Posted by admin | Posted in Book Review | Posted on 29-01-2012
Queen Breeding and Bee Genetics by Eigil Holm is an English translation of a Danish Book and it is immediately apparent 
that it shouldn’t be pitched at those who are perhaps not particularly scientific minded. In parts, despite it being a very informative book, it did remind me of past textbooks with scary looking diagrams all over the pages. Then again, that is exactly what genetics is all about; therefore perhaps I am being a little harsh.
What is immediately apparent in this book, 92 pages long and with some good colour photos to back up some of the descriptions, is that there is an incredible amount of information here in this book. Eigil Holm is obviously passionate about the topic and it shows. I would never every purport to be an expert at beekeeping and so initial chapters introducing the concepts of queen rearing were very interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently I wrote a short blog article about Presents to give a Beekeeper and in that piece I wrote a small section about 
beekeeping books I would recommend. Though I had only received it a few days previously, an excellent beekeeping book review in the BBKA news and my initial impressions as I felt it and looked through it, meant that it had to be included in my recommendations for great books for beekeepers.
As with other Beekeeping Book Reviews let me just give you the fundamentals of this book. It is written by a passionate beekeeper and professional photographer, David Wootton. You can find his Photography website here. Therefore, as you can imagine being a photographer, the images throughout this 146 page book are by far the best photos you will see in a Beekeeping Book.In fact, the images throughout this beekeeping book review have been reproduced with David’s permission so I hope you like them. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Surreybeekeeper | Posted in Beekeeping, Bees, Book Review, history | Posted on 24-10-2011
I have recently found a real interest in the historical aspect of beekeeping and so I jumped at the 
chance to review this book; Bee Boles and Bee Houses by A M Foster. Essentially it is a good review of techniques used to house bees before a certain group in the early to mid 18th Century got involved and invented the moveable frames (I.e. Dzierzon, Langstroth amongst a few others)
When I first received it I was shocked at its size, only 32 pages, as I was expecting a far larger book. However I will say immediately that, because you could finish it in an evening, it was perfect for the subject matter. If truth be told it is the perfect feeder book for you to want to find out more if that makes sense.
We all know that beekeeping history is a fascinating topic and this is obviously a very well researched (quoting 15 other books) and concise taster book. I particularly like some of the imagery which sadly, for copyright reasons, I cannot replicate here. There are at least 3 illustrations depicting historical scenes on each page supporting some of the written prose.
Another aspect I particularly liked was the “Places to Visit” section at the end suggesting 31 different locations to find these bee boles and bee houses. However they are all situated in the UK rather than elsewhere so sadly my readers from the US and elsewhere may miss out – I will just have to send you some photos when I go off visiting them all!
Should you want to purchase a copy you can get a copy direct from the publisher www.shirepublishers.com or apparently from any good bookstore (only wish there were more bookstores!)
that it shouldn’t be pitched at those who are perhaps not particularly scientific minded. In parts, despite it being a very informative book, it did remind me of past textbooks with scary looking diagrams all over the pages. Then again, that is exactly what genetics is all about; therefore perhaps I am being a little harsh.