rooting for ants

As we blogged two years ago, the great biologist E. O. Wilson has written his first novel. This week's Economist reviews Anthill and the reviewer says, 'in Mr Wilson ants have found not only their Darwin but also their Homer'.

The Economist is particularly impressed by one section of Anthill that describes the rise and fall of four ant colonies in southern Alabama. (It was excerpted in the New Yorker and blogged by us here ).

The Economist's reviewer says: 'The tale within a tale is an astonishing literary achievement; nobody but Mr Wilson could have written it.'

The review concludes, 'One can't help rooting for the ants.'