The Science of Entomology, Third Edition

Abstract

Have you ever leafed through recently published textbooks used in introductory biology courses throughout this country's universities? If you have, then you undoubtedly recognize the high-quality, glossy print and extensive use of color plates, diagrams, summarizing tables, and highlighting techniques. The presentation of material in these books is quite creative and, from one perspective, seems to be almost in the form of a game beckoning students to play. I suppose the reason for the myriad of quality general biology texts is the highly competitive nature resulting from the seemingly limitless number of students required to take freshman biology. Of course, this situation is nonexistent in the more specialized field of entomology, and so I began reading the third edition of The Science of Entomology with some trepidation. However, after reading just the preface and introduction, my misgivings began to dissolve and thoughts about the possibility of an entomology text rivaling those of which I just spoke began to emerge.