As a long-time photographer of very small things I was drawn to the author's work as soon as I saw it. Not only is he a very talented photographer, but he's also an entomologist and can write intelligently about the species he photographs. Many of the images are in natural light, but his manipulation of flash is sublime and unless you know what you're looking at, is hard to tell.

In the name of conservation and ecology, it's the cuddly animals that make the cut, not scorpions, spiders or weird-looking toads, but they're in here and championed. Since I love all the 'creepy-crawlies' I felt right at home and in some awe at his capturing so many species in their natural environments. In the end he condemns the practice of chilling or killing in the name of the perfect shot. Instead he calls for more study of the creature's habits and behaviors so you can anticipate what they might do and be prepared for that shot. ( )

Again I have been lulled into reviewing a book simply because of its lovely photographs. The Smaller Majority provides a visual introduction to some of our planet's smaller forms of life -- large enough to be photographed with a standard camera, but smaller than a human finger. Naskrecki's photographs are in full, bursting color, accompanied by sensible captions which note where each photograph was taken. The text is intelligent, providing a brief introduction to each of the different classes of creatures and then a shorter discussion of many of the species pictured.

The Smaller Majority is largely taken up with illustrations and descriptions of insects, but there are also worms, frogs, lizards, and spiders in its pages. Some real wonders are presented -- the caecilian, for example, an amphibian which is the dead spit of an earthworm, despite its having a complete skeleton and no true tail (pages 46-47). Another gem is the section of surprisingly beautiful photographs of small insects that have been killed by infestations of fungus (pages 136-37).

The book has three main sections, delineated with helpful colored tabs at the bottom of each page. Most of the book has green tabs, indicating tropical humid forests, but there are shorter sections describing the smaller life forms of savannas (orange) and deserts (gray). The main text is followed by several appendices, including one about photography, a list of resources (organizations and books), and an index to species.