day, San Francisco. Library of Congress: 62-21838
    • An account of research on fly biology and behavior with a bit of humor to keep it enjoyable.
  • The World of the Tent-Makers: A Natural History of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar
    by Vincent Gaston Dethier; Dethier follows the life of the eastern tent caterpillar within the context of the environment surrounding their tree, and weaves in research along the way.
  • Living Garden: The 400-Year History of an English Garden by George Ordish.
    • Ordish also wrote
      • The Constant Pest: A Short History of Pests and Their Control
      • The Living American House: The 350 Year Story of a Home, an Ecological History John Curtis and the Pioneering of Pest Control (The Great innovators)
      • The Year of the Butterfly
      •  The Year of the Ant.
  • A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm by Edwin Way Teale and Ann Haymond Zwinger.
    • Other books by Edwin Way Teale are also worth reading.
  • Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage. by Robert Michael Pyle
    Other books by Robert Michael Pyle include:

    • Wintergreen
    • Listening to the Land’s Heart
    • The Thunder Tree: Lessons from Urban and Wildland
    • Nabokov’s Butterflies
  • The Sacred Beetle and Others by Jean-Henri Fabre who also wrote
    • The Life of the Spider
    • Glowworm and Other Beetles,
    • The Life of the Scorpion,
    • The Life of the Weevil and many more plus
    • Fabre’s Insects – superbly illustrated by Detmold.

Notable and Enjoyable Fiction Based on Insect Facts

  • Ned Kelly and the City of Bees by Thomas Keneally and Stephen Ryan
  • Trouble in Bugland: A collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries by William Kotzwinkle, and illustrated by Joe Servello. (Godine Storyteller – paperback)
  • A Rustle in the Grass by Robin Hawdon;
    • An allegory for war or an account of ant life with ants as the characters
    • Gives a reasonably good account of ant behavior and is an enjoyable read.