Midges by Alasdair Roberts

Midges!!
review by Maryom

A wet, midge-infested afternoon in a holiday cottage on Skye, so checking out the book shelves - just the thing! A book on midges!
A short book in which you can learn everything you needed to know about the evil midge - its life cycle, history, its relationship with royalty and tourists - and, importantly, possible ways to avoid it.
A good mix of humour and fact about this pest. I'd always assumed that the midge had been an unpleasant fact of Highland summers forever, but Alasdair Roberts puts forward a theory that until the mid 19th century they were hardly considered as a problem! Wish I'd visited then.
As for 'how to avoid the midge' - just don't combine two popular methods - wearing a necktie soaked in paraffin and repelling them with fire or cigarette smoke.
An amusing read for a holiday afternoon. Fortunately, the sun returned on the next day and the midges disappeared.

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Birlinn Ltd
Genre - Non Fiction


Midges can be purchased from Amazon