Firstly it must be stated, this is not an identification guide, which is just as well as there are a staggering 400,000 species world-wide!

Incredibly 22% of all known species are beetles!

To quote the British evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane, God must have had “an inordinate fondness for beetles”.

The book is a whole lot more than that, the introduction alone would make an interesting book in its own right! Beetles have been around for an estimated 300 million years so there is a lot to write about, and this has given them a long time to evolve some pretty amazing adaptations to survive in almost all environments.

Mimicry, explosive chemicals, bioluminescence, impressive/horrific mouthparts are all shown in full glory.

The book deals with structure, function, evolution, diversity, distribution, communication, reproduction, feeding habits, their use in medicine/science/technology,as well the all important conservation of them.

For each section there are 9 species focussed on that serve to demonstrate the subject being covered, each of these is packed with interesting facts and sumptuously illustrated with countless superb, colourful photographs. Flicking through the book just looking at the images is a joy in itself, with the beetles taking on a myriad of shapes, sizes and colours, my personal favourite being the Golden-spotted Tiger Beetle, a riot of colour with delicate legs and fearsome mouth-parts.       

I would certainly recommend this book, if you buy it I guarantee you will learn countless facts and want to go out and take a closer look at these beauties this summer.