Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration

If you are a naturalist, homeschooler, teacher, or just fascinated with ants themselves this is THE book to read. Learn how ants are farmers, tend "livestock" and form super organisms; how they communicate, mate, and migrate. Discover the variety of homes they make, defenses they have formed and connections to the natural world they have created. You will not be disappointed.

I have the author's award winning, "The Ants" and it is truly the landmark book on all things Ants. But it is big and difficult for a non-scientist to read through. I recommend it, nonetheless. This book, however, is a wonderful distillation of the key points from the bigger book. It was specificilly written to engage a non-expert on the wonderful and amazing creatures called Ants. They succeed admirably in their attempt to impart good science and information about ants, but they succeed even better in their attempt to write an engaging, thrilling, intellectually stimulating book. Everyone who has the slightest appreciation of nature and love of learning will like this book. Adults can read it straight through, younger readers can sample at will, and younger children will love the pictures and short "readings to". This is one of the best non-technical science books I've read.

There are only a few writers who truly capture the natural world's complex structure, presenting it in a readable manner. Edward Wilson is one of these. Here, he's joined by Bert Holldobler in picturing one of our world's more enigmatic creatures - the ants. This book is a joy to read, whether you seriously study evolution or simply want a grander picture of life's mysteries. This book is a collector's item in reviewing what is known about ants and calling on students to consider how much remains to be studied.The ants are one of the dominant forms of life on this planet. They've spread to nearly every environmental niche, adapting their habits and colony structure successfully. Wilson and Holldobler willingly convey their awe at this variety to anyone wishing to share it. Among the amazing accounts they relate, perhaps two stand out. The finding of the earliest known fossil specimens by a New Jersey family, and the night-foraging ants of Australia. Holldobler and Wilson's journeys have taken them to remote sites around the planet. They have a fine sense of how to bring the reader into their camps and excursions, sharing their discoveries and their tribulations. Along the way, we learn how ants form their colonies, breed, forage, make war and enslave or absorb their fellows or other creatures. "Ants all look the same to the naked eye" they state, then show what a fallacy it is to continue believing that outlook. Beginning as solitary ground wasps, the ants have become one of the most complex social creatures in life. Their colonies range from simple bivouacs to huge structures. They can remove tonnes of soil to build a nest or range over extensive territories, terrifying even people with waves of migrating insects.Anyone seeking to understand even a little of the diversity of life should own this book.

This book is easy to read. Could easily be used by elementary, middle school, and secondary school teachers to prepare a number of interesting lessons and scientific projects. Not only can insects (ants in particular, of course) but society, community, non-linguistic communication, evolution, and putting the universe into a size perspective provides many areas for class discussion. "Ants are oblivious to human existence." An incredible statement that will spark great conversation. Ants do not even know we are here! And they wont miss us when we are gone. After we have destroyed our natural habitat, they will continue to live in their microwildernesses. Text also provides a brief chapter on how to collect and observe ants and ant colonies. I am a language teacher but found reading this text simple and interesting.

This book was pleasant and rewarding to read. I came to it via The Naturalist, then Consilience, next Biophilia. It's as well written as each of these, and it shares many broad themes with them. It's different, of course, in the narrow focus, and that yields a different kind of pleasure. Most remarkable to me were the following: the extreme refinements in co-evolution of certain symbiotic species, the genetic basis of the ant's social behavior, the power of Darwinian theory to explain social behavior, and simply the importance of ants. Another pleasure of the book is the occasional insights it offers into the authors' work habits and experimental methods. The book is easily accessible to the lay person. In fact, it's an easy read. The other books of his mentioned above are also excellent.