It's been years since I re-read it but I still remember nearly falling off my chair laughing over his praying mantis description, something along the lines of they will hunt everything that moves, the way he wrote it was hystrical for some reason. I remember I wrote "Beware while taking walks in the country" next to the text and then forgot all abt it, and later I lent that book to a friend recovering from an appendectomy and she told me she too laughed so hard over the same bit plus my remark she nearly caused the sutures to burst and was given grief by the nurses.
There were a lot of little such pearls inside, I'll need to re-read it soon. Really enjoyed your excerpts!