The Soul of the White Ant
Language: English
Published by -, 2018
- Softcover
- Used

Seller: AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, United KingdomAwesomeBooks
AbeBooks seller since November 28, 2006
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 17.17
Quantity: 2 available
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The Soul of the White Ant This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping.
Seller Inventory # 7719-9780980297652
- Title
- The Soul of the White Ant
- Author
- -
- Publisher
- -
- Publication year
- 2018
- Condition
- Very Good
- Binding
- paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0980297656
- ISBN 13
- 9780980297652
Originally translated into English in 1937, the quality of research remains as relevant today as it was when it was first published. This illuminating account will not only appeal to those with a scientific interest in termites, but will similarly enthrall readers who are new to their captivating world. An exceptional feature of his detailed research is the extraordinary psychological life of the termite.
While the studies are based in South Africa, the extensive research also includes the termites of Magnetic Island, Australia. You will be taken on an exciting journey into the amazing life of termites, as their astonishing world of hierarchy and roles within their community is revealed in captivating detail.
His years of unceasing work on the veld led Eugène Marais to formulate his theory that the termite nest is similar in every respect to the organism of an animal. He observed that the workers and soldiers resemble red and white blood cells, while the fungus gardens are the digestive organ. The queen functions as the brain, controlling the collective mind, and the sexual flight of the kings and queens is similar in every aspect to the escape of spermatozoa and ova.
Marais was also the author of The Soul of the Ape. It was always his intention that his two bodies of work, on termites and apes, were companion pieces in the search for an understanding of the psyche that would span the gulf between the insect and primate worlds. The point of Marais’ work was, always, the mystery of consciousness itself, on which grounds it is as relevant as ever.
“He offers a vision of nature as a whole, whose parts obey different time-laws, move in affinities and linkages we could learn to see: parts making wholes on their own level, but seen by our divisive brains as a multitude of individualities, a flock of birds, a species of plant or beast. We are just at the start of an understanding of the heavens as a web of interlocking clocks, all differently set: an understanding that is not intellectual, but woven into experience. Marais brings this thought down into the plain, the hedgerow, the garden.”
- Doris Lessing in The New Statesman
Reviews
"I have never read a book written in such a unique style. It is as though Eugene Marais breathes life into the words, animating the lives and struggles of the white ants in such a way that they almost seem human."
"As a safari Guide in the Okavango Botswana for many years, I used this book as a basis for presenting a fascination for the smaller creatures of the African bush, my home for my entire life and which I was privileged to share with many clients from different countries. Termite mounds are really interesting and Eugene Marais compared the infrastructure of a termitary to that of the human body. Writing from the heart, this scientific author instills a wonder in the reader, of the incredible intracacies of nature, in a light-hearted, easily readable manner."
"Brilliant and thought provoking material."
Contents- The Beginning of a Termitary
- Unsolved Secrets
- Language in the Insect World
- What is the Psyche?
- Luminosity in the Animal Kingdom
- The Composite Animal
- Somatic Death
- The Development of the Composite Animal
- The Birth of the Termite Community
- Pain and Travail in Nature
- Uninherited Instincts
- The Mysterious Power which Governs
- The Water Supply
- The First Architects
- The Queen in her Cell
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"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
AwesomeBooks
Wallingford, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since November 28, 2006
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
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|---|---|---|
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Started in an unfortunate mother's basement in 2004 with books that a student layabout no longer needed, AwesomeBooks now stocks over 2 million titles which are ready to be sent to your door within 24hours of ordering. Our heritage is in supplying great quality used books. We have over 1.8 million books in our distribution centre ready to be shipped to you at any time. We also sell new books and are increasing our range of titles every day.
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