Recently the publisher of this book contacted me to see if I would like to read the book and provided feedback. On receipt of the book I was immediately impressed by the quality of the photos and the ‘Did You Know?’ and ‘Top Tip’ highlights that feature throughout the book to emphasise information.
The book covers all aspects of bees and bee-keeping, providing lots of information for anyone who is interested in bees, not just bee-keepers. In a chapter called ‘The Joy of Bees’ the book starts by detailing the history of bees and man’s relationship with them, the relationship spans back thousands of years. Bees have been used in sacred rights throughout the ages. The book tells us that in Britain alone there are over 200 species of bee and that not all are social like the honey bee.
The book is split into chapters such as; understanding bees, first things first, your bees, through the seasons, reaping your rewards, troubleshooting, and taking things further.
The chapters take the reader through all the stages of bee-keeping, from understanding bees and how to keep them through to bee threats and diseases and how to mitigate them. The book also covers the honey bee by-products such as honey and beeswax.
At the end of each chapter there is a check-list of the issues covered making it easy to recap the main points. These check-lists are also repeated at the end of the book in a comprehensive list. The book also gives a list of useful websites and further reading.
The book contains a wealth of information, I really enjoyed reading it and will refer back to it. As well as learning about the art of bee-keeping, I was introduced to quite a lot of information about bees in general that I didn’t know before.
The book is published by Flame Tree Publishing who can also be found on twitter @flametreetweet.
is this the beginnings of a new hobby at ChateauCherie?
Tempting, but I don’t think the neighbours would be too happy
It is a very important topic, it’s nice to show this book !
I find bees fascinating
Interesting … they have become so absent over the years.
The book mentions the colony collapse disorder which mostly happens in America and only occasionally elsewhere. It discusses why this might be.
How weird?!
I just saw an ad about beekeeping at my local farm.
It’s £3 per lesson!
Bargain!
Just think of all those photos you could take
Living as I do in the depths of the country there are many people running a hive or two around and about but I know there is plenty of space for more!
We all need bees they are such an important part of the ecosystem so more books the better and this looks a good one. Oh yes I love to eat HONEY.
I am rather fond of honey too, I bought a rather nice heather honey from a farm when I was on my holiday
A great review. Buzzing.
Maybe it will attract some bees to my blog
I’ve just returned home from a week’s accommodation in Ambleside where the owners were passionate about Bees. Not only did they sell the honey, but they also had a vast collection of honey pots on the hall window and the breakfast table was full of appropriate culture down to the napkin rings and a honeycomb & bee mould for the butter.
It sounds like a wonderful place to stay, just my kind of place
I hope you had a good and relaxing holiday 