“A bizarre collection of evolution tales . . . the weirder, the better.” —
Entertainment Weekly
A fascinating exploration of the awe-inspiring, unsettling ingenuity of evolution from
Wired
writer Matt Simon, author of
Plight of the Living Dead
(coming soon from Penguin Books)
On a barren seafloor, the pearlfish swims into the safety of a sea cucumber’s anus. To find a meal, the female bolas spider releases pheromones that mimic a female moth, luring male moths into her sticky lasso web. The
Glyptapanteles
wasp injects a caterpillar with her young, which feed on the victim, erupt out of it, then mind-control the poor (and somehow still living) schmuck into protecting them from predators.
These are among the curious critters of
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar
, a jaunt through evolution’s most unbelievable, most ingenious solutions to the problems of everyday life, from trying to get laid to finding food. Join
science writer Matt Simon as he introduces you to the creatures that have it figured out, the ones that joust with their mustaches or choke sharks to death with snot, all in a wild struggle to survive and, of course, find true love.
Winner of the American Library Association’s Alex Award