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. But here, the author of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Award nominee What a Fish Knows shows the order Diptera in all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play as waste-disposers, predators, and food source. Along the way, Jonathan Balcombe reintroduces us to familiar foes like the fruit fly, and gives us the chance to meet its 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).