Bookshelf

The bee – a natural history

Noah Wilson-Rich

2014 224 pages (Hardback) £19.99 (US$45; €30) Published by Ivy Press ISBN 9781782401070

A beautifully presented book which consists of around 70 double page spreads of text and pictures summarising the fascinating topics that make the study of bees interesting. For example: two pages on bees’ life cycle, two pages on pollination, two pages on thermoregulation. The abundance of excellent graphics and illustrations enable essential facts to be conveyed readily and the brief text provided will be just enough for many readers. The book is not primarily about honey bees, but inevitably they feature more than other species. Chapter 6, A Directory of bees, provides large photographs of solitary and social bees from around the world. The book aims to provide a balanced approach, for example including discussion of recent trends for urban and natural beekeeping. Beekeepers will appreciate the beauty of this book about their favourite subject, while non-beekeepers might be encouraged to have more care for bees.

The bee book – a guide for top-bar beekeeping in southern Africa

D Donald, D Marchand and J Marchand-Mayne

2013 138 pages £12 (US$21; €15) Published by Juta & Company Ltd ISBN 9780702178368

What is so refreshing about this book is that while the sub-title of the text suggests that it is about top-bar beekeeping, the first chapters tell about the importance of bees, their value for pollination and bee products, and the honey bee life cycle. Sections on profit, estimating income and expenditure, siting and safety all precede the chapters which specifically cover making and using top-bar hives, thus making this an all-round excellent text. There is emphasis on local materials and self-reliance which is good to see. The recommended width of the top-bar 35 mm might be too wide for more tropical African honey bee races. This book is accurate, well written and fun to read. Of value to beekeepers, projects and extension workers across English-speaking Africa.

The rooftop beekeeper – a scrappy guide to keeping urban honeybees

Megan Paska, Rachel Wharton and Masako Kubo

2014 176 pages £15.99 (US$20; €25) Published by Abrams & Chronicle Books ISBN 9781452107585

Written by a roof top beekeeper in Brooklyn, USA, this book covers all the basic conventional frame hive beekeeping information, yet is written, illustrated and published entirely from an urban perspective. This is an accessible text that makes urban beekeeping attractive and feasible.

Swarm essentials – ecology, management and sustainability

Stephen J Repasky with Lawrence John Connor

2014 128 pages £14 (US$23; €17) Published by Wicwas Press ISBN 978187807531

This comprehensive text on swarming reminds us that it is an important element in the biology of honey bees but causes both wonder and alarm in equal measures. The management of swarming is covered in detail and the reader is urged to consider their own approach to swarming based on a thorough understanding of the causes and the advantages for bees, versus disadvantages for the beekeeper. For example, the break in the brood cycle caused by swarming can reduce high Varroa mite load. The focus of the text is North America and readers should note that the chapter on honey bees in the ecosystem applies to the honey bee in a non-native habitat. There is some discussion of the behaviour of African honey bees in tropical regions of the Americas pointing out that multiple reproductive swarming seasons are not unusual. There is useful advice on the use of bait hives.

What do you know?

Clarence Collison

2003 421 pages £15 (US$25; €19) Published by A I Root Co ISBN 0936028165

An unusual book containing around 2,500 questions and their answers, pertaining to honey bee biology, management, pollination and bee produce. A useful source book for bee quizzes and an interesting way to broaden beekeeping knowledge, this represents the author’s twenty years of careful compilation and distillation of knowledge about bees.