Honey Bee Books

We started a list of good beekeeping books on the Facebook page. Please feel free to send comments to add additional books to this thread as well as add opinions (positive or negative) on these books.

  • The Beekeeper’s Handbook 4th Edition (Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile)
  • Beekeeping for Dummies – 2nd Edition (HOWLAND BLACKISTON / Wiley Publishing 2009)
  • The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping (DEAN STIGLITZ & LAURIE HERBOLDSHEIMER / Alpha Books – Penguin Group 2010)
  • Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping (Dewey Caron)
  • The Biology of the Honey Bee (Mark Winston)
  • The Backyard Beekeeper – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard & Garden (KIM FLOTTUM / Quarry Books 2010)
  • Better Bee Keeping – The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Stronger Colonies & Healthier, More Productive Hives (KIM FLOTTUM / Quarry Books 2011)
  • The Backyard Beekeeper’s Honey Handbook – A Guide to Creating, Harvesting, & Cooking with Natural Honeys (KIM FLOTTUM / Quarry Books 2009)
  • Beekeeping – A Practical Step-by-Step Guide (DAVID CRAMP / Hermes House – Anness Publishing 2011)
  • Green Guides: Keeping Bees (PAM GREGORY & CLAIRE WARING / Flame Tree Publishing 2011)
  • First Lessons in Beekeeping (KEITH S. DELOPLANE / Dadant & Sons – Dadant Publishing 2007)
  • New Complete Guide to Beekeeping (ROGER A. MORSE / Countryman Press, Woodstock VT 1994)
  • Bees & Bee-Keeping (DEREK HALL / Chartwell Books – Regency House Publishing 2010)
  • Beekeeping Self-Sufficiency (JOANNA RYDE / New Holland Publishers 2009)
  • Honeybee – Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper (C. MARINA MARCHESE / Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers 2009)
  • The Beekeeper’s Lament – How One Man & Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America (HANNAH NORDAUS / HarperCollins Publishers 2011)
  • Top-Bar Beekeeping – Organic Practices for Honeybee Health – Natural hive management for honey, beeswax, & pollination (LES CROWDER & HEATHER HARRELL / Chelsea Green Publishing 2012)
  • Michael Bush’s – The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally. He also has a great website – very naturalistic approach to beekeeping and a lot of insight into bees’ social behavior. http://www.bushfarms….­

    I love these 3 books for BEGINNERS:
  • Homegrown Honey Bees (my favorite for BRAND NEW BEEKS) by Alethea Morrison
  • Beekeeping 1-2-3. Essential information to see you through the first year – from inspecting the hive to avoiding stings.
  • Green Guides Keeping Bees by Pam Gregory & Claire Waring Written by expert beekeepers, this complete guide will cover all facets of beekeeping for the budding bee lover.
  • Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston Believe it or not, bees are one of the oldest species of domesticated animals. Archeologists have found evidence of beekeeping, or apiculture, in the Middle East dating back more than five thousand years. …

    Top Bars, in this order:
  • Top Bar Beekeeping – Les Crowder (great for beginners, short, consise, easy to read)
  • The Thinking Beekeeper – Christy Hemenway (good for beginners, but a little heavier)
  • Top Bar Hive Beekeeping: Wisdom & Pleasure Combined – Wyatt A. Mangum, PhD (GETS VERY ADVANCED, real quick, awesome photos)
  • The Barefoot Beekeeper – P.J. Chandler (more for a do it yourselfer, building it, etc.)

  • L. L. Langstroth:Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee: A Bee Keeper’s Manual
  • The Buzz About Bees: The Biology of a Superorganism by Jurgen Tautz. Mind blowing facts about bees, but not a how to manual.
  • The Song of Increase by Jacqueline Freeman. At first glance, no offense Jacqueline, it looked like crazy hippie mumbo-jumbo, but that book is SPOT ON in so many crazy ways. Like a shaman lsd trip deep inside the ecology of the hive. Definitely worth reading. Again, not a “how to manual” but super insightful.