The Insect Crisis

The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World

By: Oliver Milman

Narrated by: James Lailey

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

From ants scurrying under leaf litter to bees able to fly higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, insects are everywhere. Three out of every four of our planet’s known animal species are insects.

In The Insect Crisis, acclaimed journalist Oliver Milman dives into the torrent of recent evidence that suggests this kaleidoscopic group of creatures is suffering the greatest existential crisis in its remarkable 400-million-year history. What is causing the collapse of the insect world?

Why does this alarming decline pose such a threat to us?

And what can be done to stem the loss of the miniature empires that hold aloft life as we know it?

©2022 Oliver Milman (P)2022 Audible, Ltd

Disturbing

Too much management time is spent on mega fauna and we forget about the little things in nature. The book makes an important point, although not directly, that conservation practice must take place across the whole landscape. I enjoyed the read.

Painfully Depressing

As a global account global insect die offs, this book felt more like an accumulation of feature articles turned into a book for profit than an actual argument with any vision. Certain things get spoon fed to you, and the same metaphors are used repeatedly. Sometimes while listening to this book i found myself wondering: " school kids know that. How stupid does this author think his audience is?"

The elderly hyped up white-man narrator also becomes fairly unbearable after three hours. He seems to be quietly yelling at you by the end of the listen. His impersonations of national accents were also atrocious. Old white men should be banned from trying to impersonate other genders and different ethnicities. Just read the book James. You are not Kevin Spacey and nobody should expect you to be.

While worth listening to, my advice is to shop around. Silent Earth is also on audible. It is about the exact same problem and equally depressing. But it is written and read by a field ecologist, and makes for a more meaningful experience.