Welcome back to my Nonfiction Book Party!
While there has been lots written about honeybees, today’s featured book answers the one question that everyone wants to know: What type of person keeps bees?
Bee People and the Bugs They Love (pub 3/30/21) by master beekeeper Frank Mortimer is the first book to spotlight the quirky, offbeat, and eccentric people that are passionately obsessed with the honey-loving bug. It’s not a “how to” book. Instead, Bee People is written to entertain, with stories about beekeepers, woven together with amazing facts and everyday explanations.
🐝 The beekeeping term for bees linking themselves together by their legs is called festooning
🐝 Bees and ants are eusocial – meaning each individual puts the hives best interest above its own interests.
🐝 The only other species that is able to give directions to a food source is humans!
Bee People and the Bugs They Love is much more than just a book about bees–as it focuses on people–the people who willingly choose to hang around with stinging insects! Absolutely fascinating!
🐝 Thank you so much to Kensington Books for the gifted ARC and wildflower seeds! I can’t wait to put them to good use.
Title:
Bee People and the Bugs They Love
Author: Frank Mortimer
Synopsis: A fascinating foray into the obsessions, friendships, scientific curiosity, misfortunes and rewards of suburban beekeeping–through the eyes of a Master Beekeeper . . .
Who wants to keep bees? And why? For the answers, Master Beekeeper Frank Mortimer invites readers on an eye-opening journey into the secret world of bees, and the singular world of his fellow bee-keepers. There’s the Badger, who introduces Frank to the world of bees; Rusty, a one-eyed septuagenarian bee sting therapist certain that honey will be the currency of the future after the governments fail; Scooby the “dude” who gets a meditative high off the awesome vibes of his psychedelia-painted hives; and the Berserker, a honeybee hitman who teaches Frank a rafter-raising lesson in staving off the harmful influences of an evil queen: “Squash her, mash her, kill, kill, kill!”
Frank also crosses paths with those he calls the Surgeons (precise and protected), the Cowboys (improvisational and unguarded) and the Poseurs, ex-corporate cogs, YouTube-informed and ill-prepared for the stinging reality of their new lives. In connecting with this club of disparate but kindred spirits, Frank discovers the centuries-old history of the trade; the practicality of maintaining it; what bees see, think, and feel (emotionless but sometimes a little defensive); how they talk to each other and socialize; and what can be done to combat their biggest threats, both human (anti-apiarist extremists) and mite (the Varroa Destructor).
With a swarm of offbeat characters and fascinating facts (did that bee just waggle or festoon?), Frank the Bee Man delivers an informative, funny, and galvanizing book about the symbiotic relationship between flower and bee, and bee and the beekeepers who are determined to protect the existence of one of the most beguiling and invaluable creatures on earth.
What is the Nonfiction Book Party? All month long I’ll be sharing newly released nonfiction titles and some of my 5-star favorites too! Join me on Instagram for an epic book party with an amazing prize pack. Tag all your posts #NonfictionBookParty
Bloggers: Make sure to blog along with DoingDeweyDecimal, JulzReads, What’s NonFiction, and Shelf Aware and follow #NonFicNov. Over on BookTube, get the details on #NonfictionNovember20 and join the Goodreads Group here.
Want to see which books I’ve posted about in previous years? (And which books are STILL on my list?!)
2019 Posts Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Wrap Up
2018 Posts Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
Did you enjoy this post? Please take a few seconds and click to retweet! [bctt tweet=”Are you reading nonfiction this month? Join the party! #NonfictionBookParty #NonFicNov #theOCBookGirl”]
Let’s be friends! The OC BookGirl is on Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Thank you for supporting this blog and the books I recommend! This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using this link. I may have received a book for free in exchange for my honest review, however, all opinions are my own.
If you want to purchase any books I’ve featured, please use my online bookstore: BookShop.org (Amazon gets enough of our money. Find and support your local bookstore using this link.)
The OC Book Girl 