Bees for Development Journal 112
BOOK SHELF Keeping bees with a smile – a vision and practice on natural apiculture Fedor Lazutin 2013 224 pages £21 (US$35; €26) Published by Deep Snow Press ISBN 9780984287352 This is a thorough and well-written text which carefully sets out the author’s approach to natural beekeeping: based on horizontal hives with extra-deep frames and minimal colony manipulation. Fedor Lazutin believes in the underlying importance of honey bee genetics and advocates keeping only local races of bee and propagating colonies by swarming. Originally written in Russian, this book contains numerous insights and excerpts from Russian beekeeping texts, usually unavailable to English readers. Some interesting information about the practice of indigenous Russian log hive beekeeping is included. While the author’s experiences are from Russia, his overall approach of nurturing the colony’s natural means to keep itself healthy, contains important lessons for all beekeepers. His nature-based, simple approach ensures vigorous and productive bees, and saves also time and money. The book contains excellent colour pictures of the author’s beekeeping, family and farm in Kaluga Region, south west of Moscow in Russia.
In praise of bees – a cabinet of curiosities Elizabeth Birchall 2014 256 pages (Hardback) £30 (US$49; €38) Published by Quiller Publishing Ltd ISBN 9781846891922 A beautiful new book in which Elizabeth Birchall explains her interest to find “why bees have such great cultural importance”. The history of humans and bees – myths, religion, politics, philosophy, literature and folklore – are discussed and illustrated. The development of bee science and understanding of bee behaviour are introduced.
Bees – a natural history Christopher O’Toole 2013 240 pages (Hardback) £24 (US$40; €31) Published by Firefly Books ISBN 9781770852082 This large format book describes the challenges facing bee fauna – over 20,000 species comprising honey bees, bumblebees, solitary and stingless bees. Chapters cover the definition and behaviour of bees, bee and plant interactions, as well as those with other animals including humans. With many interesting facts and tips to help bees alongside lovely colour photographs, this book will be of interest to a wide audience.
Bee time – lessons from the hive Mark Winston 2014 266 pages £18.95 (US$25; €26) Published by Harvard University Press ISBN 9780674368392 Mark Winston, as a bee scientist, began referring to the interaction with bees whilst working in his apiary as ‘bee time’. He describes the calming effect of honey bees at work and the fascination of watching colony activities. Sometimes in his scientific work Winston was so busy (as bees are described to be) that he missed the pleasures of ‘bee time’ with bees. In this book he describes his further and deeper explorations, and the result is a useful synthesis of the bees’ and our environmental situation.
The myths of safe pesticides André Leu 2014 142 pages £9 (US$15; €12) Published by Acres USA ISBN 9781601730848 André Leu is an organic farmer living in Australia and President of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM). Tired of becoming ill during every spraying season, despite not spraying his own crops, he decided to question the justification by studying peer-reviewed science concerning pesticide safety. This is a highly readable guide to this most important topic. The excellent introduction by Vandana Shiva is an additional bonus. She points out that 70% of food eaten comes from small farms – only 30% is from industrial agriculture. Yet it is this 30% intensive agriculture which is leading to so many ecological problems: biodiversity erosion, water depletion and pollution, soil erosion and degradation, and climate change.
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