A merry jaunt through the past, present, and future of butterfly pop science. In her hybrid history/science/travel text, science journalist Williams, whose previous book was a historical and scientific and cultural exploration of horses, leads readers through the body of human butterfly knowledge, driven by a guiding question: "What is it about butterflies that so easily and so universally catches the fancy of Earth's Homo sapiens?" In the first section, the author profiles the early pioneers in butterfly breakthroughs. The second elaborates on the questions that contemporary science is currently trying to answer. The third section, urgent but not alarming, focuses on the environmental threats to the "goddess of color" and what we can do to ameliorate them. To keep the science and history accessible rather than overwhelming, Williams wisely selects key characters, transformational moments, and illustrative species. Most of the protagonists of her story are women, such as "the inestimably brave" German naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and an American mother-daughter butterfly-tagging team. Readers should keep their computer or phone handy, as the reverent descriptions of the insects' beauty may require visual satisfaction. Williams paces a geological event like an action movie, and her animated storytelling skills, coupled with her orientation toward universal themes like the nature of beauty, will appeal to a broad audience. The author views butterflies as emblematic of the natural world as a whole. "The world's favorite insect," she writes, "unites us across generations and across space and across time. They are elemental. A butterfly is an entire universe, right there in the palm of your hand." Just as efforts to rescue endangered butterfly species have restored ecosystems, the innate human fascination with butterflies becomes a unifying factor in divided times. Our awe for them, Williams suggests, can motivate us to treat each other and the planet better, and the author guides us on our way as she informs, entertains, and rallies readers to the conservationist cause. Expect this book to awaken the dormant butterfly enthusiast within. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This entertaining look at "the world's favorite insect" tells about butterflies' captivating beauty, and the ways these bugs have fascinated people throughout history. Almost half of the book is devoted to enthusiasts from previous centuries, a group of dedicated and occasionally eccentric individuals (one questing collector wound up being eaten by cannibals). Accessible chapters explore past assumptions (e.g., butterflies are created through spontaneous generation, just magically appearing and fluttering around); relate how butterflies played an important role in helping prove Darwin's theory of evolution; and explain butterfly physiology: how they eat, procreate, and, most importantly, how they achieve their brilliant color. Readers will learn that recent research debunks all kinds of commonly held theories, such as characteristics thought to be unique to moths versus butterflies, or long-established beliefs regarding monarch butterfly migration, or where butterflies like to hang out (they've been photographed as high as 22,000 feet). The final chapters bemoan diminishing butterfly populations, and advocate for measures to counter the negative effects of climate change and pollution. Williams (The Horse, 2015) shares how she has been mesmerized on more than one occasion by the exotic beauty of butterflies; her enthusiasm is convincing and contagious.

Williams (The Horse) presents a history of butterfly science, including the work that's being done today to understand butterfly behavior and to preserve the 20,000 species of this beautiful insect. The Victorian era was a time of rampant butterfly collecting; one of the Rothschilds amassed 2.5 million specimens. Collecting and trade in butterflies continues, but much of it is illegal now. Yet humans remain obsessed by these gorgeous insects. Williams delves into the differences between butterflies and moths; the function of the butterfly proboscis (it's not what you think); butterfly fossils and evolution; the behavior and adaptability of our most famous butterfly, the monarch; and past and current efforts at butterfly conservation, which includes a significant contribution from novelist Vladimir Nabokov. She also discusses the multiple reasons for the decline in butterfly numbers: monoculture practices in farming, replacement of fields of wildflowers with grass lawns, pesticide use, and chaotic climatic conditions. VERDICT This fascinating book will be of interest to anyone who has ever admired a butterfly, and to everyone who cares about preserving these stunning creatures.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

Science journalist Williams (The Horse), mixing a discussion of her experiences learning about butterflies with an overview of centuries' worth of research, offers a deeply personal and lyrical book that also provides meaningful scientific insight. Captivated by the insects' beauty, she writes, "The language of butterflies is the language of color," and that she likes to "imagine them as the world's first artists." She relates the stories of similarly entranced people, including Maria Sibylla Merian, who, in the 17th century, cast aside gender norms to pursue entomology and traveled from her native Germany to Suriname to find the spectacular blue morpho butterfly, in the process writing the first account of the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation. Williams spends much time on monarch butterfly biology, discussing the insects' ability to migrate thousands of miles and the iridescent wing scales that give them, like all butterflies, their signature patterns. She also discusses the factors behind declining butterfly populations, from habitat destruction to climate change, but remains optimistic that corrective action is still possible. Nature-loving readers will surely share the joy Williams takes in her subject in this admiring tribute to the butterfly. Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary. (May)