7 h 18 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What guides a wasp to hunt, a beetle to roll dung, or a spider to spin its web?
In Fabre's Book of Insects, Jean-Henri Fabre turns patient watching into small dramas. This collection draws from his Souvenirs Entomologiques, following wasps, beetles, spiders, bees and moths as they hunt, build and raise their young. The action unfolds among living creatures in the fields and in his walled garden in Provence.
Fabre watches closely, then uses simple experiments to test what he sees. A female wasp digs a burrow and seeks prey for her young. A sacred beetle shapes and rolls its ball of dung. Behind these daily tasks lies his central question: how much comes from instinct, and how much from thought?
What you’ll discover
- Life beyond the specimen Follow Fabre into the field, where living animals reveal more than pinned bodies.
- The hunting wasp's work Watch a solitary female prepare a burrow and find food for her young.
- A beetle's patient labour See the sacred beetle shape dung and push it backward across the ground.
- Instinct put to the test Explore how Fabre interrupts familiar routines to probe the limits of animal behaviour.
- Webs and wandering spiders Look closely at spiders' webs and the ways young spiders travel.
Who will love it
For curious readers, nature lovers, parents and teachers who enjoy real observation told as story, and anyone fascinated by how insects hunt, build and raise their young.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Watch the living animal, not the specimen
- Hunting wasps are precise surgeons
- Instinct is fixed, and tests show its limits
- The sacred beetle and the work of the dung roller
- Spiders, bees and moths have their own lessons
- Fabre's legacy and the arguments it faced
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- Audiobook
- 7 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Il libro degli insetti di Fabre
In a walled garden in Provence, Fabre watches insects hunt and build, testing where instinct ends and thought begins.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Jean-Henri Fabre was a French schoolteacher who spent his long life watching insects, and he wrote about them with a patience few scientists have matched. Fabre's Book of Insects gathers some of his best-loved studies, drawn from the ten volumes of his Souvenirs Entomologiques, which he published between 1879 and 1907.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Watch the living animal, not the specimen
Fabre studies living insects both outdoors and in cages where he can watch them closely. In his day many naturalists worked in museums, sorting dead insects by the shape of their bodies. He wanted to know habits, and habits can only be seen by waiting.
So he waited. It became his open-air laboratory.
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What is Fabre's Book of Insects about?
It collects short studies by Jean-Henri Fabre on the lives of insects, including wasps, beetles, spiders, bees and caterpillars. He describes how they hunt, build nests and raise young, based on years of direct observation.
Who was Jean-Henri Fabre?
Fabre was a French schoolteacher and naturalist who studied insects in the field. He is best known for the Souvenirs Entomologiques, a long series of books that made insect behaviour accessible to general readers.
Is Fabre's Book of Insects hard to read?
No. The chapters are short and told like stories, with plain descriptions and simple experiments. A general reader can follow them without any training in biology.
The author
Jean-Henri Fabre
1823–1915 · French entomologist and author
Jean-Henri Fabre was a French naturalist and entomologist, often called the "Homer of the insects" for turning patient observation into literature. The Story Book of Science shows his rare gift for making the natural world thrilling to young readers.
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