The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild

Author: Thomas D. Seeley
Ideal for: Beginning Beekeepers, Established Beekeepers, Speciality
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Binding: Hardcover
Dimensions: 6.5″ x 1.2″ x 9.5″
ISBN: 978-0691166766

Description (from inside cover):
The Lives of Bees is Thomas Seeley’s captivating story of what scientists are learning about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees living outside the beekeeper’s hive—and how wild honey bees may hold the key to reversing the alarming die-off of the planet’s managed honey bee populations.

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and shows how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers.

“This remarkable book eloquently explains how to be a better partner with honey bees, using nature as a guide. Seeley draws on insight and wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of research and hard work—and provides plenty of instructions and illustrations. The Lives of Bees is for everyone who has, or wants to have, honey bees in their lives.”

– Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine

“Using beautifully crafted arguments, Seeley challenges us to let bees be bees. Drawing from his life study of colonies in the wild, Seeley provides a timely reminder of all the amazing strategies that honey bees have evolved to survive on their own.”

– Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota