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| View Larger Image | Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe
by Andrew Spielman Sc.D., Michael D'Antonio
| | List Price: | $17.95 |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 102486 | | Studio: | Hyperion | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 256 | | Publication Date: | December 31, 1969 | | Publisher: | Hyperion |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In this lively and comprehensive portrait of the mosquito, its role in history, and its threat to mankind, Spielman and DAntonio take a mosquitos-eye view of nature and man. They show us how mosquitoes breed, live, mate, and die, and introduce us to their enemies, both natural and man-made. The authors present tragic and often grotesque examples of how the mosquito has insinuated itself into human history, from the malaria that devastated invaders of ancient Rome to the current widespread West Nile fever panic. Filled with little-known facts and remarkable anecdotes that bring this tiny being into larger focus, Mosquito offers fascinating, alarming, and convincing evidence that the sooner we get to know this pesky insect, the better off well be. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 6 reviews)
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william 
TO read the book is very good to let the commoment people know something about mosquito and the protection methods.
February 01, 2008 | |
Didn't answer my question 
I had only one question I wanted answered by this book -- why do mosquitos bite some people (such as me!) and not others. It was never addressed.
September 29, 2005 | |
Don't bite on this superficial treatment! 
I wanted to like this book, and the first chapter, I admit, was . . . well, infectious! But after chapter 2, the writing (col)lapsed into repetition, general assertions,vague hand-waving, and lack of descriptive, telling details, both scientific or anecdotal. The tone and diction are inconsistent, now scholarly, detached language, now cautionary common slang. Unbelievably,one of the key terms -- "disease vector" -- is never even defined!! This book reads like a C+ term paper hastily pulled from the internet, which is especially puzzling and disappointing considering the impressive authorial credentials (one is a leading researcher on mosquito-borne diseases!). What's more, Hyperion appears to have released what appears to be the same book under ***two different titles***: "A Natural History of Our Most Persistent and Deadly Foe" and "The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe" (and shouldn't that be "Humanity's" or "Our" deadliest foe??), except that this "Story of ..." title doesn't have photos. Don't waste your time on this one.
December 05, 2003 | |
Okay, but there are better books on microbial disease
Perhaps I was merely spoiled by the book I read right before reading this one (Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif), but I found this book thoroughly mediocre both in content and style. The author constantly shifts between 3rd person narrator/teacher, man-on-the-scene, and editorializer, without spending sufficient time as any one of them. In fact, I was often disappointed by the brevity with which each of the book's subtopics was explored. It weighs in at a sparse ~225 pages, large print. Unless you have a particular interest in mosquitoes, I instead recommend Microbe Hunters, a classic (1926?) book on some of the important scientists and discoveries in the early history of microbiology.
August 27, 2003 | |
Interesting though not always fun 
This book was written by a scientist and a journalist yet it was never clear to me what the contribution of the journalist was. The book writing showed knowledge, but not skills. The few attempts to make the reading captivating felt forced.The content was great however and it was never tedious. It is just that some books really get you captivated regardless of the topic and this is not one of those books. I wish it had covered a bit more about the different types of mosquitoes, and a bit more about their lives (only first 2 or 3 chapters do so). But it is still a worthwhile read. It talks a lot about the deadly diseases that are spread by mosquitoes and humans' long lasting battle against them.
July 02, 2003 | |
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