Heart of the Hive is an interesting and well written monograph on honeybee anatomy, social structure, and by apiarist Hilary Kearney. Due out 3rd Sept 2024 from Hachette on their Storey imprint, it's 200 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
This is an all-ages, accessible, thorough and up-to-date look at everything bee related. It is slanted heavily towards honeybees (Apis mellifera) but other bee species do get mentions here and there. The bulk of the book is however dedicated to the phenomenally cool honeybee and how they impact our world and how humans interact with them.
The author's an experienced beekeeper and educator who conducts workshops and educational resources, training other beekeepers and new beekeepers how to succeed with their own colonies, and it shines through in the text. Her voice is encouraging, casual, and so enthusiastic and upbeat. It's clear she really loves bees and wants everyone else to love them too.
The book's information is logically arranged: basic introduction including a little nomenclature (not much of that), how bee societies are arranged and what the working parts include, lifecycle, necessary environmental resources (what bees like/need to succeed), anatomy, bee senses, communication, queens and their life cycles, what they *don't* like (and as far as we know *why*), and a general catch all chapter with bee factoids and characteristics.
It's not an academically rigorous book, there are no annotations, and the language is easily accessible. The author/publisher have included an abbreviated bibliography with chapter links, and those resources will provide readers with many more hours of reading.
The book is beautifully photographed in color throughout. Eric Tourneret's macro photography is incredibly detailed and clear, and is a definite highlight of the book.
This is not a how-to manual. It won't teach readers how to successfully keep bees. It is however a good starting point for general learning.
Five stars. It would make an excellent choice for public or school library, home use, smallholder, gardening / allotment /community garden groups, 4-H, extension agency, etc.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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