Claire Preston

Given how often I absolutely adore the Reaktion Animal Series books, I was rather deeply disappointed in this one.

I was wary rather immediately when I saw other reviewers point out some mistakes that the author had made in the biology section of the book. Further, it was mentioned in previous reviews how often the author relied upon narratives from the 1600s rather than talking about innovations in apian science and our understanding of bees in general. Only briefly was bee communication and dancing mentioned within the book, and very little attention was paid overall to any recent ethology studies on the insect. The bulk of the book was focused only upon honeybees and the symbolism thereof. Anthrpocentrism dominated the book, which was a bit sad as I was hoping for more information about actual bees, to learn more about bees that aren't honeybees, and in general broaden my apian horizons.

This was a decent introduction to how humans have thought of bees and how those thoughts have changed. It was a decent look at the political importance of bees as a symbol of idealized society, and later, the horrors of communism and bees representing the ultimate deindividuated person. So, all in all the book was interesting and I was able to learn from it, but I had hoped for something rather more detailed and enlightening.

Also - bear in mind this book doesn't address colony collapse at all, and I am uncertain if that was simply a mistake or if the book came out too early to really view that as an issue.… (meer)