Fredrik Sjoberg is a Swedish entomologist who specializes in studying the hoverfly on his small island off the Swedish coast. He in entranced by its diversity and the ways in which its patterns of birth, life, and death help explain the world. But Sjoberg has the remarkable capacity to be entranced by many, many things: the habits of other entomologists; bug collecting and collecting in general; the history of his profession; and particularly the life of the inventor of the fly trap he uses daily to study his target. Sjoberg's writing glows with his interest in the natural and human worlds, and his tangents are fascinating. I would have never believed a book about entomology could be so fascinating.