The Sting of the Wild

Written by Justin O. Schmidt

Narrated by L.J. Ganser

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."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781515983965

Reviews for The Sting of the Wild

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A detailed survey of stinging insects looking at how they evolved, their life cycles, and various cultural meanings. The author is fascinated with the reactions caused by stings and how that has become such a source of fear and instinctual wariness in humans.I enjoyed parts of this book, but insects are really not my area. The author is obviously fascinated by his chosen career but failed to fully capture my casual attention. Much of the book felt like unrelated scientific articles about various topics. As a result, parts were repetitive and others just tedious. I think the book would be more accessible to a wider audience if an overarching narrative were constructed to place all this information into a clearer framework. Most of the book is just a prolonged discourse of dry facts interspersed with bits about the author's personal experience and some few beliefs of other cultures.

[mkfs-354306 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I went through this book sorely disappointed. Sure, there were narratives describing the greatest hits of Schmidt being stung, and a respectable amount of informative material about insects both social and antisocial - but where was the catalogue of Schmidt Pain Index entries ? You known, the very thing I came for?

Well, that's the downside of reading something on a Kindle - it's included at the end, so I never noticed until I finished the narrative chapters. Made for a pleasant surprise. Not a bad thing either - impatient me might have jumped straight to the Pain Index and never got around to the quite enjoyable chapters.

[difreda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

OUCH! DAMN IT! ARRGH! - Justin Schmidt hits a home run in his publication of "The Sting of the Wild". Schmidt entices the reader to travel with him though time and across the planet as he teaches us how insects use stings, venom, and mimicry to survive in a ant-eat ant world. His use of easy language and storytelling style allow us to walk with him through jungles, deserts, woodlands and backyards to encounter ferocious monsters which rival any sci-fy constructions. These real life monsters - ants, wasps and bees come to life as never before. Schmidt is really stung in this account of his work - he makes the fire of the venom pulsing in his body come to life as he calmly describes what is happening in terms of physiological systems and neurological signaling pathways (We can watch from the safety of our nook). Huh?? This sounds like science - It is! But Schmidt makes scientific complexities sound like a child's primer as he weaves the narrative chapter by chapter, As a beekeeper who learned from an wise elder, I just now learned many of the reasons why we do things such as hold our breath, or breathe out to the side when entering a hive without a veil. Your knowledge and amazement of our world will expand dramatically as you take this walk into Schmidts world of "THE STING".Disclaimer: I received an audio book of this from library thing for review.

[bemislibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author is an entomologist at the Southwest Biological Institute, University of Arizona where he studied a group of insects called Hymenoptera. There is something about a man who would deliberately subject himself to insect stings to develop a pain scale that just screams dedicated scientist. Doctor Schmidt is such a man. His book covers the usual yellowjackets and wasps along with lessor known sweat bees and tarantula hawks. The book has a bit of biological history, insect evolution and curiosity that Is both intriguing and yet a bit masochistic. His comprehensive pain index includes 83 insect stings rated on a spectrum of 1 to 4. One sting is described as “instantaneous, electrifying, excruciating, and totally debilitating”. This is biology best read than experienced.L.J. Ganser does a fine job narrating the audio compact disc version. He other narration works include three novels by James Ellroy: Because the Night, Blood on the Moon, and Suicide Hill. He has also appeared on stage in New York and in several episodes of the television show Law and Order.