In a Desert Garden by John Alcock

In a Desert Garden by John Alcock

With canny insight and bone-dry wit, John Alcock, a specialist in the ecology of the American Southwest, introduces us to the lives and loves of desert insects as they forage through his backyard oasis. Creating his own desert garden behind his suburban home in Tempe, Arizona, Alcock scrutinizes every square inch of soil detailing the exotic plant life he finds and offering tips on its peccadilloes and preservation. The true heroes of this story, however, are the bugs of Alcock's backyard. We are drawn into complex plots almost biblical in nature of life and love, survival and death. Two male earwigs caught in each other's pincers battle for a prized female. A female mantis finishes copulating, beheads her mate, and cannibalizes his body for its precious protein. With each detail, Alcock pieces together the entire ecosystem of his desert paradise. Always amusing and instructive, and sometimes dramatic, In a Desert Garden provides an eye-opening meditation on the joys of planting, weeding, pruning, and, most of all, bug-hunting.

"John Alcock makes desert biology pure fun" -- High Country News
"The real charm of Mr. Alcock . . . is that he shows us that scientific cognition isn't the only way to experience a glorious ecosystem." -- New York Times Book Review

John Alcock is professor of zoology at Arizona State University. Turid Forsyth is a writer, artist, and photographer. She lives in Ontario.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780393041187
ISBN 10	0393041182
Title	In a Desert Garden
Author	John Alcock
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	WW Norton & Co
Year published	1998-02-25
Number of pages	192
Prizes	Winner of John Burroughs Medal 1998
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.