To Know a Fly

by Vincent G. Dethier

To Know A Fly

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, College, Biology, Humor

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Vincent Gaston Dethier was an American physiologist and entomologist. Considered a leading an expert in his field, he was a pioneer in the study of insect-plant interactions and wrote over 170 academic papers and 15 science books. From 1975 until his death, he was the Gilbert L. Woodside Professor of Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he was the founding director of its Neuroscience and Behavior Program and chaired the Chancellor's Commission on Civility. Dethier also wrote natural history books for non-specialists, as well as short stories, essays and children's books.

Reviews

[Little Yams · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO GOOD. IT'S HILARIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC, WHICH IS AWESOME.

This book was surprisingly hilarious. Dethier had these witty, comical comments and they made me laugh. The novel starts out talking about how why we should test on flies and how it’s an obvious choice because they’re always here-like taxes. There’s also the fact that it would save so much space, money, and time. While he gives us facts and statistics, he also put in little anecdotes about his past experiences.

“Have you even tried to buy fly paper these days?”

“I’ll bet you a bottle of beer of you fail.”

Then the next few chapters start to elaborate on tests they did on the flies. They wanted to find out if a fly could possess a sense of taste. Is it similar to ours? How well can they detect taste? So they basically stuck flies on the ends of pencils with wax, and put them in pots with different amounts of sugar dissolved in water. When a fly got close they extended their proboscis’ to drink, and they only extended when they could tell that there was sugar in the water. Dethier did the test with actual people and they couldn't detect any sugar in the pot flies could. With meant that they could detect taste much better than we can. After that there are a whole lot more experiments, including conducting surgeries to create two flies stuck together, so they share the same blood stream. And also cutting the flies’ necks open. Yay!

My favourite part was when “Mr.X” figures out the most brilliant yet simple way to measure how much water the flies were drinking. It was basically a jar with a two piece lid. He made two tubes and sculpted them into a ‘J’ formation and filled them with water, marking to point where the water filled up to. The next day, he took a syringe and filled up to the line he drew, and from that, he calculated how much water was consumed. Later, he one-upped that by covering the feeding tubes with conducting paint. Wires then went from the inside of the jar, came out through a small hole in the lid and went inside an amplifier that was attached to a recording instrument which drew wavy lines. Whenever a fly would drink, the machine will start drawing straight lines. Now they could tell when they were eating. Genius.

I thought this book was great, it was thought provoking and was interesting from the beginning. The little drawings were hilarious and the narrator was funny. The book didn’t ever start to get boring; it was awesome the whole way through. Also the concepts and all the experiments were explained in a way which made sense and the anecdotes provided some more depth in a really fun way. I immensely enjoyed this novel. :D

[Megan Kromer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a funny and creatively written book that inspired me when I first developed my interest in experimental design. It’s time to reread it now that I have more time on my hands!

[Yhtycf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't really about flies or even insects. It's a book about the process of scientific inquiry. It's about how to design a controlled experiment and how to interpret the results, that is, how to observe, gather, and correlate data, how to hypothesize and build a theory. Even among graduate students, even among leading academics (how else did we get into the replicability crisis?), there are very few people that understand this process and its bounds, the creativity and even art involved, how much you can learn from the tiniest bit of ingenuity.

You might think, well, I'm an adult, the scientific process? That's grade school stuff.

Just like the Alice in Wonderland quoted throughout, this book offers profound lessons under the facade of children's reading if only you were willing to kneel down to grab them. Even the author's attitude toward life is a lesson in hiding. Misinformation and your (yes you) inability to see through it, your inability to challenge false inferences made in and from academic literature, is the crowning plague on humanity, a malignant and billowing growth that may very well be the end of anything good in this life or the next. Internalize the lessons herein and you will become an invaluable asset to whatever's left standing around you.

It's funny and it's terse.
You learn a lot, in general, about biology; life.
This is a book about the human spirit.

[Sylvia Shults · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Although small children have taboos against stepping on ants because such actions are said to bring rain, there has never seemed to be a taboo against pulling off the legs or wings of flies. Most children eventually outgrow this behavior. Those who do not either come to a bad end or become biologists." With an opening sentence such as this, you know the author has a sense of humor about his subject, even if that subject is the lowly housefly. This book was one of many science-oriented books that lay around the house when I was a kid -- my father was keenly interested in science of all kinds, and he brought home a LOT of books. I read this in grade school -- really, I mostly picked it up because of the title, and because when I flipped through it, curious as to why it was titled so, I saw there were cartoons. But the science I found in this book was accessible even to a kid in fifth grade. (I recently re-read the book, to see if it stood up to the book in my memory.) Dethier wrote with an easy style -- he seemed to know that people would be more likely to read a book on housefly biology if it was presented with more humor than stodgy facts. The facts are there, but they are coated with an undeniably humorous approach that makes them go down way easier than most books about insects.

[Michelle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting to read. I don't really know what I expected from it, but I was rather surprised. It was funny and creative, and I really liked it. To Know a Fly by Vincent Dethier is about basic experiments that explain the behavior of flies in a way I've never really seen before.

I give this book a four out of five stars, because I really enjoyed how it took a topic I had no interest in and made it into something actually worth reading. The author is funny and makes you actually care about fly experiments. I have to say, I learned a lot. Flies are far more efficient lab specimens than traditional rats or mice. They’re fairly easy to feed, manipulate, and dispose of post mortem. If I ever intend to run experiments using flies, I will certainly make sure to refer to this book.

All in all, I must say that this book was great- it was very instructive and helpful to the budding psychobiologist interested particularly in flies. Maybe I’m not exactly the intended audience, but that just proves the book’s greatness even further; even someone who wasn’t necessarily meant to read it could enjoy it.

[thatreaderkayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for my Advanced Composition class… and dear god.

I don’t think the book itself is poorly written, I personally just hated it. My professor specifically said this book was made for people who didn’t like reading. And I like reading.

The style was not for me, I love being able to pull apart a book and analyze, and I struggle to pull this book apart because everything was laid right in front of me.


Very well written for its intended audience, but I had to drag myself through reading because it was too simple for me, and too repetitive :;)

I will say, it did get two stars though because some of the quotes had me rolling. My all time favorite: “males, no matter what they are, are irresponsible playboys.”

[Gizemlefou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely offers an enjoyable ride. Every sentence is written in a comical/artful way. The book is not didactic at all. However, Dethier lays the foundation of the scientific method based on fruit fly biology: if we hypothesize x, what kind of experiments should one execute? This book could be a really nice intro book for any grad student starting to work on Drosophila.

I gave it 4 stars because some of the claims made in the book about flies have been somewhat unsettled by the recent findings. IMHO, a scientist should never say, "the species x does not do y." without actually having enough evidence/tools to support that claim.

[Mushpuppy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly Scientific

" Thank you so much for reading our book, we hope you really enjoyed it. As you probably know, many people look at the reviews before they decide to purchase a book. If you liked the book, could you please take a minute to leave a review with your feedback? 60 seconds is all I’m asking for, and it would mean the world to us. Thank you so much, Muriwai Books"

The end of the book said that ^ so here is my review:
This is a book.

[Chinmayee LM · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest writing by a scientist, introducing the fun in doing science. Various simply ingenious experiments to understand complex behaviours of flies has been elaborated in a captivating manner. With funny drawings of scenarios, this short book on "knowing flies" is thought provoking and enjoyable. Do read it and you might want to read it all over again :-)

[Zach DuFran · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first few chapters of this book, but my interest gave out as I got into the second half. Some of the cartoon illustrations are quite funny and the described experiments are pretty interesting. I'm surprised by the extent of experimental work that was being done on flies in the 1950s and 60s.

[Joan Newhouse]

This is a delightful book, I think. I read part of it, but like many nonfiction books, I put it down after awhile, and the fact that it's on my Kindle, which I rarely pick up and now has a crack in the glass, means I may never finish the book. I will hold out hope, though.

[jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and informative.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading another book entirely, I was reminded of this one. It took a few moments to dig out of the archive that is our spare room but the effort was well worth it. Funny and entertaining, but, above all, a great introduction to the scientific method. And through the reading you will learn something about flies.

Okay, maybe all these years later I find some of the experiments kind of creepy. But I'll always have that image of exercising the little buggers by taking them down the hall on a string.

[Christine Whittington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the many books I have read as the result of answering a reference question and that make me glad I am a librarian--I might have never known about this delightful little book otherwise! A Penn State alumna came to the reference desk and said the she was trying to find "a really funny book about doing research with flies" that her professor had shared with the class when she was a PSU student. That is the kind of reference question a librarian just has to answer--"a funny book about doing research with flies"!

I did find the book and it is indeed funny. It covers many aspects of the research process involving flies, including how to anesthetize and dissect them. In the process the reader learns more than desired about flies but has to admit that they are fascinating little critters. This book is an excellent example of how to make a scientific topic fascinating to the layperson. Dethier also has a lot of acerbic comments to make about the grant-writing process. The illustrations are priceless.

[ҞΞℓβϓ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To know the fly is to share a bit in the sublimity of Knowledge. That is the challenge and the joy of science."

This book is a fascinating look into the realm of science and how the scientist goes about discovering the beauty & wonder of the natural world. Filled with humor, Professor Dethier does an amazing job of informing his audience of not only the complexities of the fly, but the methods by which scientists go about their work. For anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look into the mind of a scientist, I would highly recommend reading this. It is short, concise, and informative.

[Arseny Khakhalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, and it reads surprisingly well. The only sign of age really is the use of pronouns (the scientist is always "he", even despite the fact that female science students are mentioned several times). This is annoying, but other than that, a great book, and a good solid, yet short introduction to neuroethology.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one for the first time in college, found on a friends' bookshelf. Remembered it as being a delight from start to finish. On re-reading, there was still a lot of great stuff in here about clever experimentation and the day-to-day of research. Very much a product of its time, though, so much of the humor and the callousness towards animals have aged pretty poorly for me.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this book before, and I even did some of the experiments that were described inside. Hard to believe that an entomology book could be laugh-out-loud funny. I recommend it highly to anyone. It's a short read. Very short. Try it. You just might like it.

[Kimbolimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while working in a spider collection in Seattle. The curator had a collection of really old books and the title of this caught my eye. It was a GREAT book to read. The experiments are barbaric but fascinating.

[Abhijeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilariously informative. It is a must read if you have thought about the irritating fly for even once in your life. You would also like it if you want to know about the mess that an experimental scientist's life is.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funniest thing I had to read when I was a Biology Major.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully funny book! The mental image of taking a fly for a walk has stuck with me for 20 years. Highly recommended, and not just for biologists.

[Viktorija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly inspiring.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grotesque, yet fascinating. If you've ever wondered what tax-payer money is funding in the realm of fly-science, look no further.

[Kacee Moreton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little book. Perfect extra reading for the kiddo when she starts taking biology courses.