Bookshelf

Buy these titles at www.beesfordevelopment.org/catalog or at our shop in Monmouth, UK

Honey bee colony health

Diana Sammataro & Jay A Yoder (eds) 2012 302 pages Hardcover £65.99 (€99) S120

The editors of this new book are two US bee scientists who have gathered texts written by over 60 bee researchers working world wide. The result is a unique and up-to-date guide to current avenues of research investigating honey bee health. All the major issues being studied are reviewed - each of the 21 chapters provides a clear and understandable explanation of each field under discussion. If, for example, you need to quickly comprehend the current view on the global status of honey bee mites, Chapter 5 will provide you with reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date information. Fifty pages of references and an extensive index add further value to this excellent text. Very useful for apiculture researchers, students and lecturers.

The urban beekeeper - a year of bees in the city

Steve Benbow 2012 304 pages Hardcover £17 (€24) B105

A beautifully produced fresh text describing Steve Benbow’s career as a modern, urban beekeeper - building up his numbers of colonies, and satisfying his obsession with bees to his present status as London’s city boy beekeeper, with his bees housed on top-notch institutions throughout the city. But Steve and his beekeeping had a more rural background, and the book describes those adventures that honed his skills in the craft. Arranged according to the beekeeping season and interspersed with good practical beekeeping tips, this book contains plenty of wisdom about honey and its creation in unconventional environments. It will surely inspire many urban beekeeping disciples.

Bees, hives, honey! Beekeeping for children

Tim Rowe 2012 88 pages £18.95 (€28.45) R110

This is a great book for young beekeepers - packed with excellent quirky pictures, attractive hives, a very good level of detail, and a fun approach to beekeeping. Described here are safe and straightforward ways for children to become beekeepers, using top-bar hives and horizontal frame hives. Plenty of good advice for adults too.

The beekeeper’s lament

Hannah Nordhaus 2010 269 pages £9.99 (€15) N105

Hannah Nordhaus has documented the life and work of one North American commercial beekeeper, John Miller, who trucks his bees across the USA, chasing blooming flowers and harvesting honey. Along the way the author meets researchers, attends meetings and gains excellent insight into the North American beekeeping world and the constraints faced by beekeepers. A very well written text, of interest for beekeepers and the wider public.

The beekeeper & the bee

Kate Lynch 2012 79 pages Hardcover £16 (€24) L105

Kate is an artist who has worked amongst the beekeeping community in Somerset in the West of England. She has created 50 drawings in willow charcoal and paintings in oil, and these are reproduced here together with interviews with the beekeeper subjects of her work. The result is a record of a beekeeping year with all aspects of the craft represented, including skep making and how to drive bees out of skeps to harvest their honey. A beautiful and evocative book. The cover of this Journal shows one of Kate’s oil paintings.

Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants

S E McGregor 2011 (reprint) 411 pages £35 (€52.50) M110

The reprint of McGregor’s text from 1976. Although it is over 30 years since original publication, this book is a marvellous guide to insect pollination and the various requirements of a wide range of crops. It is a book that we refer to often at Bees for Development: immensely useful and reliable.

The bee-kind garden - apian wisdom for your garden

David Squire 2011 95 pages Hardback £10.95 (€16.45) S115

Snippets of information, folk lore and verse about bees. Interesting and beautiful black and white illustrations from yesteryear.