George McGavin – författare

A beautifully illustrated look inside the fascinating world of creepy-crawlies, with stunning three-dimensional pop-ups.Larger-than-life bugs spring from the pages, peek out from behind flaps and hide under tabs, inviting young entomologists to marvel at the mind-boggling variety of arthropod life. What reader can resist a chance to look inside a cockroach’s body to see how it works or open a wasps’ nest to see what’s inside? Useful information (why does the world need bees?) and scientific trivia (which beetles are strongest and fastest?) pack every page, while exquisite art and dramatic pop-ups bring the world of bugs to life.

Following on from the success of The Good Bee, this beautifully illustrated celebration of insects by leading entomologist George McGavin highlights the pivotal role they play in our ecosystems, and what we can do to help them survive and thrive.Insects are fascinating and ingenious. They also play an incredibly important role in maintaining life on planet Earth, and are particularly pivotal to our own survival. And yet they are under threat because of us. Since they appeared on land 420 million years ago, these small six-legged animals have been pioneers and ultimate survivors. Around 87 per cent of all plant species need animal pollination and most of this is delivered by insects – they also maintain healthy soil, assist in decomposition and are essential to the food web. This book is a celebration, and also a call to arms. One of the UK’s foremost entomologists and respected academics, George McGavin, explains all the amazing things that insects do, what we’re doing as humans to threaten their habitats and most importantly what we can do now to protect them.

Insects conquered the Earth long before we did and will remain here long after we're gone.They outnumber us in the billions and are essential to many of the natural processes that keep us alive and that we take for granted.Yet, despite this, very few of us know much about the hidden world of insects.In this fascinating new book, entomologist and broadcaster George McGavin takes a deep dive to reveal the unknown truths about the most successful and enduring animal group the world has ever seen, and to show the unseen effects this vast population has on our planet, if only we care to look.McGavin explores not only the incredible traits that insects have evolved to possess, such as dragonflies that can fly across oceans without resting or beetles that lay their eggs exclusively in corpses, but also the vital lessons we have learnt from them, including how therapy using maggots can save lives and how bees can help grow rich tomato yields.The Hidden World reveals the wonderful complexity of our relationship with insects, how they have changed the course of our history and how, if we continue to learn from them, they could even be the key to our future and survival.