All creatures small and smaller

Hugh Raffles, who teaches anthropology at the New School, finds a world of wonder in the smallest creatures. He is as fascinated by high-stakes cricket fighting in China as he is by the complex interrelationship between locusts, feast, and famine in Africa. “Insectopedia’’ (Pantheon) is his eclectic exploration of insects in science, literature, popular culture, economics, history, and anthropology. Each chapter stands on its own, with titles that progress through the alphabet from “air’’ to “Jews,’’ “Kafka,’’ “temptation’’ and on to “zen and the art of zzz’s.’’