Buzz Kill

A fascinating new book explores the hidden costs of killing the bugs we hate — and the ones we need.

(Island Press/Princeton University Press; background photo by Ron Charles)

Every morning after breakfast, Dawn and I take a walk around my folks’ farmhouse in New Hampshire. A red-tailed hawk complains about us from atop a white pine. Dew glistens on goldenrod running down to the covered bridge.

But these days, preparing to enter this idyll feels like dre…