The Sting of the Wild

Justin O. Schmidt

Mar 2017 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by L.J. Ganser

About this audiobook

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 the author

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.

L. J. Ganser is a triple Audie Award-winning narrator with over 600 titles recorded to date. Prized for versatility, his work ranges from hard science to magical fantasy, from stinging ants to the Civil War, from Roger Rabbit to infinity-and yes, even beyond. He lives in New York City with his family and dog, Mars.