Fredrik Sjöberg collects hoverflies on the Swedish island of Runmarö – or at least he did. When last heard of, towards the end of this beguiling book, his hoverfly collection is on display in the Nordic pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale, just along from a series of characteristic works by the pornographer ‘Tom of Finland’.

‘When flies are exhibited on the wall in Venice,’ notes Sjöberg, ‘the end is nigh, very nigh.’ He takes a dim view of the art world in its present state, just as he takes a dim view of the quasi-religious stridency that has overtaken the former science of