Sweetness and Light

Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee by Hattie Ellis Summary:  Did you know that Abraham Lincoln and Muhammad Ali both consumed bee pollen to boost energy, or that beekeepers in nineteenth-century Europe viewed their bees as part of the family? Or that after man, the honeybee, Apis mellifera, is the most studied creature on the planet? And that throughout history, honey has been highly valued by the ancient Egyptians (the first known beekeepers), the Greeks, and European monarchs, as well as Winnie the Pooh? In Sweetness and Light, Hattie Ellis leads us into the hive, revealing the fascinating story of bees and honey from the Stone Age to the present, from Nepalese honey hunters to urban hives on the rooftops of New York City. Uncovering the secrets of the honeybee one by one, Ellis shows how this small insect, with a collective significance so much greater than its individual size, can carry us through past and present to tell us more about ourselves than any other living creature. Angie’s comments: This is a lovely look at the biology of the honeybee and the historic interaction between humans and honeybees. I am not particularly intrigued about honeybees, but once I started this book, I didn’t put it down. There is not much about the colony collapse disorder that has happened in the past twenty years, due to the age of publication and the lack of information at the time the book was written and published. For that, you would need another resource. Recommended for anyone interested in honeybees and for anyone interested in human interactions with other animals.  Request this item