Ten years in the life of a young New Zealander in the Forest Service - he`s physically tough, untutored but keen to get ahead - bring about an amazing metamorphosis. The Technical Trainee of the early pages is barely recognisable as the double-degreed professional entomologist - the `bug man` - who emerges in statu imaginis at the end of 1954. Adventures and dangers lie in wait along the trees to bees trail for the budding academic - and they`re not all winged or four-legged! This delightfully written autobiographical `slice` shows how gutsy determination and two inspirational texts took the author to his chosen speciality and an international career. Born in Ruawai, Tom White grew up in Hawera. After his time in the NZ Forest Service as a Technical Trainee, he was a Forest Entomologist at the FRI in Rotorua. From there he went to the University of Adelaide in South Australia and was a Senior Lecturer in Zoology before going to the University of the South Pacific as Professor of Biology. From there he returned to Australia as Dean of Applied Science at Charles Sturt University. He has also lectured and researched in Britain, the USA, South Africa, China and Italy, and is now an Hon. Research Fellow at the Waite Institute of the University of Adelaide. He is the author of ecological research papers and two books, but this is his first venture outside the world of scientific writing.