Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps, Seirian Sumner’s book, is out now.
“A marvellous, revelatory natural history” — The Bookseller
What people are saying
A book I never knew I needed that is an absolute delight to read… Face your fears and dive into this captivating excursion into the lives of this most maligned insect… Finally, a cure for our irrational fear of this unfairly demonised insect… A book that draws us in to the strange beauty of what we so often run away from. — Robin Ince
Wasps, in all their endless forms, are not the annoying monsters we often believe them to be. Instead they are fascinating foundations of entire ecosystems, and essential to our lives. Seirian Sumner’s tale is thrilling, warm and scholarly in equal measure, and brilliantly repairs the reputation of wasps — most beautiful and wonderful as they truly are. — Dr Adam Rutherford
At last, the ultimate answer to the age-old question — what’s the point of a wasp? I thought I knew about wasps — I was wrong. A cracking good read that left me buzzing with excitement. — Dr George McGavin, President of the Dorset Wildlife Trust & Senior Principal Research Fellow, Imperial College
Sometimes the most perfect books are those that shine a light on surprising, neglected subjects. Endless Forms is just such a book. Seirian Sumner writes lucidly and entertainingly about this most fascinating of creatures. You’ll never ask ‘what’s the point of wasps?’ again. — Will Storr
If you’ve ever wondered “why do wasps exist?” you must read this book. There is so much more to them than you ever imagined. A funny and beautifully written welcome to the enigmatic, weird and wonderful world of wasps. Wasps are seriously cool. — Dave Goulson
Reviews
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The Telegraph
Nature's torture-porn: the grotesque truth about wasps
Seemingly evil, wasps broke Darwin's faith in a benevolent god. Now comes the pro-wasp propaganda: Seirian Sumner's new book, Endless Forms.
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Shelf Awareness
"The celebrated British entomologist and modern-day wasp whisperer Seirian Sumner invites readers on a revelatory, as well as highly entertaining, journey to discover the beauty, vast diversity and critical functions of the 'most enigmatic of insects.'"
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Library Journal
"She uses pasta — yes, pasta — as a way to explain evolution, the forms of a potato to explain pleiotropy, and a fictitious dinner with Aristotle... Wasps are chemists, mathematicians, and, Sumner points out, less understood and studied than bees, who are really just wasps that have forgotten how to hunt."
See TV, radio, and press coverage of the lab on the Media page — including BBC Breakfast, CNN, The Observer, and BBC Radio 4. Posts mentioning the book on Bluesky show up automatically on the homepage and Media page if tagged #sumnerlabucl.