Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Free eBook: Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers and Other Unusual Relationships

Looking for some interesting conversation starters at your next holiday party? The November free e-book from University of Chicago Press, Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers and Other Unusual Relationships by Marty Crump, might be just what you're looking for.


Cover image Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers by Marty Crump
Synopsis:
Vampire bats that regurgitate blood for roosting buddies. Mosquitoes that filch honeydew droplets from ants. Reptiles that enforce chastity on their lovers with copulatory plugs. Capuchin monkeys that use millipede secretions as mosquito repellent. The natural world is full of unusual relationships, and negotiation between life-forms striving to survive is evolution at its most diverse, entertaining, and awe-inspiring.

Picking up where her highly popular Headless Males Make Great Lovers left off, tropical field biologist Marty Crump takes us on another voyage of discovery into the world of unusual natural histories, this time focusing on extraordinary interactions involving animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers and Other Unusual Relationships illuminates the ceaseless give-and-take between species. Occasionally, both interacting parties benefit, like when hornbills and dwarf mongooses hunt together for food. Other times, like when mites ride in hummingbirds’ nostrils to reach their next meal of nectar, one individual benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. But sometimes one individual benefits at the expense of the other; you need only recall your last sinus infection to understand how that works.

Throughout, Crump brings her trademark spunk and zest to these stories of intimate exchange. She introduces readers to penguins that babysit, pseudoscorpions that ride and mate under the wings of giant harlequin beetles, and parasitic fungi that bend insects to their will. A lively companion to Crump’s earlier work, Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers and Other Unusual Relationships captures the bizarre and befuddling aspects of the behavior of animals, plants, and microbes. After this entertaining romp through the world of natural relationships, you’ll never look at an orchid the same way again.
Get your copy here.

Happy reading,
Angela






4 comments:

  1. Very nice and different concept which you shared here I like it and you must try it also Animated Storybook.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I checked out the trailer. It looks like a fun kid's book!

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  2. I have never heard of this one. It certainly has an interesting title and the book sounds very unique. :)
    ~Jess

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