The Year of the Mite: Jane Ishka author talk and book reading

Posted on 12 April 2016

Do you raise chickens? Have you been thinking about it? You probably want to come to this talk.

All it took was a few baby chicks and a carpeted floor, and soon, Jane Ishka, a San Francisco Bay Area homesteader, literally felt her skin crawling. She—and her house, her car, and all of her belongings—had been infested by the red poultry mite, Dermanyssus gallinae.  Driven from her home and bed by the biting and itching, Jane used her scientific background to figure out what was wrong, and most importantly, how to fix it.

Come hear the entertaining and informative Jane Ishka read from her new book, The Year of the Mite.  Jane will discuss how the book is helping shift popular and professional thinking about parasitic mite infestations.

From Amazon reviews:

• “Filled with scientific details, up to date research, support and resources,The Year of the Mite is forthright and compelling. But it’s Ms. Ishka’s deep sense of compassion for life, her honesty and her generosity, that keep you turning the pages.”
• “This is an AMAZING book. It’s funny, insightful, sensitive, and engaging. For those who might be a bit ticklish about the topic, don’t worry, it’s about more than a mite infestation, a lot more. A great science read, and also such an honest story about relationships, and even more, how we care about each other.”
• “What a fascinating story of real life perseverance and investigative science writing. I also follow Jane’s posts on Facebook and on her blog where she continues to develop the main thrust of her book: namely that science says that what happened to her and others like her is impossible.”
• “As a family who has gone through a mite infestation for over a year, we have seen it all. Jane Ishka has captured our anguish perfectly… this book does an amazing job of showing readers every aspect to the problem.”