Best Bug Book Ever?

“Tiny Game Hunting” is the delightful name of a useful book by Hilary Dole Klein and Adrian M. Wenner (Bantam Books; $8.50). Subtitled “Environmentally Healthy Ways to Trap and Kill the Pests in Your House and Garden,” it tells how to deal with pests such as silverfish, ants, gophers and thrips, without the use of poisons.

It tells, for instance, how to make a trap for silverfish using Tanglefoot (available at most nurseries) and a small pile of oatmeal, how to get ants to move by pouring a blended solution of lemon peel on their nest, how to kill gophers with Juicy Fruit gum, and how to confuse thrips with aluminum strips.

There is some very good natural history on each pest--so you better understand what makes them tick--and it is told with a fine sense of humor. There are dozens of pests described and hundreds of clever cures in this book and best of all, it was written by Southern Californians so our worst pests get mentioned (they seldom are in other books).