The Biology of the Honey Bee

The book only gets 4 stars because it's getting out of date. Nonetheless, if you can pick it up used for a few bucks, it's well worth the money and time, and the most interesting topics, like dance communication and hive behavior, are nicely covered. It's actually hard to find books like this. A book on honey bee biology is likely to be either too basic, perhaps intended for high school students, or too detailed, intended for others in the field. This book is just about right for the college/grad student or amateur biologist.

This book is a review of current (as of 1987) research about honey bees. Topics covered include: origin and evolution, anatomy, development and nutrition, nest architecture activities of worker bees, pheromones, communication and orientation, collection of food, reproduction, mating, and differences between temperate an tropical honey bees. The book includes numerous black-and-white illustrations, a long-list of references, an author index, and a subject index. Readers will come away from this book with a much greater understanding of these vital insects, encompassing everything from range to communication to gender roles. The book is written in clear language that is accessible to general readers as well as undergraduate students. Interested readers can use the cited references to learn about specific topics in greater detail.

I picked up this book in a store and bought it out of idle curiousity, as I am neither an entomologist, biologist or beekeeper. Its content amazed me and spurred me to return to reading general interest science books, an area I had largely shunned after leaving university.Apart from the fascinating content, the book wins because of the author's superb style. While sacrificing nothing in the way of content (at least to this nonspecialist's eye) he never indulged in technical jargon, making the book accessible to any interested person.