Needless to say, I was horrified by the prospect of yet another summer of required reading when informed, as an incoming freshman to the University of Michigan LSA Honors program, that we were obligated to read this book with an exceedingly long and alliterated subtitle. The fact that the University, however, has invited Mr. Weschler to speak to us in September about Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder makes the whole thing a little more exciting, and the slim probability that I will be forced to write an in-class essay expostulating various literary elements makes me more inclined to enjoy the “urbanely astonishing” words, rather than bemoan a future excrutiation.
That, and the book was free. My sister looks down at the University for its little gift, however, and says that as a public university, they had find better uses for all the cash it's getting that the state doesn't have. =P
Part I – Inhaling the Spore
I'm thinking of 'shrooms; as a college student, I am now bound by stereotype and general regimen to twist the most innocent of phrases into expressions of sophomoric drug use and sexual maxims.
Megaloponera foetens (the Cameroonian stink ant) with forehead rampant
Realizing now that the book, more or less, is divided into three parts: Part I, Part II, and Notes. Hence, I will use the illustrations (thank God for picture books!) to mark my progress. I will try not to read too quickly; my fingers can't keep up with my brain when it comes to concreting my oft-wandering thoughts.
I also really, really wish the ice cream truck would find a different route. It's passed by my house four times in the last fifteen minutes, and I can't exactly afford to gain my freshman fifteen before I'm officially a freshman. >.<
Anyway, back to the Megaloponera foetens. Wow. I hate bugs, and to say the least, even this picture of an ant is making my skin crawl. NOT COOL.
Eugggh. And it's apparently auditory to humans. Never going to Cameroon.
Moving on to the second paragraph, however, it appears that this ant is actually the poor victim (aha! PUN. Sorry. It's really bad, but I can never resist lame jokes). The ant inhales a mysterious spore, and becomes a zombie of its former self, scaling various fauna of the rain forest and eventually dying as the fungus continues to eat its insides. Then, a spike will grow through the ants head and more spores will develop, infecting more ants.
If this applied to mosquitoes, I would be a very, very happy child.
Ending here (the middle of page 4) for now. Reading ahead for a bit, and then going to a birthday party. Hope this wasn't too maudlin for you!
