February 1, 2004
Even Charles Darwin found the lowly earthworm fascinating: all their tiny individual labors in tilling the soil and nourishing it with their droppings add up over time to a massive collective impact on the landscape. In this absorbing, if occasionally gross, treatise, gardening journalist Stewart (From the Ground Up) delves into their dank subterranean world, detailing their problem-solving skills, sex lives (Darwin noted their"sexual passion") and shocking ability to re-grow a whole body from a severed segment (scientists have even sutured together parts of three different earthworms into a single Frankenworm). Intriguing in their own right, earthworms stand at the fulcrum of the balance of nature. In the wrong place, they can devastate forests, but in the right place, they boost farm yields, suppress pests and plant diseases, detoxify polluted soils and process raw sewage into inoffensive fertilizer; indeed, humanity's first great civilizations may have risen on the backs of earthworms, say some of the creature's most fervent champions. Stewart writes in a charming, meditative but scientifically grounded style that is informed by her personal relationship with the worms in her compost bin. In her telling, worms become metaphors--for the English working class, for the process of scientific rumination, for the redemption of death and decay by life and fertility--and serve as a touchstone for exploring the ecological view of things.
November 15, 2003
Following in the muddy footsteps of Charles Darwin, who provided the inspiration for her work, garden writer Stewart eagerly (and literally) digs up the dirt on earthworms. She's obviously done her homework and in sharing her knowledge conveys a real enthusiasm about her subject. Interviews with scientists as well as anecdotes about Darwin and present-day worm farmers are delivered in an easy, chatty style. Unfortunately, there is not enough hard science for someone wishing to do serious research (Stewart mixes in a lot of musings about her own garden, although she does provide a bibliography and an extensive list of worm-related newsletters and web sites) and yet too much detail for the average person who likes to putter in the backyard garden. The appeal of Stewart's book, even though it's well done, is probably limited to larger collections with a budget for popular science titles.-Denise Hamilton, Heritage Christian Sch., Rindge, NH
Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2004
Adult/High School-In this fascinating book, readers are taken on a journey underground to see the impact worms have on humans and on our planet. Referring often to Charles Darwin's The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations of Their Habits, Stewart educates on the vital role these creatures play in growing crops, how they can neutralize the effects of nuclear waste on soil, and their ability to regenerate new body parts. An avid gardener, the author begins with the worms crawling through her own backyard before visiting them in such destinations as an endangered redwood forest in California, a sewage-treatment plant in San Francisco, a nature preserve in Minnesota, and The Giant Worm Museum in Australia (which is shaped like a 325-foot-long worm). A book that's as enlightening as it is entertaining.-James O. Cahill, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2003
No less a scientist than Charles Darwin wrote one of his most popular books on how earthworms were responsible for creating the rich uppermost layer of soil, and garden columnist Stewart's equal fascination for this spineless, subterranean earth mover (and ingestor) shines through in the chatty text. She explains the differences between red worms that thrive in compost piles and worm bins, nightcrawlers that dig their deep burrows in the soil, and gray worms that live around plant roots. She examines the work of scientists as they discover new species of earthworms, looks at the role of earthworms in soil ecology, dissects the anatomy and taxonomy of the world's earthworms, and discusses the interactions of human and worm. The importance of earthworms to the organic farmer and backyard gardener is one of Stewart's key points. This quirky book will find a niche in all gardening and natural-history collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)