Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History and a
New York Times Editors Choice Pick
After reading Super Fly, you will never take a fly for granted again.
Thank you, Jonathan Balcombe, for reminding us of the infinite marvels
of everyday creatures.
--Sy Montgomery, Author of How to Be a Good Creature
**
From an expert in animal consciousness, a book that will turn the fly on
the wall into the elephant in the room.**
For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're
annoying, and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In Super Fly,
the myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera in
all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play in
every ecosystem in the world as pollinators, waste-disposers, predators,
and food source; and how flies continue to reshape our understanding of
evolution. Along the way, he reintroduces us to familiar foes like the
fruit fly and mosquito, and gives us the chance to meet their
lesser-known cousins like the Petroleum Fly (the only animal in the
world that breeds in crude oil) and the Chocolate Midge (the sole
pollinator of the Cacao tree). No matter your outlook on our tiny
buzzing neighbors, Super Fly will change the way you look at flies
forever.
Jonathan Balcombe is the author of four books on animal sentience,
including the New York Times bestselling What A Fish Knows, which
was nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Science Writing. He has
worked for years as a researcher and educator with the Humane society to
show us the consciousness of other creatures, and here he takes us to
the farthest reaches of the animal kingdom.
