Customer Reviews

The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a special scientific book, for the author tells the reader not only WHAT we know about the inner workings of honey bee colonies, but also HOW we know it. Through simple but graceful writing, accompanied by many diagrams, Seeley takes you on a step-by-step journey through his experimental analysis of how the members of a bee colony work together to gather the nectar, pollen, and water that they need. I think anyone interested in seeing how a human has dissected the complex internal organization of a bee hive will find this a rewarding read. I especially liked chapter 6, where Seeley explains that the bees have several kinds of communication dances, not just the famous waggle dance, to activate more bees for making honey.

Thomas Seeley has written an amazing book that will work for many different types of readers at many levels. The book outlines experiments that Seeley did with prepared hives to demonstrate the system dynamics of how a hive adapts to the resources around it. Seeley's style is easy for a layperson to read with clear charts and pictures. This is a great book to savor; read a chapter, then daydream about how these creatures could be constructed to perform their functions.

I got a lot out of the book. First of all, it's a narrative of Seeley's experimental method; he labels a hive (puts the bees in a hive in a refrigerator, pulls them out one by one and puts identifying tags on each), sets up feeding stations with different concentrations of sugar at different distances, then observes behavior to demonstrate how individual variation in bees optimizes the hive's collection of resources. Second, it's a pretty good introduction to bee physiology and the hive's social system. Seeley describes experiments tracking the individual jobs of bees as they age and, in doing so, he covers how and what the bees do. Third, Seeley reviews and describes the previous literature, giving a history of behavioral study of bees. Finally, he develops his thesis regarding the hive as a system, with parallels to systems theory and studies of hierarchies of organization.

This is a fun read; easy to get through, thought provoking, giving you appreciation for the author's work and for the creatures that are his subject.

I'm giving this book five stars because of the content. Dr. Tom Seeley is a genius. His writing is clear and concise and you can easily derive from it his love of the honey bee. It's not your usual technical book; it's much easier to read and there are some amazing things that even after ten years of keeping bees I did not know. It's a fine companion to his most recent book, "Honey Bee Democracy." BUT IF YOU'RE EXPECTING THAT YOUR PURCHASE WILL INCLUDE A DUST COVER, YOU'RE WRONG!! Despite my numerous pleas to Amazon, despite the fact that the book is displayed on the website with a dust cover, I did not get one. The one time I got a response, they said they would send me another copy of the book, that I should remove the dust cover to keep for myself and return the book. When the second copy arrived IT HAD NO DUST COVER!! I sent it back with that notation. I have heard nothing.

While I'd hate to do without most of my 50 plus books on bees and beekeeping, this book would be THE one I'd keep if I could have just one. Comprehensive information that is both fascinating and useful, clearly and even beautifully expressed. More books should retain the context of honey bee colony as social (super) organism.

I was excited to find an eBook available for this important work and purchased immediately. I found out when reading that there are no images. When the text refers to a diagram, there is no diagram and the ebook tells you to refer to the printed version. That does not work for me since I do not have the printed version.

The images and diagrams are a very important part of this book and the decision to leave them out seems to have been poorly considered. If I had the printed book at my disposal then I would not need or want the kindle version. It would surprise me a lot if anyone who owns this already pricey book would be interested would be in the almost equally expensive yet seriously flawed electronic version. I still want the book and will order the printed work eventually.

Amazon gave me a full refund so there is no problem there.

although i am well aware of the fact that the contents of the book are what is important, i was a bit disappointed when my book arrived without the cover. again, over time, i'm sure that the cover would have somehow ripped or torn off given my rough handling of everything not living. however, i feel that amazon, or any internet retailer for that matter should send everything that is shown in the internet image. it is after all, the only thing we(internet shoppers) have to go by. i am quite pleased with the book, ecstatic really. which is why i would have loved it even more if it came just 'as shown'.