An Obsession With Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair With A Singular Insect
by Sharman Apt Russell /
2003 / English / PDF
1.7 MB Download
Sharman Apt Russell again blends her lush voice and keen
scientific eye in this marvelous book about butterflies. From
Hindu mythology to Aztec sacrifices, butterflies have served as a
metaphor for resurrection and transformation. Even during World
War II, children in a Polish death camp scratched hundreds of
butterflies onto the walls of their barracks. But as Russell
points out in this rich and lyrical meditation, butterflies are
above all objects of obsession. From the beastly horned
caterpillar, whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock
butterfly, with wings that hiss like a snake, Russell traces the
butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures'
own obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. In this way,
she reveals the logic behind our endless fascination with
butterflies as well as the driving passion of such legendary
collectors as the tragic Eleanor Glanville, whose children
declared her mad because of her compulsive butterfly collecting,
and the brilliant Henry Walter Bates, whose collections from the
Amazon in 1858 helped develop his theory of mimicry in nature.
Russell also takes us inside some of the world's most prestigious
natural history museums, where scientists painstakingly catalogue
and categorize new species of Lepidoptera, hoping to shed light
on insect genetics and evolution. A luminous journey through an
exotic world of obsession and strange beauty, this is a book to
be treasured by anyone who's ever watched a butterfly mid-flight
and thought, as Russell has, "I've entered another dimension."
Sharman Apt Russell again blends her lush voice and keen
scientific eye in this marvelous book about butterflies. From
Hindu mythology to Aztec sacrifices, butterflies have served as a
metaphor for resurrection and transformation. Even during World
War II, children in a Polish death camp scratched hundreds of
butterflies onto the walls of their barracks. But as Russell
points out in this rich and lyrical meditation, butterflies are
above all objects of obsession. From the beastly horned
caterpillar, whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock
butterfly, with wings that hiss like a snake, Russell traces the
butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures'
own obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. In this way,
she reveals the logic behind our endless fascination with
butterflies as well as the driving passion of such legendary
collectors as the tragic Eleanor Glanville, whose children
declared her mad because of her compulsive butterfly collecting,
and the brilliant Henry Walter Bates, whose collections from the
Amazon in 1858 helped develop his theory of mimicry in nature.
Russell also takes us inside some of the world's most prestigious
natural history museums, where scientists painstakingly catalogue
and categorize new species of Lepidoptera, hoping to shed light
on insect genetics and evolution. A luminous journey through an
exotic world of obsession and strange beauty, this is a book to
be treasured by anyone who's ever watched a butterfly mid-flight
and thought, as Russell has, "I've entered another dimension."
