In The Insect-Populated Mind, author David Spooner proposes a close connection between aspects of insect evolution and the human intellect. By examining seemingly disparate subjects, such as entomology, language, theory, genetics, astronomy, literature, and music, Spooner proves that synthesis is indeed possible. Once this fusion is achieved, the human species can be seen as connected not just to the great apes, but also via consciousness to metamorphic insects. While considering Richard Dawkins' and Susan Blackmore's expositions of memes, Spooner suggests that the concept of memes remains a peripheral understanding of religion and the arts. The book also presents arguments on the roots and nature of the mind in the work of Daniel Dennett and Steven Pinker.

This book is an extension of Dr. Spooner's previous work on the interplay of insect processes and human culture as discussed in The Metaphysics of Insect Life (ISP, 1995). It continues the application of the literary, philosophical, and scientific methods employed there to the main currents in the evolution of modern Hispanic literature. On one level, it is part of the new cultural-ecological criticism. Assessing the incursion of South American rainforest ecology into the poetry of Silva, Dario and later Eguren, this study considers their impact on Rueda, Aleixandre, Jimenez, Lorca, and Valente, among others, balancing this with a recognition of Spain's indigenous post-romantic modernism. Then, while taking account of the insects in Juan Goytisolo's novels, Spooner will throw more light on the books of Marquez, Cortazar and Fuentes, where the striking of the medieval across the modern is interpreted as related to the metamorphoses of insects, and indeed the processes of literary development itself. The book concludes with a consideration of the metaphysical and scientific implications of this analysis.