Staff Review: The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World by Oliver Milman

Milman details the frightening decline of insects in this book citing the UN assessment and other dire warnings that half a million insect species are under threat of extinction. Without intervention, more
tracts of land will become biodiversity desserts and the whole chain of life will be disrupted and endangered, from the disappearance of insect-eating birds and animals to plants which need pollination
to continue growing to the humans who would not survive the loss of food and become buried under the accumulation of dead materials which would not decompose. Severe insect declines are likely to
have global ecological and economic consequences but there seems to be minimal response to this threat, even as most people can verify “the windshield effect” of comparing the number of bug splatters
on their cars today versus what they remember seeing in the recent past. Milman does offer hope through his descriptions of what actions are helpful and taken by those who recognize the fundamental necessity of the biodiversity of invertebrates and the book provides both a tribute to the amazing abilities and value of insect life and our need to acknowledge and care for their continued existence.

Place your hold on The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World by Oliver Milman today!

Review written by: Angela Meady, Director of Collections at TBPL