Unveiling the Fascinating World of Flies with Erica McAlister's 'The Secret Life of Flies'

Non-Fiction Discover the hidden world of flies with Erica McAlister's "The Secret Life of Flies"! This paperback book is one of the best zoology Books on invertebrates, offering high-quality binding and pages that are easy to read and understand. With a focus on non-fiction, this book will give you an in-depth look at the fascinating lives of flies.

Key Features:

Flies have a fascinating hidden world that is often overlooked. From their unique anatomy to their diverse behaviors, there is much to learn about these amazing creatures. By taking a closer look at the secret life of flies, we can gain insight into the complexity of the insect kingdom and the importance of these creatures in the natural environment. From the courtship rituals of male flies to the social behaviors of female flies, there is much to explore in the secret life of flies. Discover the secrets of these fascinating creatures and gain a better understanding of their role in the natural world.
88
B2B Rating
10 reviews

Review rating details

Value for money
88
Overall satisfaction
89
Genre
91
Easy to understand
88
Easy to read
92
Binding and pages quality
91

Details of Unveiling the Fascinating World of Flies with Erica McAlister's 'The Secret Life of Flies'

  • Entomology (Books): Entomology
  • Publisher ‏ ‎: The Natural History Museum; 2nd edition
  • Item Weight ‏ ‎: 15 ounces
  • ISBN-10 ‏ ‎: 0565094750
  • Best Sellers Rank: #138 in Entomology #196 in Biology of Insects & Spiders#350 in Biology of Wildlife
  • Dimensions ‏ ‎: 5.2 x 0.71 x 7.68 inches
  • Biology of Insects & Spiders: Biology of Insects & Spiders
  • Paperback ‏ ‎: 248 pages
  • Language ‏ ‎: English
  • Customer Reviews: 4.7/5 stars of 190 ratings
  • ISBN-13 ‏ ‎: 978-0565094751
  • Biology of Wildlife: Biology of Wildlife

Comments

JestlazzJestlazz: My only criticism is the index is printed so small I had to put reading glasses on over my reading glasses. Apart from that, lovely book

United Kingdom on Aug 23, 2023

David Rodie: Knowledge

United Kingdom on Apr 11, 2023

Leonard: as a young entomologist I found this very enjoyable. I recommend

Germany on Aug 12, 2021

Cap'n Bob: If you think your love life is complicated, just wait until you read about some of these lulus -- males that bring gift-wrapped meals to their lovers to keep them occupied while, you know . . . and many other lurid tales.

Unfortunately, all too many careless typos, many of them listed by other reviewers, make it difficult to concentrate on the juicy tidbits of insect lore. A couple of additional goofs are more quantitative: On page 56, temperature changes expressed in degrees Celsius are converted to Fahrenheit as if they are absolute numbers, resulting in laughably incorrect figures. And on pages 148-149, the author's calculator must have blown a gasket, making her estimate of a human's jump relative to that of a gnat larva too great by a factor of almost 100. These mistakes, added to the dozens of grammatical, technical, and punctuation errors, make it obvious that no copy editor ever saw this text before its publication. We can only hope that omission is rectified before the next edition of this marvelous book.

United States on Jul 25, 2021

Buffalo_Stuck_In_TX: Very enjoyable read for an amateur naturalist. Various facts I learned in the book sent me into different learning tangents. Thank you

United States on Mar 30, 2021

David B Richman: The order Diptera makes up one of the four largest orders of insects, the others being Coleoptera (beetles), Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). Of these the Diptera is held in the least regard - they bite us, they plague our picnics, they transmit or carry dangerous microorganisms and viruses, and they attack our crops. However there is another side to flies because they also serve as food for many animals we like (birds, reptiles, amphibians, dragonflies, and others) and some attack the pests we don't like, such as mosquitoes (yes some other flies eat mosquitoes!). In the Secret Life of Flies, Erica McAlister shows us that flies are not just pests, but fascinating creatures that also can be quite beautiful. The color photos and the lively text are excellent. This is necessary reading for anyone interested in the natural world and flies in particular, even if they don't like flies. Highly recommended.

United States on Aug 28, 2019

Joe Rowlett: I'm reviewing this as a professional entomologist with a keen interest in diptera... so I may be a bit biased. On the whole, this will be an excellent short read for any nature enthusiast looking to learn more about one of the most underappreciated of insect groups. For those looking to get a more advanced discussion, particularly in terms of taxonomy and phylogenetics, Stephen Marshall's fly book is required reading.

As much as I enjoyed the subject matter here, I could have used more of it. For a group as diverse and wide-ranging as flies, the discussion here felt a bit unnecessarily abbreviated. Though there are plenty of excellent illustrations throughout, there were times when a species being discussed could have benefited from a photo. And I did notice a few typos of the taxonomic sort in some chapters. On the whole, these are minor quibbles and shouldn't keep anyone interested in flies away from this book. The world needs more books on this marvelous group.

United States on Aug 24, 2019

Crissy: Provides interesting facts about the natural history of a group of insects that haven't been studied extensively. The author is very enthusiastic about her work and her subject. Contains very good photos of some of the fly species she describes.

United States on Jan 09, 2019

Vertigo: I really wish I could have given this book five stars, but sadly I found there were serious shortcomings. Firstly the format of book itself. It is so small, almost pocket sized, why not the same as another NHM monograph, Jan Beccaloni's 'Arachnids'? Secondly flick through it, and you will find there are many pages without illustrations or diagrams - to many people, 'boring' or 'heavy' would immediately be the thought that sprang to mind, also the bibliography and index are presented in tiny lettering that would do credit to the 'fine print' of a dubious contract. My eyesight is OK, but I needed a magnifying glass to read the bibliography.
Most of the illustrations are great, but there are some of little consequence e.g. two of plants, Aristolochia and Amorphophallus, (if these were sectional showing the fly trapping mechanisms - great, but they don't), another of an empty holotype pin, and then the recently rediscovered 'terrible hairy fly', why show it against the holotype setting where the contrast between the fly and the background makes it indistinct, and in addition only part of the specimen is shown.
Stephen Marshall's weighty volume 'Flies' has hundreds of superb...

United Kingdom on Nov 22, 2017

Brenda W.: (Written by Brenda W's husband who is the amateur entomologist)
Before and during my lifetime there have been a considerable amount of books published at a popular or intermediate level on British butterflies and moths. Well behind in number are books on British Bumblebees, Beetles and Dragonflies but ubiquitous flies (Diptera), where are they? It would seem that to most people, flies are something associated with death and decay, like dead animals, rotten wood, piles of the dark brown stuff or they are ;midges' that bite you with all the inconvenience that can follow. Talking about butterflies is acceptable even welcome but bring up the subject of flies and learn quickly how to kill a conversation and be avoided in future, as 'being a bit peculiar'. In consequence, the number of books at popular or intermediate level on flies in general, published in the last 100 or so years would probably only take up about 15 inches of shelf space in an average, private, entomological library! Even the now august New Naturalist series has yet to publish its first book specifically on flies.
Then along comes Erica Macalister with all the credentials of a Senior Dipterist but instead of...

United Kingdom on Aug 03, 2017

Unveiling the Fascinating World of Flies with Erica McAlister's 'The Secret Life of Flies' The Soul of an Octopus: A Journey into the Wonder-Filled World of Sy Montgomery The Melodic Munching of a Wild Snail
Unveiling the Fascinating World of Flies with Erica McAlister's 'The Secret Life of Flies' The Soul of an Octopus: A Journey into the Wonder-Filled World of Sy Montgomery The Melodic Munching of a Wild Snail
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Total Reviews 10 reviews 208 reviews 55 reviews
Entomology (Books) Entomology
Publisher ‏ ‎ The Natural History Museum; 2nd edition Atria Books; Reprint edition Algonquin Books; Reprint edition
Item Weight ‏ ‎ 15 ounces 8.8 ounces 4.8 ounces
ISBN-10 ‏ ‎ 0565094750 1451697724 161620642X
Best Sellers Rank #138 in Entomology #196 in Biology of Insects & Spiders#350 in Biology of Wildlife #1 in Invertebrates Zoology#1 in Marine Life#2 in Marine Biology #4 in Invertebrates Zoology#26 in Nature Writing & Essays#1,111 in Memoirs
Dimensions ‏ ‎ 5.2 x 0.71 x 7.68 inches 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.38 inches 5.1 x 0.65 x 7 inches
Biology of Insects & Spiders Biology of Insects & Spiders
Paperback ‏ ‎ 248 pages 272 pages 208 pages
Language ‏ ‎ English English English
Customer Reviews 4.7/5 stars of 190 ratings 4.6/5 stars of 9,214 ratings 4.5/5 stars of 2,507 ratings
ISBN-13 ‏ ‎ 978-0565094751 978-1451697728 978-1616206420
Biology of Wildlife Biology of Wildlife
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