Beesfor Development Journal 78
AVAILABLE FROM Bf D NOW AT WWW.BEESFORDEVELOPMENT.ORG
BOOK SHELF THE HIBERNATION DIET Mike McInnes and Stuart McInnes, with Maggie Standfield 2006 150 pages soft cover £8.50 (€12.75) Code M020 This book aims to help people adopt a healthy diet and lose weight if necessary. The authors include a pharmacist and a sports nutritionist. The diet they propose is based on the concepts of liver fuelling and fat burning throughout sleep. They advocate the taking of a spoonful of honey before bed, to optimise fat loss. This is based on understanding of the biology of tissue recovery, which is fat burning. Arising from this the authors developed a strategy for optimising fat burning during sleep by fuelling the liver prior to sleep. Honey, which contains fructose, is ideal for this purpose. The theory is that if the liver is fuelled prior to bed, recovery hormones are released to do repair, regeneration and construction of new tissue. These hormones are exclusively fat burning hormones. For this to occur, blood glucose must be stable, and the liver must be well fuelled: a spoonful or two of honey is the ideal way to do this.
ROBBING THE BEES Holley Bishop 2006 324 pages hard cover £15.00 (€22.50) Code B355 The subtitle of this book is: 'A biography of honey, the sweet liquid that seduced the world'. Holley Bishop is a beekeeper, and a journalist. In this book, she provides an insight into why beekeepers find their craft so endlessly fascinating and interesting. She describes the folklore and history of beekeeping: a newcomer to the field will find this an informative and pleasant way to learn more about the culture surrounding bees and their honey. Well written and readable, this is an enjoyable book, and especially encouraging for anybody thinking of keeping bees for the first time.
THE NEW NATURALIST BUMBLEBEES Ted Benton 2006 592 pages hard cover £47.50 (€71.25) Code B325 soft cover £26 (€39) Code B330 An important new text on bumblebees, providing a detailed, up-to-date account of their behaviour and ecology. Although the text is focussed on bumblebees of the UK, there is information that is new and useful for all who are working in this field. For example, Chapter 1 contains interesting information about the extent of bumblebee species richness worldwide. Like honeybees, bumblebees play a crucial role in the pollination of flowers and vegetables. The farming industry relies heavily on these efficient pollinators to pollinate beans, tomatoes and many fruit crops such as apple, pear and plum. However, bumblebee populations have recently suffered alarming decline, with three of the UK species already extinct and another nine (of the remaining 25) on the endangered species list. A further decline in numbers could have a serious economic impact on the farming industry, while the impact upon biodiversity is unknown. In light of this, bumblebees have been a source of much interest, and detailed research and field studies over the past decade have brought them into the public eye, raising awareness of their plight. The author, Ted Benton is an expert in this field, and in this text, he combines 15 years of his own field studies with the latest research findings, to provide a detailed and comprehensive account of the lives of the UK species. The book is full of excellent colour photographs and line drawings showing the sexes and castes of all species, and detailed photographs of bumblebee habitats. In addition to chapters on life cycles, psychology, 'usurper bumblebees', and predators, Chapter 6 discusses foraging behaviour, while Chapter 7 discusses floral arrangement. Chapter 8 provides a key to enable identification. Chapter 10 discusses agricultural change, conservation status and habitat requirements and explains the patterns of bumblebee decline. This significant new text will assist greatly in helping these species to be better understood and appreciated, and we hope, conserved. 14
