Excerpt from Anthill by Edward O. Wilson, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Exhausted by the long walk home but exhilarated, they arrived at Raff’s house in time for supper, and Junior went on his way. At the kitchen table, over baked chicken, fried okra, and cornbread, his mother asked Raff how his day had been at the Nokobee tract.

“It was okay,” Raff said. “I just wish Junior was more interested in natural history, though. And he’s scared of snakes.”

In the days following, Raff and Junior described the Chicobee adventure in detail to their friends, each puffing up his own heroic contribution. Accounts of a stolen skiff, as opposed to a borrowed skiff, were reserved for only two or three of their closest confidants.

Reprinted from Anthill: A Novel by E. O. Wilson Copyright © 2010 by Edward O. Wilson. Used with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.