To see accurate pricing, please choose your delivery country.
 
 
United States
£ GBP
All Shops

British Wildlife

8 issues per year 84 pages per issue Subscription only

British Wildlife is the leading natural history magazine in the UK, providing essential reading for both enthusiast and professional naturalists and wildlife conservationists. Published eight times a year, British Wildlife bridges the gap between popular writing and scientific literature through a combination of long-form articles, regular columns and reports, book reviews and letters.

Subscriptions from £33 per year

Conservation Land Management

4 issues per year 44 pages per issue Subscription only

Conservation Land Management (CLM) is a quarterly magazine that is widely regarded as essential reading for all who are involved in land management for nature conservation, across the British Isles. CLM includes long-form articles, events listings, publication reviews, new product information and updates, reports of conferences and letters.

Subscriptions from £26 per year
Academic & Professional Books  Insects & other Invertebrates  Insects  Insects: General

Bug Music How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise

Popular Science Out of Print
By: David Rotherberg(Author)
278 pages, b/w photos, b/w illustrations
Bug Music
Click to have a closer look
Select version
  • Bug Music ISBN: 9781250045058 Paperback May 2014 Out of Print #213863
  • Bug Music ISBN: 9781250005212 Hardback May 2013 Out of Print #206282
About this book Biography Related titles Recommended titles

About this book

In the spring of 2013 the cicadas will return on their seventeen year cycle – the longest gestation period of any animal. Their deafening sound upon their arrival is familiar to most Americans. Cicadas are famous throughout the world for the "song" – created by the males, and distinctive to each species. When they arrive, cicadas become the backbeat of summer – they like heat and do their most spirited singing during the hotter hours of a summer day. They are one unique example of how the rhythm of insects taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket's wings to this long, unfathomable, exact seventeen year beat.

In looking at cicadas, as well as other humming, clicking, and thrumming insects, Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise is the first book to consider the radical notion that we humans got our idea of rhythm, synchronization, and dance from the world of insect sounds that surrounded our species over the millions of years over which we evolved. Rothenberg explores a unique part of our relationship with nature and sound – the music of insects that has provided a soundtrack for humanity throughout the history of our species.

Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise continues Rothenberg's research and writing on the relationship between human and animal music, and it follows him as he explores the exotic insect markets in Shanghai, plays his saxophone with crickets and other insects, and confers with researchers and scientists nationwide.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Philosopher and jazz musician David Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the author of Survival of the Beautiful, Why Birds Sing, and Thousand Mile Song. He lives in the Hudson Valley, New York.

Popular Science Out of Print
By: David Rotherberg(Author)
278 pages, b/w photos, b/w illustrations
Media reviews

"Bug Music is a cool groove of biology, music, and human culture from an interspecies musician and scholar fully in tune with nature. It is engaging, wide-ranging, and profound in suggesting that the thrum of insects is a primordial musical beat. This book is for everyone who has ever marveled at nature or delighted in the sounds of her insect choirs, and especially for those who have done neither."
– John Marzluff, author of Dog Days, Raven Nights and Gifts of the Crow

"I loved this book. It's inspiring, fascinating, and funny. Bug Music is a foray into another world."
– Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven and Winter World

"Fabulous entomological jazz: David Rothenberg draws together disparate strands of inspiration and writes a new song, full of unexpected riffs and harmonies. Bug Music is a thought-provoking celebration of the acoustic bonds between humans and our insect cousins."
– David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen

"Charmingly conversational, filled with wondrous facts and touching personal reflections, Bug Music will make you think differently about bugs, about music, and about the intersection of the two."
– Marlene Zuk, author of Sex on Six Legs and Paleofantasy

"A veritable tour de force of delightful and provocative meanderings that circle about, crisscross, and combine to illuminate the primal connection between insect sound and the human sense of rhythm, music, and noise."
– Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com, author of The Songs of Insects

"As a musician and a scientist, I was fascinated by the parallels between the songs of the cicada and the human. Rothenberg is a great conductor in Bug Music, bringing out the melodies and harmonies, and exposing the mysteries, in the great insect orchestra that surrounds us. A must read for all who question and seek our place in nature."
– Daniel Chamovitz, author of What a Plant Knows

Current promotions
New and Forthcoming BooksNHBS Moth TrapBritish Wildlife MagazineBuyers Guides