A
world without bees would be totally different to the one we
are familiar with. The lack of bees would have a huge impact
on the food we eat and, indeed. on our whole way of life and
that of all other living things. We need to protect them,
but as this book says, “You can’t save what you
don’t love And you can’t love what you don’t
know.” So getting to know bees is a good place to start.
This
is a lovely book that will look great on your bookshelves,
and its understated elegance will make your coffee table look
like the property of a person of taste and intelligence. From
its gold foil printing to James Nunn’s black and white
drawings inside, this is the 21st century’s answer to
those gorgeous nature books of the 19th century. If a whole
book about bees sounds a bit daunting, rest assured that the
experts who wrote it have managed to make it readable and
easy to understand It would be suitable for older children
as well as adults, being a book written in simple language
which breaks down the information into digestible parts.
There
are four chapters: a look at bees and how they operate; their
involvement with us; the threats facing them today; and how
we can help them. Discover how many different species of bee
there are and how they make nests, pollinate our plants and
how each group of bees differs in appearance and what they
do. Most of the examples are found in the UK, making this
an ideal book for anybody with a garden.
In
the chapter about bees and us there are some recipes, a look
at honey and bee keeping and how bees fare in our world. This
leads us into looking at the threats bees face and finally
into how we can help them. Find out which flowers to plant,
how to make homes for bees and how to garden with them in
mind. At the back is a helpful index, plus a bibliography
if you wish to delve deeper into the world of bees. If you
can bear to part with it, this would make a wonderful gift,
perhaps with a packet of wild flower seeds. It won’t
be leaving my keeper shelf though…
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