Common-Sense Pest Controlby William Olkowski, Sheila Daar, Helga Olkowski (Contributor)
Hardcover - 715 pages (July 1991). Taunton Pr; ISBN: 0942391632 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.63 x 10.37 x 8.30
Reviewed by Robert Stevenson, Biology Dept, UMass Boston
Pests are critters that invade your physical, economic and/or psychological space and need to be dealt with immediately. Pests vary in their impact from the aesthetically disturbing to the economically ruinous, from discomforting to the life threatening. Insects, because they are so numerous and do not respect human space, provide some of the best examples. My favorite pests were the tiny black ants that invaded my portable computer in Costa Rica. They would appear from nowhere, run across a few keys and then disappear into the guts of the machine. I am convinced that the disk drive has never been the same.
Whenever I first sight a pest, visceral reactions to eliminate the beast course through my veins, swamping all biocentric perspectives and my deep love of biodiversity. Ten thousand years of agri–cultural evolution, in which selection has favored genes to accumulate and guard possessions, marshals my behavior. The imperative to kill takes over and the mosquito is very dead! Reason departs – along with a safe and sane approach to pest control.
In an issue devoted to pests, it seems only natural to review a book that addresses pest control. There are many volumes that deal with this topic, so why pick one that was published in 1991. In my experience Common-Sense Pest Control is unique because of its reasoned approach to managing pests. Subheadings in the introduction include "Magic, Science and Simple Solutions: Distinguishing Coincidence from Cause," "What We Mean by the Scientific Process," and "After the Emergency is Over". It is clear that Olkowski et al. take a different approach than that suggested by the Ortho manual.
Common-Sense Pest Control is divided into 9 sections and 35 chapters. The first three sections deal with general ideas. The first section begins with a chapter that covers the basics including taxonomy, how to identify a pest, and essential ecological principles. The remaining chapters of section 1 cover natural pest control, integrated pest management, and pretreatment pest strategies. Sections 2 and 3 discuss beneficial organisms and pesticides. The remaining six sections (27 chapters) focus on pests found in specific habitats on or in your body, house, house plants, garden and community.
Each of the habitat sections is prefaced with an introductory chapter before the authors zero in on specific pests. For example, the section called "Pest in the House" includes chapters entitled: "Identifying Structural Pests and Eliminating Moisture," "Wood Decay and Preservation Treatment," "Termites," "Carpenter Ants and Bees," and "Wood-Boring Beetles". Each chapter ends with a section titled "References and readings".
The authors’ environmental-oriented approaches are evident throughout the text. They emphasize environmental heath as a way to prevent pest problems. In the section about lawns they write, "One important alternative to lawn maintenance is not having a lawn at all." (See Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony by F. Herbert Bormann for more information).
Common-Sense Pest Control contains many excellent tables and charts. Black and white illustrations and photographs abound. An appendix lists resources for the materials, organisms, and/or chemicals needed to implement the solutions the authors discuss.
The overall philosophy of Common-Sense Pest Control is very practical and the information accessible. This is a book you can recommend to your friends who call themselves environmentalists and who are willing to go beyond the quick fix in the war on pests.
