Wasp is an excellent
science-fiction novel written by
Eric Frank Russell, originally published in the late 1950s. The original edition has been
out of print for quite some time, but in April of 2000 a new,
unabridged reprint was published in the
UK.
Wasp tells the story -- set in the not-terribly-distant future -- of an interstellar war being waged between Terra and the Sirian Combine (colonists from Terra who have been separated from the home planet for some time, and have thus developed slight genetic and physical mutations). The Sirians vastly outnumber the Terrans, and the Terrans need to think of something fast in order to end the war.
Thus, the Terrans decide to wage a war of psychology. They recruit James Mowry and send him, by himself, on a secret mission to a Sirian planet. His mission: singlehandedly break the government's hold over the citizens and create enough civil unrest that the Sirians themselves become their own worst enemies.
The concept of the mission (and the title of the book) comes from a simple illustration: Imagine a car being driven down the road. Four big adult men are in this car. A single wasp flies in an open window. The driver, seeing the wasp, panics. In an attempt to swat the insect, the driver loses control of the car. The car swerves into a ditch, rolls, and hits a tree. All four men are killed. The wasp, unharmed, flies away.
James Mowry is the wasp (he is also, quite frankly, a stupendous badass).
Wasp was one of the books I read at an early age that got me hooked on science fiction. Even now, after having reread it several times, I consider it one of the all-time best sci-fi novels. This book is almost cinematic in the level of detail and clarity of action that it conveys -- it's a wonder that it hasn't been made into a movie yet.