Overview– About the author – Flick through – How it evolved – Endorsements and reviews
Overview
What Insect are You? – Entomology for Everyone is a book on insects for all ages. It celebrates insects in their awe-inspiring diversity and beauty. The book is packed with both entertainment and solid science, that aim to inform, delight and encourage further exploration.
The book acquaints the reader with all 30 main insect groups, explains how they live, how their bodies work, the amazing things they do, how they reproduce, hunt, work together and protect themselves, how they affect us (good and bad), how important they are in nature, why we should protect them and how.
The author
Find my bio on the Meet the Team page. I may be a trained entomologist, but my love affair with insects is personal. I am a hobby photographer and was a home-schooler. I live with husband and three children in Durban, South Africa. I consider myself an ‘enthusiast’ rather than an ‘expert’, always eager to learn more.
Flick through
How it evolved
What Insect are You? is the product of my various passions: insects, nature, photography, writing, passing on knowledge, and people – especially children (not necessarily in that order).
I wrote this book to bring joy to me and hopefully to others. It was a hobby project, a labour of love and an act of worship. I love everything that ‘lives and moves and has its being’, and I adore the creator of it all. With this book I want to share that passion.
It all started back in 2005 with little Emilie, a girl who loved insects. For her 6th birthday I wanted to make her a little book and share with her … well, the basics of entomology. I soon realized it was a bigger project than I had anticipated, but it was fun, so I persevered. Insects for Emilie was ready in time for Emilie’s 7th birthday. Then what?
A little booklet is sweet, but a bigger book is better. I decided to carry on. On the 16th of October 2006 I stumbled across the magic of macro photography (using my grandfather’s old magnifying glass), and started taking insect photos. The plagiarized photos in Insects for Emilie got replaced with my own photos. The text grew and evolved. In fact, very little of the original booklet survived. Information got referenced, pictures from other people got credited properly.
The book then got properly reviewed by three experts: Prof Denis Brothers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal – my old entomology lecturer, Lynne Matthews (author of the Animals of Southern Africa series) and Kirstin Williams (Curator of Entomology at the Durban Natural Science Museum).
By April 2016 it was nearing completion, and I got a test copy printed by Amazon CreateSpace. The print quality was not great, but it was satisfying to have a hard copy. With it I attended the Durban Self-Publishing Summit. After putting the finishing touches on it, I ordered 100 copies from a local printing company. In November I was invited to present the book at our municipal eThekwini Biodiversity Forum. It got a warm reception, was endorsed by the Senior Environmental Technician, and the first ten copies were sold.
What I thought was the end (a finished book), turned out to be only the beginning. Writing a book is nice, but not enough. I wanted to reach out to people, and share my passion, in person. In December 2016 I invited a group of homeschoolers to an outdoors insect event. What fun! Then, through the Biodiversity Forum, I got invited to present at the Durban Botanic Gardens. One event led to another. The first 100 copies sold out. I got another 100 copies printed, and they sold out also.
Still I wasn’t satisfied. A book is nice, events are better, but I wanted to reach even more people with important messages about nature, biodiversity, and the important role of insects. I started working on a lesson plan, an enrichment programme for biology. I pitched the idea to CASME, and together we approached WESSA. We got as far as signing a Memorandum of Understanding, and submitting a joint funding proposal (which was not successful).
But then reality caught up with me. After several years of homeschooling, my children rejoined the mainstream school system. Our family needed a second income, and I had to go back to work. The enrichment programme got shelved, and I turned to… climate change. I hope to revive it one day.
Book reviews
“Your book, ‘What Insect are You’, is BRILLIANT. It makes learning science so interesting and relevant to our lives. Learners of all ages, who reads this book, will love it. It is easy to read, even with all the scientific concepts in it. It is a comprehensive book on insects which will inspire learners to love science and more importantly, to choose Life Sciences as a subject to study in the FET band. It has beautiful pictures. I can recognize your passion for insects in the way you have explained concepts and written the text explaining the pictures. I recommend that every school and public library in South Africa have a few copies of your wonderful book.”
—Sagie Pillay, Life Science Subject Advisor, Department of Education
“What a photographic feast and an inspiration!!!”
“Dr Craig’s book is a stunning introduction to the world of insects in South Africa. Not only is it beautifully presented but it is also immensely engaging. The young have an intrinsic interest in insects and this book is a way to capture their imagination from an early age, and to steer them into appreciating and even acting upon insect conservation. It is so important to get this book circulated as widely as possible to bring on board the new generation of conservationists.”
—Prof Michael Samways, Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University
“The book was sitting on my desk when I had a learner (age 12, Gr 6) in my office, and when I showed it to her her eyes literally lit up in excitement. I asked if she likes learning about insects and she nodded very enthusiastically. There was no “selling” needed — she spent the next 45 minutes engrossed in the book.”
—Martha Bishai, Director, The Umkhumbane Schools Project, Cato Manor township, Durban
“I’m in the UK with my Granny and she LOVES the book! She’s already half way through, and I only gave it to her last night.”
—Jess
“I lost my fear of insects!”
—Dunja, mother of three
“She makes the story of insects sound like an exciting drama… Her photos – most of them her own – …catch the insects in interesting, sometimes compromising situations which provide a peek into their everyday battle for survival… She skillfully weaves this into a continuous narrative. Rather than just listing facts, she projects all her own enthusiasm onto a thrilling story, and she is not beyond a regular touch of humour… It is the first book of this kind which I have actually read from cover to cover. My attitude to insects, their uses, and their vital importance to the ecosystem has made a 180-degree turn.”
—Marianne, age 68
“The book contributes in raising awareness and educating people about insects and their importance in provision of ecosystem goods and services. The book is the first of its kind that is able to catch the child and adult’s mind while communicating different insect species, their importance in the entire ecosystem and food web. More so the book tells a story of insects written in a friendly, reader-catching style. The author has succeeded in making science interesting for readers of all ages and I would recommend that this book be included in some curricula for kids at an early age in order to inspire interest in an already scare-skilled biodiversity field.”
—Bheki Mdletshe, Senior Environmental Technician, Biodiversity Planning Branch, Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department, EThekwini Municipality.
“I think it’s great! I really enjoyed reading it… I really love that this book is about each insect order and not just generally interesting information like so many other books. I think it will appeal to both children and adults alike (I even learned a few things!)”
—Kirstin Williams, Curator of Entomology, Durban Natural Science Museum
“There are so many interesting facts and fascinating stories about insects that arouse interest and wonder of insect lives that people don’t know about… what’s so appealing about the book is that it’s not just about the scientific description of insects, it’s actually a discovery of insect behaviour and adaptations and stories about them that make people realize how fascinating and important insects really are.”
—Lynne Matthews, author of Animals of Southern Africa series
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