This talk will offer some excerpts from the 2021 book by Rob Wiedenmann and J. Ray Fisher, as well as lessons learned during the process of writing and publishing the book. Insects are seldom mentioned in discussions of human history, yet they significantly shaped today’s societies. “The Silken Thread” shows how five insects—just five—have impacted human history. This is not a science book; it is a history book. These five insects have caused sharp turns in history in ways that are usually ignored or unknown. All five insects intersected with humans in multiple ways, and our telling of their tales reminds us that it really is the little things that run the world.