Queen Must Die and Other Affairs of Bees and Men

Rating:
Summary: As fascinating and sweet as the bees and their honey.
Review: A splendid first-person account of discovering beekeeping and other beautiful secrets of the natural world. Longgood speculates and dreams as effectively as he observes and deduces. Great reading for anyone who loves the natural world and the processes we so often neglect.

Rating:
Summary: Long Live The Queen
Review: A warm-hearted and touching look into the life of bees. Through the eyes of the author, the personality, social culture and care of bees are explored with love and wit. While scientifically sound, this book reads more like a novel than a text book. I highly recommend this book. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Long Live The Queen
Review: A warm-hearted and touching look into the life of bees. Through the eyes of the author, the personality, social culture and care of bees are explored with love and wit. While scientifically sound, this book reads more like a novel than a text book. I highly recommend this book. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother!
Review: As a critic once said of humorist/musician Tom Lehrer, "...plays piano acceptably." So Mr. Longgood, who teaches writing, writes acceptably, at least stylistically. And he does betray some knowledge of bees and beekeeping, although his unreasoned anthropomorphising of them quite gets in the way of any real understanding, either on his part or that of his readers.

Anyone who would like to understand bees, from either a practical or spiritual standpoint would do far better to read Dr. Richard Taylor's "The Joys of Beekeeping". Leave this dog to those misanthropes, sadly numerous, who must constantly apologize for their own existance.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother!
Review: As a critic once said of humorist/musician Tom Lehrer, "...plays piano acceptably." So Mr. Longgood, who teaches writing, writes acceptably, at least stylistically. And he does betray some knowledge of bees and beekeeping, although his unreasoned anthropomorphising of them quite gets in the way of any real understanding, either on his part or that of his readers.

Anyone who would like to understand bees, from either a practical or spiritual standpoint would do far better to read Dr. Richard Taylor's "The Joys of Beekeeping". Leave this dog to those misanthropes, sadly numerous, who must constantly apologize for their own existance.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother!
Review: As a critic once said of humorist/musician Tom Lehrer, "...plays piano acceptably." So Mr. Longgood, who teaches writing, writes acceptably, at least stylistically. And he does betray some knowledge of bees and beekeeping, although his unreasoned anthropomorphising of them quite gets in the way of any real understanding, either on his part or that of his readers.

Anyone who would like to understand bees, from either a practical or spiritual standpoint would do far better to read Dr. Richard Taylor's "The Joys of Beekeeping". Leave this dog to those misanthropes, sadly numerous, who must constantly apologize for their own existance.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read for those who love bees
Review: I have always loved this book and I am glad to see it is still in print. Without using a lot of technical jargon, the author explains the comings and goings of the Queen Bee quite well. Those who enjoy a good read about bees will appreciate this little gem.

Rating:
Summary: A gently witty ode to beekeeping and bees
Review: I read this book two years ago and continue to savor it. Longgood spins a yarn of the four seasons of the bees, telling about his beginnings as a beekeeper and the changing "personna" of the hive. And the rare but inevitable times the Queen bee must die to save the hive. I continue to recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely interested in beekeeping, nature, gardening, or just contemplating life. His gardening book "Voices from the Earth" is also a treasure

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK MAKES A BEELOVER OUT OF EVERYONE.
Review: MR LONGGOOD HAS TAKEN THE SEEMINGLY MUNDANE CHORES OF LIFE WITHIN THE BEE HIVE AND GIVEN THEM A PERSPECTIVE THAT EVEN THE THE MOST STAUNCH INSECT HATER WILL FIND FACINATING. THIS BOOK BRINGS YOU TO A LEVEL OF FASCINATION WITH LITTLE CREATURES WHICH WILL FOSTER AN APPRECIATION FOR BEES THAT YOU NEVER COULD HAVE IMAGAGINED.

Rating:
Summary: delightful read
Review: Without being highly educated in scientific terms or history, this book was a wonderful and enertaining read. I have always been fascinated by insects, especially bees and ants, and this book fulfilled every question I had on bees. Longgood has written it so well that it is like reading a novel rather than nonfiction. This book makes one want to go out in the hills and study the nearest colony of insects all day long.