The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us

By Bee Wilson

Book Overview

Ever since men first hunted for honeycomb in rocks and daubed pictures of it on cave walls, the honeybee has been seen as one of the wonders of nature: social, industrious, beautiful, terrifying. No other creature has inspired in humans an identification so passionate, persistent, or fantastical. The Hive recounts the astonishing tale of all the weird and wonderful things that humans believed about bees and their "society" over the ages. It ranges from the honey delta of ancient Egypt to the Tupelo forests of modern Florida, taking in a cast of characters including Alexander the Great and Napoleon, Sherlock Holmes and Muhammed Ali. The history of humans and honeybees is also a history of ideas, taking us through the evolution of science, religion, and politics, and a social history that explores the bee's impact on food and human ritual. In this beautifully illustrated book, Bee Wilson shows how humans will always view the hive as a miniature universe with order and purpose, and look to it to make sense of their own.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312342616
• ISBN13: 9780312342616
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.2" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

mildly pleasant

I am curious about honey, because I feel I should like it more than I do, so I picked up this book partly based on reviews and the back cover. The book is pleasantly written, informative, full of unexpected bits. There are recipes, sections on how the hive has been used as a political metaphor throughout the ages (in the Middle Ages, the queen was a king, of course), and interesting coverage of the scientists who advanced knowledge of the hive. So, to sum up: this is a useful book, pleasantly written, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about bees. I have a little caveat to add, though. It miffed me how, nowadays, reviewers tend to be so extravagant in their praise. It is as if they feel they need to be heard above the din by shouting louder than anybody else. Could they please stop calling everything brilliant that is just good? After all, what is bad with good? PS. This little rant should not, I hope, dissuade anyone from reading this book.

Buzz on!

I picked this book up completely randomly but have loved every moment of it. I am a huge fan of honey, cooking and the convoluted histories of the foods we love. Always a big fan of honey (and bees!) it wasn't until I read this book that I realize how pervasive and longlasting our human fascination (obsession?) with bees has been. It's an easy read - very detailed with lots of great honey and bee trivia throughout the ages. The writer is a Brit and mentions the history of bees and honey in the U.S. only in passing, so people looking for something specific to North America might have to go elsewhere. This is definitely more of a Western European view.

A fun story.

THE HIVE: THE STORY OF THE HONEYBEE AND US joins others which have appeared earlier this year covering the bee - but goes further than most, drawing connections between the hive mentality of the bee and human affairs. Bees appear as symbols of many things and their honey product is widely used in cooking: their story blends myth with science and mankind has long been enamored of the bee. THE HIVE traces mankind's different beliefs about the bee over the decades, gathering history from around the world from science, religion, politics and beyond. Lovely black and white drawings throughout enhance a fun story. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch