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Rowan Jacobsen

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis Paperback – August 18, 2009

by Rowan Jacobsen (Author)

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"Jacobsen reminds readers that bees provide not just the sweetness of honey, but also are a crucial link in the life cycle of our crops."―Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Many people will remember that Rachel Carson predicted a silent spring, but she also warned of a fruitless fall, a time with no pollination and no fruit. The fruitless fall nearly became a reality when, in 2007, beekeepers watched thirty billion bees mysteriously die. And they continue to disappear. The remaining pollinators, essential to the cultivation of a third of American crops, are now trucked across the country and flown around the world, pushing them ever closer to collapse. Fruitless Fall does more than just highlight this growing agricultural catastrophe. It emphasizes the miracle of flowering plants and their pollination partners, and urges readers not to take the abundance of our Earth for granted. A new afterword by the author tracks the most recent developments in this ongoing crisis.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury USA
Publication date

August 18, 2009
Dimensions

5.74 x 0.63 x 8.27 inches
ISBN-10

1596916397
ISBN-13

978-1596916395
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A spiritual successor to Rachel Carson's seminal eco-polemic Silent Spring…Jacobsen's concern for the fate of the honey bee population is easily contagious…The Verdict: Read.” ―Time

“Mr. Jacobsen warns that we may be on the brink of just such a disaster…a detailed history of honeybee biology… [Jacobsen's] analysis is helpful and instructive.” ―Wall Street Journal

“A delightful yet sobering look at how different our lives would be if bees disappear…an important book about one of our natural allies that, like us, is caught in difficult times.” ―Arizona Republic

“Past a certain point, we can't make nature conform to our industrial model. The collapse of beehives is a warning--and the cleverness of a few beekeepers in figuring out how to work with bees not as masters but as partners offers a clear-eyed kind of hope for many of our ecological dilemmas.” ―Bill McKibben, author 34 of Deep Economy

About the Author

Rowan Jacobsen is the James Beard Award- winning author of A Geography of Oysters and Fruitless Fall. Jacobsen's writings on food, the environment, and their interconnected nature have appeared in the New York Times, Wild Earth, Harper's, Eating Well, and Newsweek. He lives in rural Vermont with his wife and son.

Product details

Publisher : Bloomsbury USA; 1st edition (August 18, 2009)
Language : English
Paperback : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1596916397
ISBN-13 : 978-1596916395
Item Weight : 9.1 ounces
Dimensions : 5.74 x 0.63 x 8.27 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,068,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,041 in Biology of Insects & Spiders
- #5,265 in Ecology (Books)
- #6,881 in Environmentalism

Customer Reviews:
59 ratings

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Bruce Schafer

The value of an agricultural workaholic

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2010

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This very informative book by Jacobsen brings to light an issue that many knowledgeable environmental activists and concerned individuals are well aware of. The fact that humans are quickly depleting the Earth of its valuable resources, even the small ones that we tend to take for granted. The Honey Bee and other wild creatures that perform a similar role are key elements in this edible chain of life we are part of. Without preaching to an alarming extent, Jacobsen takes path of describing the importance of the honey bee and just how many aspects of our lives (and those of other animals as well) will be altered in a devastating manner if the current decline of these unheralded and diligent workers continues. As the book heads into the latter part, he does invoke the message that this is not some insignificant issue that should be taken lightly. The message is clear. The writing is fluid and the minor tidbits of humor make this an easy novel to comprehend. It's about the battle that is being waged right under our noses. I highly recommend this book. It gives you the appreciation of the creatures that share this planet and their symbiotic relationship with planet Earth. For those that have read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, this represents a present discussion of a similar scary issue.

One person found this helpful

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M&G Cornelius

Very important book to read!

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018

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This is an excellent book .. informative .. fun learning about bees in the beginning, scary when it goes into detail about the seriousness of how messed up everything is, but armed with knowledge we can begin to go forward on the correct paths. That is, if you like eating. This book is much more than about bees, but it's all about the bees, dig?

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Charles Koenen

Move over Rachel Carson... your silent spring has a fruitless fall. Compulsory Reading.

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2018

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Wow, I haven't gotten out a highlighter pen since high school... this text is dense, fact-filled and metaphoriffic... very thorough examination of the plight of pollinators without being dry and boring... or factually weak...

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Kindle Customer

Excellent explanation of complex bee puzzle

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2017

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There are so many problems that bees are encountering right now and Rowan Jacobsen describes them all, in great detail, but not boring detail. Although the subject could be dry and depressing, he keeps it all very interesting. It's an easy read, fast-paced yet thorough.
More people should read this, so maybe we could begin the process of fixing our world before we break it completely.

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Curtis Raymond

Real Danger

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017

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A really important book from 2008 about Colony Collapse Disorder. If we lose honeybees, we lose
most of the fruit we eat. Thus "Fruitless Fall," an autumn without fruit. The danger is real.

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Shelley Rains

Engaging and eye opening

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2012

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This book is an engaging and very well written account of the importance of the European honeybee and it's near loss due to colony collapse disorder. Who remembers much of anything about this calamity that nearly destroyed a big part of our food supply? Disaster unfolding and we the public ignorant and unknowing thanks to our wonderful media!! The author carefully researches all the different scenarios blamed for the collapse, and the conclusion is basically - all of the above. The honeybee has been beset by new problems, and finally it all got to be just too much. All of our fruits and many of our vegetables rely on pollination by insects, of which the honey bee is the most hardworking and efficient. Losing the honeybee would be a complete disaster for the California almond growers for instance - but the hives are treated with scant respect by the growers. Maybe this has changed somewhat, but to me this whole story underscores the problems with agri-business style farming and food production, and points up how vulnerable our food supply really is.

The book ends on an optimistic note - with research on how different varieties of bees cope with different problems, and a real surprise on regular honey bee behavior when the bees are allowed to build their own combs to the size they want. I have decided that next year I will be planting "nectiaries" - plants to attract and feed pollinators throughout the garden and in abundance. I also plan to try keeping bees - should be an interesting project.

In conclusion I thoroughly recommend this book - a well researched follow-on from Silent Spring, from which the title phrase, Fruitless Fall, was taken.

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NoVA guy

Definitive book on how to be a bee keeper as opposed to just being a bee haver

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2018

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A lot of back story on what honey bees do when they’re in good shape

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QueenBee

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2018

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Good book

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スイート・サイエンス

現代農業が直面している危機をリアルに実感させられる

Reviewed in Japan on February 27, 2010

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邦題は「ハチはなぜ大量死したのか」で書評などで結構話題になり興味を覚え、英語の練習も兼ねるつもりで原書を購入し読んだが、色々な意味で感動と衝撃を受けた1冊であった。

2007年頃から全世界で蜜蜂の養蜂場で、ＣＣＤ(colony collapse disorder)と呼ばれる、蜜蜂が大量に消滅する現象が発生しており、本書ではまず原因解明に取り組んだ過程が描かれる。
新たな細菌の発生や、農薬、殺虫剤、寄生虫などあらゆる原因が想定され調査されるが、その過程で蜜蜂が近年、どれだけ細菌、寄生虫、農薬、殺虫剤、そして苛酷な劣悪な労働環境に晒されていることがよくわかり愕然とした。ＣＣＤでは人間でいうＡＩＤＳのような症状が見受けられ、これにかかった蜜蜂は免疫力が極度の低下するが、農薬や殺虫剤により弱らされた上に、季節ごとに農作物を受粉させるために米国の大陸の各地を転々とさせられ、食事は本来の蜂蜜や花粉ではなくトウモロコシから生成したシロップのみで栄養不良にさせられれば、体調不良とストレスでおかしくなるのは当然と感じた。

また、本書では蜜蜂を始めとする様々な昆虫や鳥がその活動を通じて植物の生育に不可欠な存在になっている（原書ではpollinator=授粉者と呼ばれる）ことが描かれているが、地球上に花が誕生した第10章のThe Birth of Beauty（美の誕生）では、花が地球上に現れたのが実は意外と最近で、恐竜や鳥が地球上に現れてから1億年以上も後の約1.4億年前であったことや、花と昆虫がそこから二人三脚で進化する神秘的な過程に驚きを覚えたし、その中でpollinatorとして最も進化した蜜蜂の精密な社会が描かれた第2章では、個々の蜜蜂の巣全体に対する献身に感動を覚えた。

本書で最終的に炙り出されたのは、単一の農作物を大量に生産する現代の農業がいかに環境に多大な負荷をかけているかということだ。経済的には効率的な大量生産が善とされ、実際に現代人はその恩恵に浴しているわけだが、農業はいかに進歩しても多様な動植物が複雑に絡み合う自然環境と切り離して存在することは不可能であり、経済的な効率性を追求しすぎた場合には病気や害虫の異常発生という形で崩壊の危機に瀕することになる。蜜蜂のＣＣＤはそれを端的に表す事象の一つなのだ。

残念ながら自分がすぐ何か貢献できることはなかなか見つからないが、個人的に蜜蜂に対する感謝と愛情を感じたし、機会があれば飼ってみたいと思った。また、余談ながら、appendixには蜂蜜の効用についても書かれており、これを読んで単純に蜂蜜を食べたくなり早速購入してしまった。

5 people found this helpful

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よしの

　忍び寄る危機

Reviewed in Japan on July 19, 2010

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　割合、男性的で乾いた感じのする文体で書かれており、汚い言葉も使われて、アメリカ的。
　前半はＣＣＤ（蜂の大量死）の犯人を探し推理小説のような雰囲気がただようが、ところがどっこい、ことはそんなに簡単なものではなかった。
　原因は人間。現代の農業や商業のあり方に警鐘を鳴らしている。養蜂に長く携わっていた人達でさえ、何も分かっていなかったということに驚いた。
　生物多様性の中で蜂が蜂らしく生きられることの大切さを感じたが、実は蜜蜂は氷山のほんの一角で、人間の気付かないところでたくさんの受粉を媒介する昆虫が死に絶え、それとともにその昆虫に受粉を依存していた被子植物の絶滅も進行しているらしい。長い目で見れば、人間だけ無事なはずもない。「沈黙の春」の後、農薬については多少見直されてきたようだが、相変わらず問題は山積というところか。
　庭の花の付近をのどかに飛びまわっている蜂だけれど、自分は今まで何も分かってはいなかったということを強く感じた。

One person found this helpful

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Phillip Gooda

Excellent all round!

Reviewed in Japan on November 2, 2020

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Excellent book, well worth reading. And extremely good quality for a used book. Took some time to arrive, but was delivered in the stated time. Very happy.

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