The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men

I adore this book. On one level, it is a man's journey through a stage of his life. Another is a factual account of beekeeping. Yet another is a commentary on humans, our relationships, challenges and struggles. I keep this book in the car so I can flip through it at any time I am caught waiting or delayed. It never gets old and never fails to show me an insight into myself.

This book is just the ticket for any novice beekeeper. The slender volume contains about eighty small chapters with observations about bees, and very occasionally about beekeepers and others. Most chapters pretend to derive some moral lesson from the behavior of the bees. These lessons are presented so humorously that I do not believe that the author could have intended them seriously. At the same time, they are not satirical and they serve to entertain and also to fix in the novice beekeeper's mind the behavior, habits, and attributes of the bees and the hive. The few, small, black and white illustrations are a nice feature.

Beekeeper from cape cod relates his thoughts and feelings of his ten year history of keeping bees. Informative, admittedly anthropomorphic at times, funny and wise. One of my favorite bee books. Fun read.