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Rating: 
Summary: Much More Than Roaches!
Review: Gabi Ogg's review is on the money. Plus, this book, to my surprise, was about much, much more than cockroaches. You'll also learn perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about Managua, Nicaragua's, outcast waifs, the cockroaches of human society. They sniff rivers of glue manufactured by an apparently rather cold-hearted American company. The author uses cockroaches as a stepping off point to discuss poverty and other thoughtful issues. A mentally crunchy book, not unlike the subject matter itself.
Rating:
Summary: A Much-Maligned Evolutionary Wonder
Review: OK, I admit I used to be among the majority who reacted in revulsion to these creatures and whose first instinct was to squash it--quickly!Reading Schweid's fascinating book changed all that. The highly adaptable cockroach will probably outlive humans. They're perfectly designed scavengers and extremely good at proliferating their species. The book combines a mixture of fact, anecdotes and fictional excerpts that explore the nature & habits of the cockroach as well as its uneasy relationship with humanity. One of a selective number of books I actually had to buy. And, as a footnote, on a recent trip to D.C., I went to the Smithsonian and held a giant Madgascar hissing cockroach. And I like it!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: There are fascinating random factoids on nearly every page. My coworkers and most friends don't care to hear all my new knowledge, unfortunately. Not exactly cocktail party chitchat. But extremely interesting to learn about. Mating habits, nervous systems, favorite foods, pheromones,molting, it's all here!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This was one of the most engaging non-fiction books I've ever read. Cockroaches, at first glance, may seem a rather obscure topic for a book, but this book intersperses various hard-hitting side-excursions (such as lives of stunted glue-sniffing kids in Nicaragua, prostitutes in Mexican border towns), humor (how to smuggle a jar of huge cockroaches through customs), and political commentary (New York urban housing) with a series of topical essays. The chapters are loosely organized around themes such as cockroach anatomy (these critters are truly out of a science-fiction novel!), sex lives (another eye-opening one, with a flip-book "video" inserted to show the details), infestations (a Southern home with 75,000 of them dropping onto cooking pots), and our attempts to erraticate them. It is written for a general non-science reader in the style of magazine articles (but not censored, or for the squeemish). Enjoy it, then look in the dark corners of your home!
Rating:
Summary: Not for reading while eating
Review: This was one of the most engaging non-fiction books I've ever read. Cockroaches, at first glance, may seem a rather obscure topic for a book, but this book intersperses various hard-hitting side-excursions (such as lives of stunted glue-sniffing kids in Nicaragua, prostitutes in Mexican border towns), humor (how to smuggle a jar of huge cockroaches through customs), and political commentary (New York urban housing) with a series of topical essays. The chapters are loosely organized around themes such as cockroach anatomy (these critters are truly out of a science-fiction novel!), sex lives (another eye-opening one, with a flip-book "video" inserted to show the details), infestations (a Southern home with 75,000 of them dropping onto cooking pots), and our attempts to erraticate them. It is written for a general non-science reader in the style of magazine articles (but not censored, or for the squeemish). Enjoy it, then look in the dark corners of your home!
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