Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps
Seirian Sumner
(William collins, 384 PP, £20)
Tablet bookshop price £18 • tel 020 7799 4064

We humans love bees, are deeply fascinated by ants, but rarely seem to have a good word for wasps. We see them only as picnic-wreckers, sugar-junkies and vindictive stingers. Why? The answer, according to Seirian Sumner, entomologist and professor of behavioural ecology at University College London, is that we know absolutely nothing about them. If we knew about their essential role on the planet, their almost endless diversity of form and formidable architectural skills, then our fear would be replaced with awe and affection. This book aims to fill this knowledge gap. And succeeds tremendously.