This is a delightful quick history of bees and the practice of bee keeping.

We span the centuries with anecdotes and snippets from well known members of the bee keeping community, and we hear the author's journey of having a passing professional interest in writing a story about them to becoming a bee keeper herself, to her changes in perspective as she's learned more about the modern alternative bee keeping movement.

If you have ever been curious about bees, this charming book is a great primer into the world of beekeeping.

The book was written by Swedish author Lotte Möller, a wonderful translation from Frank Perry, and Julie Maisley's narration is lovely to listen to.

***Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

I’m obsessed with bees.steely I’ve been loving bee books. This was such a great addition to my Current bee reads. Lots of information and lots of history.

I definitely recommend anyone who is interested in bees or bee keeping have a listen/read at this one.

If pressed, I could not explain why I requested this book from Net Galley. Chalk it up to gut instinct because this book is a fascinating narrative on the history of bees and beekeeping. While fairly short in length, the author covers a wide range of topics on the subject. The first part is divided by month and tells of the author’s travels in Europe to visit well-known beekeepers and better understand their history and the science of bees. The second part shares more current issues and a fun list of shops around the world that specialize in honey and honey products. I’ve added that list to things to look for when I travel.

Bees have always been a fascinating to me. Their history seems to be part science, part mystical, part magical, and the author married these elements beautifully in this gem of a book that reads as a cozy story. The authors is Swedish, and the translation is excellent. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading about nature.

Thank you to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an Advanced Listeners Copy of this book in exchange for my review.


#BeesandTheirKeepers
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*received for free from netgalley for honest review* really loved this book and it is a book that im putting on my Christmas list bc i need it!!

Bees and Their Keepers is a non fiction book written by Lotte Möller, and the audiobook is narrated by Julie Maisey. The study of bees has often been considered a divine occupation, as the creature’s attention to detail and purpose is so special and the honey they produce, almost magical. In this compelling cultural history that moves beautifully through the beekeeper’s year, Swedish beekeeper and writer Lotte Möller shares her understanding of bees and bee lore from antiquity to the present with deep knowledge and sharp wit. Möller gives insight into the activity in the hive and describes the bees’ natural order and habits. She explores the myths of the past and how and when they were replaced by fact. In stories from her travels, Möller encounters a host of colorful characters, from a trigger-happy California beekeeper raging against both killer bees and bee politics to the legendary Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey, breeder of the Buckfast queen, now popular throughout Europe and beyond, as well a host of others as passionate as she about the complex world of apiculture both past and present.

Bees and Their Keepers is an interesting book. I learned a great deal, and thought the stories and information shared where engaging. I have several books about bees, in particular their current plight with pesticides and other dangers they are facing. Getting a look at how people have interacted with bees through out history, both distant and more recently, has given me a more well-rounded appreciation for honey and the work that goes into beekeeping. I liked that moments from the author's adventures in researching the topic, personal explorations, and own beekeeping were included. All of the individual components were informative and interesting to listen to on my commutes back and forth to work. However, I have to admit that sometimes the topic changes or asides to give more information on a very specific topic or adventure caught me off guard and it took me a bit to switch gears. It just felt a little disjointed at times. Similarly, the end rather snuck up on me. That is not likely to happen to those reading a print copy, but in the audiobook version I was listening and expecting more on a topic, or another topic change, and then suddenly I was listening to the copyright information. It just felt a bit abrupt to me.

Bees and Their Keepers is and interesting look at the history and world of beekeeping.

Lotte Möller’s book Bees and Their Keepers is both a history and meditation on bee keeping. A bee keeper herself, Möller paints a picture of the topic by focusing on the history and current trends and thoughts surrounding the practice. Both novice and experienced bee enthusiasts will enjoy the book which has two parts. The first part is broken into chapter that correspond with the months of the year, and part two focuses on the “bee war.”
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Bees have surely become trendy in recent years, but this book demonstrates just how far back this practice goes. Perhaps most interesting to me were the controversies Möller brings to light. These include whether a hive was ruled by a queen (some believed it must be a king) to whether swarming should or shouldn’t be allowed and whether certain bees should be allowed to mix with others.
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Even in this relatively short book (just over 4 hours for the audiobook), Möller packs in a lot of information. In addition to learning about bee keeping, the book provides a window into the world of caring for a hive. We are introduced to other keepers of bees and learn about the community to understand why, for so many years, bee colonies have been used as a microcosm for society at large.
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This is a very absorbing book as seen through the eyes of our Swedish principal character. She gives an insightful look at various jobs bees are required to perform, to enable the entire hive to produce a near perfect product known as the Heather honey. She even goes so far as to stay at a monastery to learn the history and best practices for becoming a beekeeper and even learned that bees form a relationship with their keepers. This book was very informative without becoming academic. I have no plans in becoming a beekeeper but it did give me more overall knowledge about the subject. I was given an advance copy by #NetGalley for an honest review of the book. I feel it is never a bad idea to learn something new about subjects that you know nothing about and learn it in a very informative manner. Yes I would gladly recommend this book to my friends and family.

Reviewed version was the English audiobook narrated by Julie Maisey. I would buy this book solely to hear Julie Maisey's voice! Between the writing and the narration, it was poetry to my ears ... even when the topic was bee excrement.

I have a good friend who is a beekeeper and I thought that it would be good for me to become more knowledgeable about beekeeping. This really wasn't the book to learn about HOW to take care of bees; but it mentioned just about everything else about bees and their keepers. It was very interesting and a wonderful little book; I breezed right through it in no time and so darn enjoyable!

Seemed to mainly be centered in European Union, but the author took a trip or two to the US and interviewed beekeepers wherever she traveled.

Definitely a gem!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Lotte Moller, definitely the narrator Julie Maisey! and the publisher Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review the "advance listen copy" of Bees and Their Keepers. Publication date is 31 Aug 2021.

This is an amazing book on everything Bee! It provides a sweeping history of the not so humble bee throughout the world and also provides fascinating facts into their life and social structure. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will not look at a bee the same way again!

A fun little book about bees and the (surprisingly varied) philosophies of bee keeping. Focuses on the Swedish and European perspective, and I wonder how much more talk of factory farming and the impact of industrial pollination there would have been in a similar book written in the US (her chapter on her experiences with an American beekeeper is fascinating for the sense of two very different world views colliding). The chapters on the history of beekeeping (and related myths such as banging pots for swarms) and the modern bee keeping conference and symposia were most interesting to me, but there is a lot her to keep any curious person interested.

This was a highly informative and interesting look at bees and the people that have kept bees throughout history. I learned a lot about bees, bee keeping, and bee keepers. I was also surprised that it was such a divisive hobby. The keepers are very passionate about the methods used, the honey collection process, the wintering process, and the type of hives used. I also chuckled every time the Great Tit bird was mentioned. I had no idea that birds eat bees and that they have perfected a method to obtain them from the hives.

My two complaints about this book are that it was so short and seemed to just end abruptly.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy.

I have been dreaming of beekeeping for years so when I saw this audiobook on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. It was really interesting to learn some pretty wild and obscure facts about bees - everything from the different bee species and the resulting "bee wars" to the many types of beehives that are now available. It was a quick but informative listen!

What a lovely book, I enjoyed every second of it! Bees and Their Keepers was jam packed with useful and interesting information and I am here for it. The book is split into two parts; the first part discusses facts about bees and the history of bees in our culture. The second part is geared more towards bee keeping etiquette and all the juicy drama that comes with it. Which surprisingly enough is quite juicy. The addition of personal stories really took this book to another level. I highly recommend people with an interest in wildlife and bee’s (duhh) to pick this up. You’ll learn so much about bee’s and get some really good laughs in at the same time.

Thank You to Lotte Möller and Dreamscape Media, for the audio digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I love a good learning session, and the audiobook of Lotte Moller's Bees and Their Keepers was just that.

It was an educational and interesting Sunday listen as I made my roast. I will admit, a bit inspired by the author and her subjects, I added a squeeze of our local hot honey to my recipe. At times, there is a bit too hyper specific information for me as a novice listener but I'm sure that will be appreciated by those who keep bees or are looking to learn more about beekeeping.

One of my favorite funny nuggets buried within this read was about the notorious Scottish Buckfast wine which any millennial will immediately associate with the infamous and now banned Four Loko. Apparently, monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England make this insane sounding, crime-inducing concoction of caffeinated fortified wine from the honey of a specific strain of idyllic bees discussed at length in the chapter. I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of this wild origin story at the heart of what the author reports is a wave of crime among the youth of Scotland!

An enjoyable and easy listen, I recommend it to anyone looking for a little learning and a bit of research for pub trivia.

Publication date: August 31, 2021

Thank you to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this book! I like that it was broken up into two parts describing the history of bees in our culture and the current bee-keeping culture. I learned so much and enjoyed the stories along the way. The narrator also did a really wonderful job reading the book. Highly recommended!