And there’s a whole chapter about the outré sex lives of bugs. Some fruit flies have sperm almost 2.5 inches long. Indian stick insects can mate for an “insane” 79 days, she writes (in Lucy Moffatt’s lively translation), “an extreme-sport version of tantric sex.” One type of swallowtail has an eye in its penis, to help guide it when mating. “If there are 50 ways to leave your lover,” she notes, “I can assure you that there are an awful lot more ways of eating other creatures — including your lover.”

Another answer is that insects have shaped human civilization in unexpected ways. Without durable, waterproof oak gall ink — produced when wasps inject chemical irritants into trees — countless medieval and Renaissance manuscripts would have deteriorated into illegibility. And while we don’t often thank heaven for maggots, they’ve been cleaning wounds and preventing infections for centuries. Genghis Khan supposedly never entered battle without a cartful of these larvae for his warriors.

But the most compelling reason to care about insects, Sverdrup-Thygeson says, is self-interest. Insects sit at the base of the food chain, fodder for innumerable other critters. They also pollinate dozens of vital food crops. One survey estimated that insects contribute nearly $577 billion to the world economy through agricultural activity.

Insects might also help preserve civilization in the future. Livestock contribute significantly to climate change through the methane they belch up, and they exacerbate water shortages and deforestation. Sverdrup-Thygeson argues for eating insects instead. Their bodies convert food to protein far more efficiently, and they produce virtually no dung or greenhouse gases. Plus, they willingly eat our garbage. Atkins-friendly mealworms can even digest plastic. The only problem (at least for Westerners) is that many people find insects disgusting. But if we all learned to love sushi within a generation, are bugs that big a stretch?

The famous biologist E. O. Wilson once said: “If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change. … But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could live more than a few months.” Sverdrup-Thygeson makes much the same case. But while Wilson’s quote is laced with doom, Sverdrup-Thygeson strives to make you like insects, too, highlighting them in all their buzzing, stinging, biting glory.