"My bookshelf" is the start of a new series where I will occasionally highlight books that I have on my bookshelf. It might be a themed set or a series I love. In this first post, I want to showcase my small selection of books that are all about the subject matter of my new novel: the honey bee.
I've been interested in the disappearance of honey bees since around 2010, when colony collapse disorder (CCD) was really starting to make headlines and become common knowledge. In 2011, I researched urban beekeeping for a science journalism project in college and learned about some key differences between wild bees living in urban areas and commercial bees who are transported across the country to pollinate field after field of a single crop. The main differences are that commercial bees are exposed to pesticides at a higher rate, their food source is not very diverse, and combined with the transportation, they are overworked and more stressed, which in turn leads to more deaths. However, even urban beekeepers were finding that their hives were struggling. I also learned that about 1 in 3 bites of food can be linked back to bees and their pollination. The food that our food relies on are crops that almost exclusively rely on bee pollinators.
In 2013, I had an idea for a novel where all the main characters were bees, and so I set out to do more research about how bees, specifically honey bees, lived. The relationship between humans and bees in my novel is more science fiction than current reality, but I was looking for whatever I could find regarding honey bees and their importance to their environment and humans. These are the books I added to my bookshelf. If you're interested in the inner-workings of a honey bee hive, Honeybee Democracy is a fascinating read. I got a lot of inspiration from that book.
Here are the books on my bookshelf that are all about the honey bee:
In 2013, I had an idea for a novel where all the main characters were bees, and so I set out to do more research about how bees, specifically honey bees, lived. The relationship between humans and bees in my novel is more science fiction than current reality, but I was looking for whatever I could find regarding honey bees and their importance to their environment and humans. These are the books I added to my bookshelf. If you're interested in the inner-workings of a honey bee hive, Honeybee Democracy is a fascinating read. I got a lot of inspiration from that book.
Here are the books on my bookshelf that are all about the honey bee:
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"Honey has been waiting almost ten million years for a good biography. Bees have been making this prized food -- for centuries the world's only sweetener -- for millennia, but we humans started recording our fascination with it only in the past few thousand years. Part history, part love letter, Robbing the Bees is a celebration of bees and their magical produce, revealing the varied roles of bees and honey in nature, world civilization, business, and gastronomy."
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"No creature has provided man with so much wholesome food as the honey bee. Equally impressive is the number of beliefs and superstitions the industrious insect has inspired. Its honey, which was known to the ancient Greeks as the 'food of the Gods,' played an important role in early religious rites and was also mentioned in the folklore of many peoples. Hilda Ransome's well-documented and copiously illustrated study of bees focuses on this valuable byproduct of nature and its creator — the 'sacred' bee."
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"Literary Nonfiction, A Monk in the Bee Hive introduces and carries the reader to a higher octave of beekeeping. It has been called forth by the need for a recognition of the forces informing all of life itself. Drawing on her experiences as a Buddhist monk, Skye ann louise Taylor is adroit in her perception and application of sacred principles to life in the bee hive. Sacred geometry, astronomy, sacred queens and holy drones meld and swirl together in hives made of wood that resonate with the underlying formative forces moving throughout the hive and its surrounds. A Monk in the Bee Hive is a book for a twenty-first century connection to all things bee."
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"Bee shamanism may well be the most ancient and enigmatic branch of shamanism. It exists throughout the world—wherever in fact the honeybee exists. Its medicinal tools—such as honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly—are now in common usage, and even the origins of Chinese acupuncture can be traced back to the ancient practice of applying bee stings to the body’s meridians.
"In this authoritative ethnography and spiritual memoir, Simon Buxton, an elder of the Path of Pollen, reveals for the first time the richness of this tradition: its subtle intelligence; its sights, sounds, and smells; and its unique ceremonies, which until now have been known only to initiates." |
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"The Honey Trail is a global travel narrative that looks at different aspects of how honey and bees are being affected by globalization, terrorism, deforestation, the global food trade, and climate change. This unique book not only questions the state of our environment and the impact it is having on bees and honey, it also takes readers on an adventure across Yemeni deserts and Borneo jungles, through the Mississippi Delta and Tasmania's rainforests, over frozen Siberian snowscapes and ancient Turkish villages all in search of the liquid gold known as honey."
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"Honeybees make decisions collectively―and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of scientific discovery, Honeybee Democracy brings together, for the first time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees."
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