BIG READ: The rich, mysterious and miraculous world of insects
There is wisdom to be found among the vast empires of tiny beings
A Christmas beetle smacks repeatedly into the television. More than a few incessant flies circle the braai. A moth, flitting around the light bulb, careens noisily and nonstop within a lampshade. A cockroach scurries along the kitchen skirting board and disappears into the pantry.
These and similar familiar irritations shape our predominant view of insects, and there is probably a can of Doom or a similar product in almost every SA household. But, as expressed by John Berger in his 1972 book Ways of Seeing, “the relation between what we see and what we know is never settled”. With the planet in dire shape, it’s high time we understand unseen forces and look closer at the small things...
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