Mostly an autobiographical text about how the author identified different chemical adaptations for insects with a bit on the side of behavioral adaptations. The book is interesting for people who want to know how behavior is studied scientifically and in the feelings of naturalists about their study objects.

Beware friends: the next time you tell me you don't like insects I'm going to put this book in your hands and monitor you until you at least read the first chapter. The fantastic thing about For Love of Insects is that it can work on multiple levels. I really think that those with very little biology background will take something from it, as well as those with a considerable background. Admittedly, Eisner sometimes tends to go deeper into the science than a lay person many care for; however, I think that the surrounding text remains interesting and easy to understand even if you skim over details about chemical composition of defensive sprays. Since Eisner is also a photographer, there are tons of pictures that go with his descriptions of observations and experiments. They are well done, and even by browsing through the pictures and reading their captions, a lot can be learned. I would recommend this book to beginning researchers as well. Eisner does an excellent job of describing the way in which he observes insects and his experimental designs. While this is probably interesting to anyone reading the book, I can say with 100% certainty that I have become a better observer of nature in general because of it. It is difficult to describe without just telling someone to read it, but the way that he sees things, the questions he asks, and the simple experiments he does in the field are remarkable. For example, I never would have thought to watch a spider in its web, make observations, and then throw an insect in to see what happens. Reading about little things like that have made me a more active observer and honestly, I always thought I was pretty observant until now. He also experiments in novel ways and I think that it will help me in forming my own experiments.
I would give this 4 1/2 stars if I could and really the only thing taking away from the rating for me is Eisner's tone. I know that he is a very accomplished, creative, and intelligent person, but so does he and it is apparent in the way he writes. I guess he earned the right to brag about it and if you are that awesome, it is probably difficult not to let everyone know how awesome you are, but enough is enough. He did praise the people he worked with too, but it was almost praise to the point of making me want to roll my eyes. That being said, I am extremely jealous of the people he worked with and it is disappointing to know that I will never have the opportunity to meet him. On a different note, Eisner specialized in chemical ecology and maybe this book should have been named "For Love of Insects with Chemical Defenses and some insects that don't have them, but have to deal with insects that do." I guess that is pretty lengthy, so maybe they did make the right title choice. Either way, it seems that most insects either have chemical defenses or need to deal with them, so it is still a pretty decent overview of insects in general.

A little more autobiographical than I realized, the books focuses on Eisener's research through the years. Full of fascinating stories of insect biology.