The Man Who Loved Wasps

A Howard Ensign Evans Reader

by Howard Ensign Evans

$17.00

SKU: 9781555663506
Purchase at Bookshop.org

Edited by Mary Alice Evans

Foreword by Edward O. Wilson

As the world’s leading authority on wasps, Howard Ensign Evans’ lifelong study of this creature was only one aspect of his life as an acclaimed scientist and author. For readers, he illuminated the otherworldly lives of humble creatures in such popular books as Life on a Little-Known Planet, Wasp Farm, and Pioneer Naturalists.

Evans was a master entomologist who seems only to have been truly comfortable in places where the bugs called; there he found his beauty, his magic and his poetry. In this collection, which he completed just before his death at 83, it appears Evans knew all 900,000 species of his gems that to others were only insects, along with the lowly magpie and the birds of Australia as well.

 

Categories: , , Product ID: 2458

Additional information

Imprint

Johnson Books

Author

ISBN

9781555663506

Format

Paperback

Pages

208

Size

5.5 x 8.5

The Author

Howard Ensign Evans

Howard Ensign Evans

Born in East Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Archie and Adella (Ensign) Evans, he developed an interest in natural history, and insects in particular, as a child on his parents' tobacco farm. He attended the University of Connecticut, and obtained his Ph.D. from Cornell University. During World War II, he served as an army parasitologist, doing pioneering work on the Giardia parasite while stationed in St. John's, Newfoundland. He held academic positions at Kansas State University, Cornell University, Harvard University and Colorado State University. Evans's passions included field biology, writing, teaching, the American West, backpacking, fishing, classical music, environmental conservation, and his family. Howard and Mary Alice Evans raised three children. He was short listed in 1964 for the National Book Award for Wasp Farm. His work includes 255 scientific papers, 40 popular articles and 15 books, including Wasp Farm and The Pleasures of Entomology. He coauthored the book Wasps with Mary Jane West-Eberhard. Several of his books, including Life on a Little Known Planet, are among the most popular works on entomology for a general audience. His publications also include works on the history of biology, Australian natural history, and the American West; in addition, he published an entomology textbook and a volume of poetry. Several books were co-authored with his wife, Mary Alice (Dietrich) Evans (1921-2014), including William Morton Wheeler: BiologistAustralia: a Natural History, and Cache La Poudre: the Natural History of a River. Some of his most noteworthy essays for popular audiences were published posthumously as The Man Who Loved Wasps: A Howard Ensign Evans Reader. Also published posthumously was The Sand Wasps: Natural History and Behavior, completed by Kevin M. O'Neill from notes left by Evans.

You may also like…