The world of flies is amazing and multifaceted: they are undeservedly forgotten pollinators, hardworking ecologists responsible for garbage removal, and also the main assistants of criminologists. Despite the fact that most people find an annoying fly rather an annoyance, in reality it is difficult to imagine our life without it. In this book, the eminent biologist and myth buster Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera, which includes flies, in all its diversity - and even beauty! The author explains how important the role of dipterans plays in the ecosystem, how they achieved evolutionary success, and gives us a chance to reacquaint ourselves with these amazing insects - from the fruit fly and the fly's close relative, the mosquito, to the lesser-known oil fly (the only living creature in the world that develops). in oil pools!) and the chocolate midge, a unique pollinator of cocoa flowers. This book will forever change the way you think about flies and help you look at them in a new way. “In my book, I view flies as amazing opportunists, capable of finding profit and making a decent life for themselves in the most unexpected places. We will learn about flies that carry diseases, feed on flesh, make love, pollinate plants, drink blood, process waste, learn about predator flies, parasites and parasitoids, agricultural pests, deceivers and cooperators. We will learn about the amazing, completely incredible, daring, miraculous and simply enchanting ways of survival of flies in a world that, as it seems to us, is controlled only by people.” (Jonathan Balcombe)