Imagine this scene: you are sitting in an intricately carved chair, rocking back and forth to the rhythm of music from a bygone era. Your clothes are comfortable and colourful, your hair is perfectly in place, and there are oil paintings and textiles on the walls. Wood furniture, trim, and floors glimmer with a waxen sheen.
Everything around you is composed of or inspired by bugs. Renowned entomologist Dr. Barrett Klein has been examining such a scene, focusing on the phenomenon of how humans and insects relate on a cultural level in her forthcoming new book, titled The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture (Timber Press | Hachette; Oct 15, 2024, $35 hardcover).
The book is a guide to cultural entomology. Klein studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, fabricated natural history exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, worked with honeybees for his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin. In the book, Klein argues that our world , from the physical reality to the artistic conceptualisation, would look very different if we did not have insects.
This is not because many are pollinators who play a crucial role in our environments, but also because insects inspire so many aspects of our culture. Throughout the pages Klein celebrates biodiversity and the intersection of science and art and believes fully that embracing the beauty of insects can transform our lives and our world. “The spellbinding diversity .