The Man who Loved Wasps

Read the most by: boys and girls

A Howard Ensign Evans Reader As the world's leading authority on wasps, Howard Ensign Evans' lifelong study of this creature was only one aspect of his life as an acclaimed scientist and author. For readers, he illuminated the otherworldly lives of humble creatures in such popular books as Life on a Little-Known Planet, Wasp Farm, and Pioneer Naturalists. Before his death in 2002 at the age of 83, Evans and his wife and frequent collaborator, Mary Alice Evans, assembled this final collection of essays (many previously published) in The Man Who Loved Wasps. From Evans' observations at "Wasp Farm," to his admiration for the magpie or his fascination with fireflies, to the amusingly entitled "Intellectual and Emotional World of the Cockroach," each essay reveals the natural world, described by one for whom its magic never diminished. For Evans, the great mysteries, the great discoveries were not to be found in outer space: "I am an astronaut, walking on the best of planets, seeing things never seen before." It is fitting that in this final book, readers are once more transported by his wide-ranging expeditions, which include his first backyard in Ithaca, New York; numerous rivers, canyons, and rock outcroppings in the West; his backyard in the Colorado Rockies; and the wilds of Australia.