I have just spent several very enjoyable hours reading your book. It’s beautiful, finely judged and clearly written, with a poetic, at times very playful, light touch yet packed with serious science as well.

Julian Spalding, art critic and writer

This is a remarkable book by a remarkable man. Philip Howse takes us on an incredible journey into the meaning of skulls and art, potatoes and honey, superstition, bats, birds and mirrors. The doors of perception are flung wide open. Our own culture is intimately woven into this remarkable story. The book is a little gem and a fantastic read.

James Crowden, The Marshwood Vale Magazine

In summary, the book provides a wonderful mix of topics and I’m sure that many readers will be delighted with the detail provided. I guarantee that, whatever your main interest, you will come away with a new perspective not just of the Death’s Head Hawk-moth, but also potentially of the world around you. Like I said, this author makes you think!

Peter Eeles, Dispar

What a brilliant book. I love it. It really is a polymath’s blend of art, and science and philosophy…but I think it works brilliantly as a study of a single species, and enlarges the sense of wonder for all of us. Your story-telling is wonderful, too.

Patrick Barkham, author of The Butterfly Isles

This is truly a remarkable book that makes us ponder over historical events, concepts, rituals, beliefs and behaviours. I would encourage anyone, whatever their interests, to read this well written and unusual book.

Dr EJM Evesham

This is Phillip Howes at his best, an authoritative overview of the cultural references to this iconic moth. It is a journey through our myths and legends, music and literature, a cultural cocktail that is generously laced with some intriguing biology. Bee Tiger presents a cultural autecology that teases apart our anthropocentric perspective of this moth and juxtaposes it with detailed accounts of its entomology.

Smithers, The Royal Entomological Society

A bizarre but revealing lens through which to view human life, death, our relationship to the natural world and its relationship to us.

Charles Foster, author

I enjoyed this book hugely, really a book about perception. There is a lot that is explained, and a lot of areas opened up for further thinking. That has to be a good book.

Mark Avery, scientist, naturalist and author

I found this book fascinating, and there is far more in it than I can cover here. You really have to read it to find out.

Norman L. Carreck, BeeCraft