Product Description

Bee keeping isn't just for the country dweller--bees can be kept in any situation from the simple balcony to the garden to acres of land. This comprehensive and attractive lifestyle guide to bee keeping takes readers from finding their bees to getting them home, housing them, collecting honey and using their produce. The book includes a detailed look at the history of bees and bee-keeping, and an extensive introduction to help readers to fully understand bees and keep them happy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4448 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780715328101
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Alison Benjamin is a Guardian journalist. She writes on environmental issues and social affairs and currently edits The Guardian’s environment website. Brian McCallum is a designer, builder and yachtsman. Alison and Brian – who now studies apiculture – have many hives in different locations across London. Their blog, www.urbanbees.co.uk provides a fascinating insight into beekeeping in the city.

Customer Reviews

Best photography of any bee book I've seen so far.
This is a beautifully produced book with some really excellent photography; it should be mandatory to furnish dentist's waiting rooms with at least one copy (not only would it successfully distract the patients, but we'd also end up with more beekeepers in the world... and all of them with good teeth). The text is informative and straightforward (although I did find the chapter sequencing a little puzzling and personally would have preferred to see the gardening, honey and products chapters shuffled to the back and all of the essential beekeeping information consolidated). I found the chapter on gardening for bees to be especially interesting and relevant though, along with the plant-to-honey-type cross-reference table, and have been diligently planting seeds to provide my hives with some early spring blooms based on that content.
The beekeeping information is as up to date as you'd expect for a 2008 book with, for instance, a reference to dusting the bees with icing sugar as a method for controlling mite infestation. Although not perhaps as comprehensive as Sammataro and Avitabile's "The Beekeepers Handbook", the photography and sections on an introduction to beekeeping certainly compensate. U.K. readers especially will appreciate the references and use throughout the book of the familiar WBC, double-walled hive.
This is an engaging book on several levels. The first and most obvious is as a coffee-table book which will interest young and old alike. Secondly, it's a great source of well illustrated information for the novice, or yet to be, beekeeper. For the more experienced, it's one of those books which is nice to have to hand to show to friends and neighbours (or anyone taking an interest in your bees). It has content which will also appeal to the gardener and to the city dweller, as well as to anyone interested in ecology and the environment. An excellent buy.

Great Beginning Book
Great book for beginning beekeepers! Loads of info on bees,starting out with bees, and bee products. Answers to questions that I hadn't even thought to ask!

Clear and Understandable
Easy to understand book for the beginner to bee keeping. Lots of pictures and good information to get you started in this facinating hobby.