Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive

Although there a many bee books out there, and, as a beekeeper, I’ve read many of them, “Bee Time” stands out among them. Mark Winston has a deep understanding of the essence of our relationship with the bees. He writes with a reverence and perspective that could only come from many years of exposure to the issues now facing the bees and the human race. I could go on, but suffice to say that this book was a page-turner for me. Many thanks to Mark for his sincere book!

I found it preachy. Not as much about bees as I was expecting.

This book was largely well-written and clear. I very much liked Winston’s depiction of the history and ecology of bees. I also think he makes a good point about bees being the canaries in the mine. Where the author goes astray, in my opinion, is in his trying to ride that last point too long. It felt as if he was repeating because he needed to make a longer book.

Mark Winston is a wise man. His wisdom seems to come from his decades working with bees, his willingness to bring in perspectives from beyond science, his ability to inspire other people, and his openness to dialogue. It is fitting that he was chosen to lead Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue here in Vancouver.

Bee time is time as bee keepers experience it in the apiary. It is time slowed down, where being calm, moving slowly, keeping all your senses and intelligence open is the key to not getting stung and to understanding how your bees are doing.

The book covers many important topics from colony collapse disorder to urban bee keeping and the role of feral bees in agriculture. It ends by showing how he applies the lessons from a life spent with and studying bees and with bee people has prepared him for leading dialogues on the most serious problems facing cities and civilizations today.

I am buying more copies of this book and giving them to people on my own teams, to people I work with, and to drop off for sharing through our local book exchange in Kitsilano.

I will also spend a lot more time observing the bees in our garden and changing what we plant. I will not be buying anymore honey from packagers, instead I will be looking for honey from a beek keeper whose name I can find out and whose hives I can visit.

Vancouver is lucky to have such a person.

Much good information on bee habits and the natural resources to support those habits-leaves much new material to be flushed out in future writingsotherother experts, especially in the area of yields of honey per hive

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