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An insightful, entertaining dive into the fruitful, centuries-long relationship between humans and insects, revealing the fascinating and surprising array of ways humans depend on these minute, six-legged pests.Insects might make us recoil in repugnance, but they also manufacture--or make possible in other ways--many of the things we take for granted in our daily lives. When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, try on the latest fashions, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are mingling with the by-products of their everyday lives. Try as we might to replicate their raw material (silk, shellac, and cochineal, for instance) , our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future.