The Big Book of Airplanes

Great for beginners into the wonderful world of honey bees. Beautifully illustrated, lots of "how to options!" Tremendously helpful in directing us to local beekeepers, to start our learning process (great deal to learn) before taking the final plunge into having our own hive. Marvelous Book!

Quite informative about bees, honey, and wax and their uses/making stuff, lacking in depth, making, and or buying hive boxes, and taking care of them for beginners. Otherwise a very good book for basic knowledge as well as a lot of trivia.

Very good book on general beekeeping and associated information such as beneficial plants, integrated pest management and bee biology. It certainly isn't exhaustive. Several useful ideas about wax and honey products as well.

Loved it! We are first time beekeepers, we just got our bees 4 days ago! We have two Warre hives and are going the more natural path. Beforehand, I wanted to read a variety of books about beekeeping to understand my options and then, make my choices that aligned to my philosophy. As an aside, we also took a beekeeping class. I purchased this book with a few others because it looked interesting and thought my husband would enjoy it mostly. I thought the illustrations would provide some interesting graphics for reference and to visualize this whole process, but it ended up being a great read! It provided a different perspective than the beekeeping books, with a center on the bees and history of the bees which is helpful to understand to know why and how bees are doing what they are doing now. It wasn't repetitive and it was a nice companion to the other books. The illustrations were beautiful! I really got much more than I expected from this book and it is just so pretty!

This is a gorgeous, well researched and laid out “coffee table” book. Every page is beautifully illustrated with photographs and drawings. Whatever your interest in bees – an insect that humanity depends on for our very survival – you’ll find this to be an exceptional resource for your family, and a handsome addition to your library.

We’re just getting into keeping bees – our first hive was installed yesterday! This morning, there's the busy hum of bees working the garden, and the sight of the girls wiggling into flowers and circling over the hive. We got the Bee Book in order to assist in the preparation and learning process and it’s been a huge help. I was able to recount some facts that even our expert bee keepers did not know! If your goal is to rear bees yourself (and there are few ways to better assist life on the planet, given that bees are disappearing by the billions), you’ll find a cornucopia of useful information. You’ll learn how bees, wasps and ants all emerged from a common ancestor. You’ll read about the enormous number of bee “races,” including stingless bees. You’ll find out that our common honey bees are not native after all, but were introduced by European colonists, now found on every continent except Antarctica. You’ll be introduced to modern bee keeping methods, types of hives, queens and colonies, the protective clothing and equipment you’ll need to care for your bees, to harvesting your honey and wax, and much more. There are chapters on creating a bee-friendly garden, to things you can do with the products of your hives – from candle making to sculptures. You'll learn about bee predators, large and small, and what to do about them. There are recipes for medicine -- everything from acne to colds. You’ll learn how to make body butter and balms, scrubs and facial masks, all from the liquid gold and wax your bees provide.

It’s a wonderful book, chockablock with fascinating and useful information, well written and beautifully illustrated. At a price point under $17 (with free shipping for Prime members), this is an exceptional value.

Highly recommended.

Earth Day is "the world's largest environmental movement" and is celebrated on April 22. But, really every day should be Earth Day. And one of the most important players in our ecosystem. "At least 30% of the world’s crops and 90% of all plants require cross-pollination to spread and thrive, and here in Canada, bees are our most important pollinators."

I recently received a hive kit as a gift. I'm pretty excited to get started, but the instructions included were quite minimal. I just knew that DK Canada would have a book that would give me all the information I need. And they did - The Bee Book!

But before even getting to setting up a hive, you need to know more about the bees themselves. The first few chapters of The Bee Book give you just that - history, evolution, decline, species and an in depth look at honey bees that was absolutely fascinating."1 LB of honey takes up to 40,000 miles of flying to produce." " A worker can visit up to 2000 flowers a day." And did you know about the honey bee waggle dance?

How to attract bees is the next entry. Flowers (there are colour photos and descriptions of many varieties), vegetable garden plans, houses (separate from hives), the how and the whys.

Next was caring for bees. I had absolutely zero knowledge before reading The Bee Book. I was happy to find a box similar to mine explained. Where to set up and why. And dealing with the thing that does frighten me a bit - getting stung. Tools, equipment and care are covered. And let's not forge - you need to actually have bees to start - where to get them? There is much more to caring for bees than providing a hive. This seems somewhat daunting, but there are detailed, very clear instructions included.

And after all that hard work (more on the part of the bees I think!) - the harvest! Jarred honey, beeswax candles, beeswax polish, soaps and even some health remedies.

Am I ready to start my own hive? Well, I feel much more prepared now thanks to The Bee Book. But I'll be referring to it often! The Bee Book has detailed entries, colour photos and is well laid out with easy to read text boxes. (exactly what I've come to know and appreciate from all DK books)

DK books have a wonderful way of distilling even complex subjects into easily accessible information bites that somehow also remain comprehensive in their scope and this book is no exception. I've said this before, but I don't think I've ever encountered a DK book that I didn't like a great deal and again, this one doesn't disappoint.

It's amazing how much we take bees and pollination for granted day today. We buy a jar of honey, toss it into the cupboard and barely give a thought to where the honey came from and how hard the bees worked to produce it. Recent news stories about the horrific decline in bee populations, however, has brought bees to the front page and has made us all think more about all that they give us. This book does an excellent job of explaining the place of bees in nature, where they came from, how they live and how human habits are endangering not only the bees' existence, but our own as well.

Though somewhat light on details (as are all DK books--but that's not really a criticism, it's just the nature of covering such a huge subject in one volume), this book does provide a broad look at all things related to understanding bees, a good look into what it takes to attract bees with plants (the gardening section is nicely done), the hobby of beekeeping, how things go wrong with bee populations and then ends with a nice overview of things you can do with bee products. I was a candlemaker earlier in my life and it was nice to see that the editors devoted several pages to making candles from beeswax (I kind of wish they had listed some sources for buying beeswax, but you can find those pretty quickly with a simple Google search).

There are also some interesting backyard projects (like building a "pallet bee hotel" from old pallets, bricks and bits of flower pots) that I had never heard of before and that I think would make a terrific weekend project to make with kids. I just tossed out a stack of old pallets and now wish I had kept them (a lot of garden centers and warehouses will give you old broken pallets for free). There are several other bee nesting ideas that I think would be easy to make and very helpful to bees (and to your garden).

I really don't think you could ask for a better introduction to bees, their lifecycle, beekeeping and their importance in our lives. Yes, there are more detailed books on all of the topics covered in this overview, but I think for anyone that wants one volume that covers all things bee, this is probably the best book out there. Some of the type fonts are a little thin for my aging eyes and some blocks of type are laid over images, but that's really my only mild criticism.

If you know someone that has an interest in gardening and bees, this book will make an excellent gift. While I think it's aimed at an adult audience, I think most kids (middle school and up) would love it as well.

Wow!

This is one of the best reference topic books I have ever gone thru. I think this book is as encyclopedic as it can get with the amount of illustrations it has and as always the best part about a DK picture book is that the illustrations are never gratuitous or simply artistic, they are always beautifully done yet functional to relay information and the illustration and photos in this Bee book can convey in images what pages and pages of dry scientific writing can.

This book touches on just about every possible thing to consider about Bees from their species to maintenance, health, diseases, productivity, hive care and building. To the history of Bees and the best locations and garden building habitats for bees and honey. And of course then there is the honey and the beeswax and their myriad uses.

And this book is interesting. The illustrations capture your attention and the written passages are just comprehensive enough to convey the general information without getting bogged down in extraneous details. This is a great book to start with for anyone considering taking on Bee care and does a great job of promoting it.

Very disappointed! This book only has 14 planes in it! I live by an airport and wanted to learn more about planes (especially prop planes) and better identify them as they take off and land but this book is totally useless unless buying it for a small child.

This is a wonderful book. I have been wanting to get a honey bee hive (both for pollination purposes but also for our own honey needs) for a while but I am still not yet ready. More pressing is my need to get pollinators in my yard early to work on my blueberries which have been really only getting about 50% pollinated greatly reducing yield. I am an avid perennial flower gardener and have three or four flower beds with a wide variety of perennials including a lot of natives, but I seem to have too little that blooms early enough to get the pollinators on my property when the blueberries need it. I put out a mason bee house two years ago but it did not survive the elements well and fell part before anyone moved in. I had planned on starting wild flower seed mixes indoors last spring to plant outside early so they were mature enough to bloom and attract pollinators at blueberry bloom time, but I never got around to it, but I am ready to go on that project this week. So, this book was of great interest to me at this moment in time.

The book is incredibly thorough, it covers a lot of stuff I most likely did not commit to memory nor am I sure I need to know it. There were a few eye opening things in this book for me, the concept of solitary vs eusocial bees, the different length tongues of different bees and the different flower shapes that means they can eat from, the fact that many double flowering culitvars of flowers are too stuffed with petals so that bees cannot get into them, and I didn't even know about swarming before. It is sturdy had cover book with very thick pages covered with tons of illustrations. Funny, before it arrived, I had not known it was a DK book, I usually associate those with kids reference books. Anyway, there were a lot of nice suggestions on perennial flowers to plant though hardiness zoning info with those would be nice because in a 4 I am a bit more limited. I thought the list of bulbs, biennials, and especially annuals was lacking, I'd have wanted a bigger list to choose from. The section on housing was nice, the pollinator condo was a really cool idea, and on an 8 acre hobby farm believe me I have plenty of those materials. I wish the explanation of the sod bee house had been a little better, I am still a little confused on that one. I also had no idea all the parts of a standard bee box and now understand how one works much better. Not that I will ever use them but there are even recipes in the back with honey, wax, and propolis.

Truly a great reference book on bees.

The book is richly illustrated, with both photos and drawings, and contains wealth of information about bees and beekeeping. The honey bee is the queen of the book, but other bees are discussed in detail, too.
First part of the book tells about how bees had evolved, how they were domesticated, and live cycle and predators and the bee decline and how to try and fight it. Second part is all about attracting bees - starting with building bee houses, and a long list of plants that can attract bees - marked for what kind of bees those plants attract, and if they lead to produce honey, or have a good source of nectar or pollen.
The next chapter is all about beekeeping - from tools and hives, how to build a frame, how to get a colony and how to care for it year round. I am not a bee keeper, so I cannot tell how helpful this part is, but it will certainly give one the starting point. The last part is all about enjoying honey and other bee products, mostly for health purposes, so there are foot creams, soap bars and lotions.
For me, the most enjoyable part was the beginning of the book with all the bee history and how they live.

I've been interested in raising bees for a while, and so I jumped at this book. It is absolutely beautiful. The pictures and illustrations are incredible, and the information is extremely helpful. The book includes anything you could want to know about bees. It dives into the various species, why they are important, and how to garden to attract bees. The book does an excellent job of teaching, and explaining as well as being beautiful to look at. This book seems like a great first step for anyone interested in bees, since the pictures make it much easier to understand the concept being talked about. If you're looking to get into beekeeping, or are a beekeeper and want a beautiful coffee table book than this is one to check out.

While the book will not make you an instant seasoned beekeeper it does provide a glimpse into what would it take to become one. There are sections on the wide variety of bees that exist, the habitats that they need and how to make the space around your how more bee-friendly, and the basics of beekeeping.

Add to that nice colorful pictures and drawings and, if nothing else, it makes for a pleasurable read. Even my 5-year old son was leafing through it looking at the bee and plant sections.

Comprehensive, good for beginners, and even experts. Beautifully illustrated!

Tells you all about bees- and not only honey bees but many other sorts. Their origins, uses, identification, and so forth.

For those not interested in becoming beekeepers they tell you how to make your home garden or back yard more bee friendly, how to make bee houses, which flowers to plant, and more!

Nice thick matte paper.

This book aims to be a very general book, covering flowers and gardening in support of bee habitat through the basics of beekeeping and some honey recipes. It's a solid, well photographed reference book that is probably best for an introduction. There are many more detailed and practical works on beekeeping.

A very bee-tailed analysis of the honeybee and bees in general. Easy to read with fascinating facts about bees. Great photos and bee keeping tips make this book a winner! Great book for novice and more advanced Beekeepers. Talks about equipment, hives, harvesting and ideas for using your honey bounty. My teen son is fascinated by all of the interesting bee trivia.

I've been interested in raising bees for a while, and so I jumped at this book. It is absolutely beautiful. The pictures and illustrations are incredible, and the information is extremely helpful. The book includes anything you could want to know about bees. It dives into the various species, why they are important, and how to garden to attract bees. The book does an excellent job of teaching, and explaining as well as being beautiful to look at. This book seems like a great first step for anyone interested in bees, since the pictures make it much easier to understand the concept being talked about. If you're looking to get into beekeeping, or are a beekeeper and want a beautiful coffee table book than this is one to check out.

While the book will not make you an instant seasoned beekeeper it does provide a glimpse into what would it take to become one. There are sections on the wide variety of bees that exist, the habitats that they need and how to make the space around your how more bee-friendly, and the basics of beekeeping.

Add to that nice colorful pictures and drawings and, if nothing else, it makes for a pleasurable read. Even my 5-year old son was leafing through it looking at the bee and plant sections.

Comprehensive, good for beginners, and even experts. Beautifully illustrated!

Tells you all about bees- and not only honey bees but many other sorts. Their origins, uses, identification, and so forth.

For those not interested in becoming beekeepers they tell you how to make your home garden or back yard more bee friendly, how to make bee houses, which flowers to plant, and more!

Nice thick matte paper.

This book aims to be a very general book, covering flowers and gardening in support of bee habitat through the basics of beekeeping and some honey recipes. It's a solid, well photographed reference book that is probably best for an introduction. There are many more detailed and practical works on beekeeping.

A very bee-tailed analysis of the honeybee and bees in general. Easy to read with fascinating facts about bees. Great photos and bee keeping tips make this book a winner! Great book for novice and more advanced Beekeepers. Talks about equipment, hives, harvesting and ideas for using your honey bounty. My teen son is fascinated by all of the interesting bee trivia.

The book has great information for backyard bee projects - some city dwellers should check with local ordinances. The bee keeping tips are great. There is some information about bees and recipes for bee products. My only downfall with this book was that it's a pain into the butt to actually read it or re reference something. I happen to have had a head injury which has had some lasting effects on brain function and focus, the pages are so loaded and busy I found it easy to get frustrated. This probably isn't a problem for everyone, but it certainly was for me.

Beautiful, illustration-filled book that covers everything you could possibly imagine about bees and honey. I'm interested in starting a little bee colony on my 5 AC farm and this book is a great primer. I'm reaching out to our county beekeeping coop as well.

Beautiful book. Hard cover. Many color photos and illustrations. This gives a great background on bees and how to start your own beekeeping. Nice layout. Easy to understand. Step by step instructions.

My 2 year old son is already heavy into airplanes and he LOVES this book. (This is the only non-board book I let him handle and he is so careful with this prized possession!) It's nice that there are snipets of information about each plane on the page so we learn a lot without having to read through paragraphs of text. It's great because as he gets older we can delve even deeper into the details of each plane. We both know so much more about planes than before picking up this book. Highly recommend!

Great photos in this book. Well done. This reminds me of a favorite photo book called Awesome Airpower by Anderson Awesome Airpower (Giant Photo-Fact Collection)

The book itself is really nice full of dynamic pictures with information that can grow with your child, but I was expecting more planes to be covered. Its dissapointingly short (32 pages, 14 planes), which I'm sure I missed in the description or reviews somewhere. While the book is pretty, it was poorly packaged so it looks like my 3 year old has already gotten to it, not like it's brand new. That's a hazard for these larger books (smushed corners and impressions on the covers).