Adventures among Ants

“Adventures Among Ants may reach a broader audience than other recent publications and therefore stimulate interest in ants among a new generation.”

— Bioscience

“Serfdom, war and dying for the tribe: It reads like a page out of a Russian novel. In fact, we're talking about ant life. . . . The sci-fi-looking cover signals the journey to be found inside.”

— Los Angeles Times

“The text is part travelogue: Moffett describes his work during relentless rain in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, or how he lost about 20 pounds while living on a diet of rice and caramels in India. But the ants occupy center stage, and he shows readers how they mate and breed, how they search for food or grow their own crops, how they attack and how they defend. He offers a rich account of ant natural history and biology designed to appeal to the general reader. The chapters are arranged geographically, so that as readers move through the book, they linger for a time with the ants of Africa, and later with Argentine ants, and so on, absorbing not only natural history but a sense of the people and places where the ants live. “The book itself is a fine specimen, packed with full-color photographs of ants taken by Moffett, whose expertise with the camera must match his expertise on ant biology—the pictures are stunning.”

— National Wildlife

“Moffett's ants are always sleek, polished and doing something spectacular.”

— Nature

“Adventure Among Ants offers exotic tales of places you will probably never go, and glimpses of beautiful ants performing marvelous feats.”

— Nature

“What I found compelling about this book is the author’s penetrating observations. Even though he is mostly talking about insects that appear in huge swarms, he can add about smaller colonies, ‘Just as with students in a small classroom, I can quickly identify the slackers and the over-achievers.’”

— Buffalo News

“Moffett’s brilliant photography reveals, in striking detail, not only the peculiar beauty of these creatures, but the unique ways in which they build homes, forage for food, and co-exist within the fascinating microscopic world that lies hidden before us.”

— Seed Magazine

“Absolutely fascinating.”

— Southcoasttoday.com

“A good read - part personal memoir, part rousing adventure story. Moffett. . . is a keen interpreter of the intricate choreography of this insect world.”

— Colloquy

“Addictive.”

— New York Post

“An adventure book full of glorious color photographs that shrink us down to ant-size so we can see the ants in their roles as leaders, warriors, hunters even slave owners. . . . The stories are fascinating and educating — and yes, he delivers on some gore as well.”

— Cnbc/Bullish On Books

“Beautifully presented and accessible.”

— The Weekend Australian Newspaper

“Let me start with the obvious. Adventures among Ants is the most visually stunning ant book ever published. . . . . After we’re done drooling over the photographs, the book is something we can hand to all those people who ask ‘Ants? Why study ants?’ If someone can’t pick up Mark Moffett’s enthusiasm for our little formicid friends, they are almost certainly hopeless.”

— Myrmecological News

“Many fascinating anecdotes.”

— Washington Post

“Mixes a memoir of his far flung journeys with the fascinating complexity and variety of ants; his passion for his subject isn’t merely palpable, it’s infectious. If his goal is to make you pause and appreciate the next time an ant crawls on your kitchen counter, he has succeeded mightily.”

— Sacramento Book Rev / 1776 Prod

“More than a natural history book, although it is an excellent one at that. It is the journey of a remarkable man with the mind of a scientist and the excitement of a boy doing what we all dream of - running to the most exotic places in the world chasing the unbelievable. The tales spread throughout the book will make you want to follow him, and give you a new appreciation for the world's most overlooked inhabitants.”

— Psychology Today Blog

“Rarely does a book like this come along. . . . An intimate account of an exceptionally inquisitive naturalist and his experiences with the miniature world of the most abundant animal on Earth -- the ant.”

— Choice

“These insects, which farm, make ware, market, and clean up, provide new insight into the commonalities that exist among living creatures.”

— Foreword

“WEAVER ants, marauder ants, army ants and slave-makers - Mark Moffett has studied, been bitten by and photographed them all. Moffett examines the idea of ants as superorganisms and looks at ways in which their colonies resemble, yet differ from, human societies.”

— New Scientist

“Who would have thought that a book about ants could be so arresting?”

— Australian Financial Review

Moffett, an explorer, biologist and photographer, brings an expert's eye and a writer's touch to this book -- and the photos are intriguing and then some.

— Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Rich with anecdotes and personal stories, the book goes the way of a Cousteau documentary, here talking about its main subject, the ants, and there presenting the richness of field observations with unpredictable encounters, joys, and deceptions. . . . If in a few years, we observe a bloom of new students interested in the study of ants, I have little doubt that this book will have contributed to their interest.”

— Sicb Journal (Soc For Integrative & Comp Biol)