Almost 20 years after winning the Pulitzer Prize for their work "The Ants," Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson present to a wide audience what biologists have discovered over the past two decades about the organizational forms of social insects. "Superorganisms" are the term used for colonies of social insects that are characterized by altruistic cooperation as well as complex communication and division of labor. Their study illuminates many phenomena and concepts of general significance in biology. The book outlines the evolutionary path of "superorganisms." Building on this knowledge, the authors take a look at one of the most significant transitions in life: from the molecule to the cell, to the organism, and beyond to the superorganism, to the population, and finally to the ecosystem. This softcover reprint keeps the sought-after book available.