The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

Thoroughly enjoyed this book on the natural history of these gre

Thoroughly enjoyed this book on the natural history of these greatly unappreciated creatures. Not sure where the reader was coming from who complained about torturing animals... the author's treatment seemed respectful and interesting to me as a gardener. Final bits on creating your own worm 'farm' to harvest castings was inspiring. Well written and well researched.

Earth Moved Not Earth-Moving

As the proud owner of a new worm farm, I wanted to learn everything I could about earthworms. But this book taught me more than what kind of worms to farm, what to feed them, and when to harvest their casing in hopes of having a yard that looks like something out of the 3D Avatar movie.

Any Stewart is a thoughtful, precise writer who clearly gives much thought to her subject matter. And her perspective is big -- when you begin to think, as she does, of the whole underground world beneath your feet of worms, calmly and ploddingly burrowing through the soil, eating their way through the dirt, devouring the banana peels, lettuce leaves, and asparagus stems you feed them from your compost, you have a lesson in patience and fortitude. They just keep going. Stewart tells us that they survived the dinosaurs, the Ice Age, and will probably survive whatever comes next. While we present-day humans are busy bombing each other, eradicating natural resources, poisoning our crops and treatout our bodies to extra-large doses of stress and other immune-system destroyers, the worms go on, patiently chewing and burrowing and living in their own feces, and rewarding us with the bounty of all that by riching up our soil and enlivening our lives.

Stewart's account of Darwin's late-life fascination with worms is particularly interesting and engaging. We all know about Darwin's marriage to his cousin and the genetic mahem that caused, and I have pointed this out to a friend of mine, saying, "What do you expect??? He was fascinated with earthworms in late life." "Yes," she replied, "and you have a midlife fascination with earthworms."

The book is not a page-turner. There is little drama. But I learned a lot in a leisurely way from Stewart's musing, lyrical, and yet particular style.

Misleading

What a horrific book for anyone who cares about animals and their feelings! With an early veneer of compassion, this descends into the hells of animal experimentation for which, as usual, there is no compelling reason except for pulling the wings off butterflies.<BR/>Very, very disappointing.

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Worms Rule

Yet another book whose hype far outweighs its heft. But really, how exciting can a book about earthworms be? A chapter that did bring me to the edge of my seat, was one that described the search for the giant Palouse earthworm of southeastern Washington State. One hasn't been seen for twenty years and is feared to be extinct. I couldn't help thinking, 'How would they know? These things live far underground in Jimmy Hoffa territory.' The worm grows as long as three feet, and get this, to protect itself, it releases a mucus that smells like ... lilies. This Driloleirus americanus would find life easy at any graveyard with one of its functions to provide mourners with a lovely fragrance. You could almost say that visitors would be smelling the ghosts of the dead. There are hundreds of species of worms and each of them sprout the sex organs of both female and male. No wonder they are all blind. Some varieties eat table scraps, newspapers, leaves, pine needles, but never any meat or meat by-products. Some simply digest the microscopic organisms living in the soil. They have no lungs and breathe through their skins. And contrary to what I thought prior to completing this 206-paged large-fonted book, worms aren't always beneficial for all situations. In example, author Amy Stewart discovered that stowaway European worms dropped in the Minnesota forest have begun to kill new growth. This is because at night millions of worms pull into their tunnels the fallen leaves and debris that for centuries had hidden and sheltered the very young trees and shrubs from the vegetarian wildlife. Without the protection provided by the thick natural occurring debris, the ruminants consume not only all the groundcover, but all the baby trees that require decades to mature from a green-budded shoot into a young buck's rubbing post. Finally there are experiments afoot that may use millions of worms to change the sewage of our cities (of which only 5% is solid matter) into vermicompost (worm castings) that, after much sanitizing and de-stinking, can be re-used as fertilizer for growing food we eat. Anyone who delights in backyard gardening or creating first class compost will find The Earth Moved, fascinating.

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