Autumn 2009 Catalogue 4 pdfing:1 - Yale University Press

4ScienceThe remarkable story of howmimicry is used by some of themost extraordinary creatures inthe world, told by the author ofThe Gecko’s FootDazzled and DeceivedMimicry and CamouflagePeter ForbesNature has perfected the art of deception. Thousands of creatures allover the world—including butterflies, moths, fish, birds, insects andsnakes—have honed and practiced camouflage over hundreds ofmillions of years. Imitating other animals or their surroundings,nature’s fakers use mimicry to protect themselves, to attract and repel,to bluff and warn, to forage, and to hide. The advantages of mimicryare obvious—but how does ‘blind’ nature do it? And how has humanitylearned to profit from nature’s ploys?Peter Forbes, a writer, journalist, andeditor with a longstanding interest inthe relationship between art andscience, is the author of The Gecko’sFoot. Since 2004 he has been a RoyalLiterary Fund Fellow at Queen MaryUniversity of London.October300 pp. 234x156mm.20 colour illus. + 6 diagramsISBN 978-0-300-12539-9 £18.99*Dazzled and Deceived tells the unique and fascinating story of mimicryand camouflage in science, art, warfare and the natural world. Discoveredin the 1850s by the young English naturalists Henry Walter Bates andAlfred Russel Wallace in the Amazonian rainforest, the phenomenon ofmimicry was seized upon as the first independent validation ofDarwin’s theory of natural selection. But mimicry and camouflage alsohad a huge impact outside the laboratory walls. Peter Forbes’s culturalhistory links mimicry and camouflage to art, literature, military tacticsand medical cures across the twentieth century, and charts its intricateinvolvement with the perennial dispute between evolution andcreationism.As Dazzled and Deceived unravels the concept of mimicry, Forbesintroduces colourful stories and a dazzling cast of characters—Roosevelt, Picasso, Nabokov, Churchill and Darwin himself, to name afew—whom its mystery influenced and enthralled. Illuminating andlively, Dazzled and Deceived sheds new light on the greatest quest: tounderstand the processes of life at its deepest level.Translation rights: The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, London