{"product_id":"2940170646685","title":"Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe award-winning journalist Lisa Margonelli, national bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eOil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank\u003c\/i\u003e, investigates the environmental and economic impact termites inflict on human societies in this fascinating examination of one of nature's most misunderstood insects.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAre we more like termites than we ever imagined? In \u003ci\u003eUnderbug\u003c\/i\u003e, the award-winning journalist Lisa Margonelli introduces us to the enigmatic creatures that collectively outweigh human beings 10 to one and consume $40 billion-worth of valuable stuff annuallyamp;mdash;and yet, in Margonelli's telling, seem weirdly familiar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the course of a decade-long obsession with the little bugs, Margonelli pokes around termite mounds and high-tech research facilities, closely watching biologists, roboticists, and geneticists. Her globe-trotting journey veers into uncharted territory, from evolutionary theory to Edwardian science literature to the military industrial complex.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat begins as a natural history of the termite becomes a personal exploration of the unnatural future we're building, with darker observations on power, technology, historical trauma, and the limits of human cognition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhether in Namibia or Cambridge, Arizona or Australia, Margonelli turns up astounding facts and raises provocative questions. Is a termite an individual or a unit of a superorganism? Can we harness the termite's properties to change the world? If we build termite-like swarming robots, will they inevitably destroy us? Is it possible to think without having a mind?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnderbug\u003c\/i\u003e burrows into these questions and many othersamp;mdash;unearthing disquieting answers about the world's most underrated insect and what it means to be human.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Recorded Books, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47179210457328,"sku":"2940170646685","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170646685_p0.jpg?v=1763714881","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170646685","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}