Dance of the Dung Beetles

Their Role in Our Changing World

By: Marcus Byrne, Helen Lunn

Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

The sweeping scientific and social history of the humble dung beetle.

In this sweeping history of more than 3,000 years, beginning with ancient Egypt, scientist Marcus Byrne and writer Helen Lunn capture the diversity of dung beetles and their unique behavior patterns. Dung beetles' fortunes have followed the shifts from a world dominated by a religion that symbolically incorporated them into some of its key concepts of rebirth, to a world in which science has largely separated itself from religion and alchemy. With more than 6,000 species found throughout the world, these unassuming but remarkable creatures are fundamental to some of humanity's most cherished beliefs and have been ever-present in religion, art, literature, science, and the environment. They are at the center of current gene research, play an important role in keeping our planet healthy, and some nocturnal dung beetles have been found to navigate by the starry skies. Outlining the development of science from the point of view of the humble dung beetle is what makes this charming story of immense interest to general listeners and entomologists alike.

©2019 Marcus Byrne and Helen Lunn (P)2020 Tantor

an interesting insight into a bug's life

Entomology is my least favorite biological science. This book somehow captured my imagination, regardless. I thoroughly enjoyed this title, coming from the perspective of a budding ecologist.

Fantastic

Very interesting, well written, good performance. I did slow the audio speed down just a little.

Padded and meandering

I am a reader that enjoys learning, I also enjoy learning about the thing a book advertises. I came to this book with excitement to learn about a little talked of animal but found a book that put the cart before the horse and talks about everything AROUND the scarabs, while the animal that is supposedly the subject of the book serves more as a throughline for other topics.

Religion, the lives of scientists, and other tangents feature more heavily in the book and it takes a long time to get to the meat of the eponymous insect. The book also has bizarre statements in it like Christopher Columbus believing he'd discovered the Garden of Eden when he arrived in the new world that, along with other strange religious fixations, make for me questioning the author's education and focus.

I have been hesitant to buy many books on insects because of their descriptions and summaries also giving the impression that they have more interest in other things. Whether it be an author wanting to talk about themselves, religion, society, or to some kind of environmental advocacy ( Which is important, but I'm already convinced, I want knowledge, not a political lecture), most of the books on insects are either not confident in their subject or not interested in their subject, like this one.

If you wish to read a book about insects, ACTUALLY, about insects, then buy Life on a Little Known Planet, the rare exception to this trend.

Small things csn be enormously important

The author takes you thrrough a wide variety of dung beetles and their interactions with wildlife and mankind. He discusses evolution of many organisms and ties them together with other organisms. He tells of adaptations in dung beetles, how some use the daytime sky and others use the Milky Way for navigating, how some are generalists and others specialize on the dung of a specific animal species. This is is a very intriguing and thought provoking look at dung beetles and the immense effect they make on our planet.

A bit too heavy on the history

This book was not quite what I expected. I have read books about bees and flies and ants and other invertebrates, and always enjoy them, so I was sure I would like this one too. Perhaps it is my fault for not giving consideration to the implications of the subtitle, but I was surprised to discover that it is rather anthropocentric. Most of the book is not about the natural history of dung beetles, but rather about their cultural significance, their position in early religions, how early explorers and taxonomists dealt with them. Not uninteresting, but not what I was expecting.
Despite this, there are many tangential forays into matters of biology and ecology, so that by the end of the book I certainly did also learn a reasonable amount about the creatures themselves. Unfortunately the book only gets three stars because wading through so much historical detail rather detracted from the experience. Had the book been written with the lives of the beetles front and centre, with titbits of historical background embedded throughout — rather than the reverse – it could easily have been a five-star read.
Lastly, I listened to the audiobook and was disappointed by how many words the narrator botched. Not just scientific terms but even relatively common words ('antipodes', 'arboreal'...) were mispronounced or stressed in ways that changed the meaning (eg: stressing the first syllable of 'frequent' even when used as a verb).

Who doesn't love a dung beetle?

Well narrated, informative and enjoyable. More dung beetle content please.

apparently I need more than 15 words to submit this review.