The Sting of the Wild, Justin O. Schmidt
The Sting of the Wild, Justin O. Schmidt
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The Sting of the Wild

Author: Justin O. Schmidt

Narrator: L.J. Ganser

Unabridged: 9 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/28/2017


Synopsis

Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge.

In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects, seeing the world through their eyes as well as his own. He explains how and why they attack and reveals the powerful punch they can deliver with a small venom gland and a "sting," the name for the apparatus that delivers the venom. We learn which insects are the worst to encounter and why some are barely worth considering.

The Sting of the Wild includes the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index. In addition to a numerical ranking of the agony of each of the eighty-three stings he's sampled so far (from below 1 to an excruciatingly painful 4), Schmidt describes them in prose worthy of a professional wine critic: "Looks deceive. Rich and full-bodied in appearance, but flavorless" and "Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel."

About Justin O. Schmidt

Justin O. Schmidt is a biologist at Southwestern Biological Institute and is associated with the Department of Entomology at the University of Arizona. He is coeditor of Insect Defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer on July 22, 2019

I have no especial interest in entomology, but I really enjoyed this foray into the weird world of insects and the venoms they sting us with. Justin Schmidt is a research entomologist and former organic chemist, which means that his perspective is a) scientifically rigorous; and b) profoundly geeky.......more

Goodreads review by Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels) on May 26, 2021

This book was interesting. I picked it up after watching Kings of Pain and learning about Schmidt's work with stinging insects and his creation of the pain scale. The book is easily readable and not filled with dry facts or tons of hard to pronounce words. It was a fun mix of anecdotal stories and i......more

Goodreads review by Benjamin on January 09, 2025

I didn’t find this book. It found me. I was just browsing casually through the Audible categories for titles included free with membership, and after scanning a few lists in the biology sub-strand, this one jumped out. I have a particular fascination for creatures that hurt us - from the total life-e......more

Goodreads review by Vishy on October 13, 2018

Loved, loved, loved it!......more

Goodreads review by Emil on May 16, 2023

I never thought I would read a book about insects, to my surprise it was super interesting.......more