AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1962)
I have studied biology at the University and I am a specialist in Ancient Natural History of insects, collaborator of Zoology Museum of Barcelona and member of the Catalan Institute of Natural History (ICHN). I have spent about forty years studying entomology and I have traveled in several countries around the world. There, I have been witness to the enormous biodiversity that still exists on the planet.
I am the author of two works related to insects, both written in Spanish language and freely available on this site: Bands, swarms and devastation. Locust plagues throughout history (Almuzara, 2007) and Insects and hecatombs , volumes I and II (RBA, 2012 and 2014). In June 2018 appeared History of flies and mosquitoes (published by Arpa), and in September 2019 was published my last work, Passion for insects. Ilustradoras, Viajeras, Coleccionistas and Entomólogas (published by Turner), a small history of entomology from the exceptional work of fifty-one women who had dedicated themselves to the study of insects. At the end of this page you will find links to articles and interviews about this work.
In the first work there are described the most dangerous locusts species and the most important pests that man has suffered since Neolithic, just when it started. Second work is a natural history about insects like fleas, lice, mosquitoes, flies, chiggers and also ticks; and descriptions around most of diseases transmitted by them: plague, epidemic typhus, yellow fever, malaria, filariasis, African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, etc. All this stuff has been treated from a medical, entomological and especially historical point of view.
These works, of a considerable extent, about 2,300 pages, are in the first tab, called Insecta . Numerous and accurate literature which is based has a very different origin and has been translated by myself. Complete work is available on this website, but separated by chapters, as you can see in the overall index. The idea is that the reader could easily find the specific subject he is looking for.
You will find a second tab, entitled Biographica . Here are included short biographies of several naturalists, scientists, geographers, historians or travelers who appear in my work, and for which I have great admiration; without their contribution I would not have written anything.
In third tab, called Etiam perire Ruinae , which mean "till ruins have disappeared" (Lucan. Farsalia , IX, 969), you will find maps of the ancient world. This is an ambitious work that I started on 2015. And maybe I never will finish it, its size is really considerable. The intention is to make a sort of tourist guide in the known world at the second century after Christ; what a traveler would find then: seas, rivers, mountain ranges, ethnicities, towns, cities or regions, all in its Latinized name.
The bibliography is based on the writings of ancient historians and geographers like Ptolemy, Pliny, Strabo, and many others who made minor contributions. Once drawn, I will upload the maps to the web, along with database "access" that supports them: there you will find all the information gathered and will facilitate you the location you are searching.
I have create that website to offer freely to you several contents of everything that I found interesting and I have learned and wrote. It does not seem fair to me that jobs remain invisible in a drawer, and I think it's not enough they remain limited to the published work. I want that my effort around many years collecting and processing much information could serve to anyone who feels interested in these matters than I have been really passionate.
Finally, you will find another tab, entitled Miscellanea ab absurdo : here are included phrases, ideas, short stories and thoughts that spin through my mind, often surrealist. I also need to open my head about "minor" questions, trivial if you prefer, but that produce to me comfort and pleasure. Here is shown another work of mine, nothing to do with the above, just a comedy that I wrote to laugh. I laughed a lot: Seven crimes per copulation (Plataforma, 2015), wrote by Margarito Micifú, a pseudonymous author… I had no courage to put my real name. I recommend you to see the book launch in the bookstore Abacus, it was really funny.
Links about articles and interviews
TV
Televisió Sant Cugat (December 2014. minuts 12:03)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykVxyL8yzrI
Barcelonautes (July 2018. minuts 15:13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajm7rmtJdAI
TV3. Tot es mou (July 2018. minuts 13:42)
http://www.ccma.cat/tv3/alacarta/tot-es-mou/mosques-i-mosquits-que-fan-historia/video/5775270/
The 9 TV of Vic (April 2019. minuts 16:40)
https://el9nou.cat/video/diana-riba-xavier-sistach-i-xavier-camprubi/
Conference at the Vic Debats Forum. Insectes transmissors de malalties (April 5, 2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1eMTMnY0ek
Broadcasting
Onda Vasca (October 2012. minutes 0: 00-12: 01)
Radio Euskadi. The House of the Word (November 2012. minutes 6: 05-20: 00)
Catalunya Ràdio. Ràdio Gent de Cultura (2013)
Cadena Ser. Today (September 2013. minutes 0: 00-21: 50)
http://cadenaser.com/programa/2013/09/20/hoy_por_hoy/1379628003_850215.html
Catalunya Ràdio. El Supplement, La Marató (December 2017. minuts 47: 30-59: 55)
Radio Extremadura. The sun rises in the west (June 2018. minutes 31: 35-41: 50)
Radio M21. Einstein in Malasaña (June 2018. minutes 55: 16-58: 00)
https://www.m21radio.es/podcast/einstein-en-malasana/einstein-en-malasana-20062018
RNE-Radio3. Doppler effect (June 2018. minutes 32: 25-41: 45)
http://mvod.lvlt.rtve.es/resources/TE_SDOPPLE/mp3/2/1/1529957416512.mp3
Catalunya Ràdio. La nit dels ignorants (juliol 2018. minuts 49: 00-58: 55)
RAC1. Hawaii 19.05 (August 2018. minuts 9: 35-26: 50)
National Radio. Only once (November 2019. minutes 18: 05-30: 17)
Cope. Noon COPE More with Ana Pastor (21.XI.2019. Minutes 20: 25-30: 52)
https://cope-cdnmed.agilecontent.com/resources/mp3/2/5/1574410741952.mp3?download
Radio 3. Everything begins today (3.XII.2019. Minutes 1: 35-2: 24/1: 10-1: 31)
https://mediavod-lvlt.rtve.es/resources/TE_SHETMEC/mp3/1/8/1575369805781.mp3
Radio outside of Spain. Life in Green (21.XII.2019. Minutes 21: 50-34: 15) https://mediavod-lvlt.rtve.es/resources/TE_SVIDAVE/mp3/6/2/1576566031326.mp3
Elisa McCausland. Insects (Maria Sibylla Merian). Doppler effect in Radio 3 (02/13/2020) (minutes 28: 02-39: 45)
https://mediavod-lvlt.rtve.es/resources/TE_SDOPPLE/mp3/2/4/1581456041542.mp3
Mabel Kremer. The history of flies and mosquitoes. Day by day. Radio Caracol Colombia (02/11/2020) https://caracol.com.co/programa/2020/02/11/hoy_por_hoy/1581420117_577717.html
Hala bedi.Kasa Katxan. Passion for insects (5.15 - March 2020) (minutes 4: 20-41: 10)
https://halabedi.eus/es/author/kasakatxan/
Javier del Pino and Juan José Millás. The species of the devil. The ages of Millás. To live. Cadena Ser (06/14/2020) (24:30 minutes to end)
https://cadenaser.com/programa/2020/06/14/a_vivir_que_son_dos_dias/1592129291_870393.html
Papers
Diary Page12. Supplement (March 2008)
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/espectaculos/2-9516-2008-03-16.html
The world. The critters that almost exterminated humanity (November 2012)
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/11/16/ciencia/1353062402.html
José Ramón Alonso's blog: Review of Insects and Hecatombs (January 2013)
https://jralonso.es/2013/01/26/resena-insectos-y-hecatombes/
Bolguejat. Salvador Macip. Ressenya Insects and Hecatombs (February 2013)
http://bloguejat.blogspot.com/2013/02/ressenya-insectos-y-hecatombes.html
Murcia's opinion. Juan José Millás. Mysterious Zoologies (July 2013)
https://www.laopiniondemurcia.es/opinion/2013/07/24/zoologias-misterionales/485966.html
Diri from Girona. Juan José Millàs. Zoologies mysteries (juliol 2013)
https://www.diaridegirona.cat/opinio/2013/07/25/zoologies-misterioses/627763.html
Peststop. Fleas and lice changed the course of history (2014)
http://www.plagastop.com/pulgas-y-piojos-cambiaron-el-rumbo-de-la-historia/
Killer Medicine. Naomí Baumslag (February 2014). Preface (p. 9-18)
The Provinces. A typical fly can transmit more than a hundred diseases (November 2014)
https://www.lasprovincias.es/sociedad/salud/201411/18/xavier-sistach-especialista-historia-20141118000405-v.html
National Geographic. History. Malaria has killed more than the plague and typhus combined (March 2015)
Ara.cat. Francesc Orteu. Criatures (November 2015)
https://criatures.ara.cat/fill-et-marca-necessita-limits_0_1467453241.html
The New Evolutionary Enlightenment. Germanic. Interview (May 2017)
http://ilevolucionista.blogspot.com/2017/05/insectos-y-hecatombes-entrevista-xavier.html
The newspaper. Science Advances. Insects at the origin of malaria (June 2018)
The vanguard. Opinion. Màrius Serra. Mosquitoes 'mosquitoes' me (July 2018)
https://www.lavanguardia.com/opinion/20180703/45586289864/los-mosquitos-me-mosquitean.html
La Central Bookstore. The blog. Nacho Borraz. History of flies and mosquitoes review (July 2018)
https://www.lacentral.com/blog/xavier-sistach-152138
The world. Unique characters. Paula Clemente. Mosquitoes as (now useless) weapons of war (July 2018)
http://www.elmundo.es/economia/innovadores/2018/07/25/5b55faa4468aeb5a2c8b4584.html
MosqitoAlert. Marina Torres. Interview. "You have to explain history and science with emotion and captivating anecdotes" (July 2018)
http://www.mosquitoalert.com/hay-que-explicar-la-historia-y-la-ciencia-con-emocion-y-anecdotas-cautivadoras/
Zenda. Yolanda Guerrero. There is no small enemy (August 2018)
https://www.zendalibros.com/no-enemigo-pequeno/
Pontevedra newspaper. Flies and mosquitoes are the most harmful insects for humans (August 2018)
EFE Agency. Flies and mosquitoes, a long history (August 2018)
https://www.efe.com/efe/andalucia/sociedad/moscas-y-mosquitos-una-larga-historia/50001109-3723159#
Ara Estiu. The mosquito is not the only enemy (August 2018)
https://www.ara.cat/estiu/mosquit-no-nostre-unic-enemic_0_1849015097.html
The Post Office of Zamora. Juan José Millás. Good day. The happy moment of opening the book "History of flies and mosquitoes" (August 2018)
https://www.laopiniondezamora.es/sociedad/2018/08/22/buen-dia/1105098.html
Gustavo Colorado Grisales. Beware of God's Wrath ... And Fleas (October 2018)
http://miblog-acido.blogspot.com/2018/10/cuidate-de-la-ira-de-diosy-de-las-pulgas.html
The world. Mar de Miguel. Flies and mosquitoes: mass killers. (August 2019)
https://www.elmundo.es/papel/historias/2019/08/31/5d68fd52fc6c83ed368b4599.html
The country. Agathe Cortes. The women who caught butterflies with a revolver and a razor under their skirts (October 2019)
https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/10/04/ciencia/1570196090_702158.html
The vanguard. Domingo Marchena. The sad story of the dragonfly lover (November 2019)
Victor Amela. The Contra of La Vanguardia (12/31/2019).