Sumner (behavioral ecology, Univ. Coll. London) argues that wasps are the least-loved, most enigmatic of insects. Designed as a defense of wasps, this book explores the lifespan, social behavior, and crucial roles these insects play in earth's ecology. She uses pasta—yes, pasta—as a way to explain evolution, the forms of a potato to explain pleiotropy, and a fictitious dinner with Aristotle to juxtapose past research studies with much-needed future scientific inquiries. Wasps are chemists, mathematicians, and, Sumner points out, less understood and studied than bees, who are really just wasps that have forgotten how to hunt. There are references to Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, an analogy about shopping for jeans, and an impressively accessible explanation for Hamilton's Rule, all bundled in with the historical narrative of key discoveries of earlier scientists (Jean-Henri Fabre; George and Elizabeth Peckham; Margaret Morley). Science-curious or garden-devoted readers of any level will emerge from Sumner's book with a better understanding of ecology and a new appreciation for wasps. VERDICT Sumner successfully makes the case for wasps in this engaging read with her deft humor, thorough research, and astute analogies.—Tina Panik

Entomologist Sumner debuts with a tour de force on the world of wasps, delving into their daily lives, economic value to society, and the important ecological niches they fill. Though they have a bad rap, the insects are full of surprises, Sumner writes. For example, they're the evolutionary precursor of both bees and ants, and their social structures feature "divisions of labour, rebellions and policing, monarchies, leadership contests... negotiators, social parasites, undertakers." Their genetics open the door to a deep consideration of the evolution of altruism, "one of the longest-standing puzzles in the natural sciences," Sumner writes, because their willingness to "sacrifice themselves to promote the survival of their relatives" is a central feature of the life of a hive. She recounts their reproductive strategies of paralyzing prey then laying eggs in the bodies, suggests that wasps and bees can recognize individual human faces, and extends her study into a clever calculation of the economic value of wasps, noting that they account for "almost 50 per cent of the 230 invertebrate species that are commercially used as biocontrol agents," which has an "estimated value of well over $400 billion a year." Funny, informative, and zippy, this is just the thing for budding entomologists. (July)