The Good Bee

Bees are our most loyal ally. These fascinating, enigmatic creatures are a key lynchpin in the working of our planet. Without them the landscape, as well as every aisle in our supermarkets, would look radically different. And we’re not just talking about honey bees.

There are more than 20,000 species of bee worldwide and only a handful make honey. Some live in colonies and others are solitary. We can all help protect them—and they desperately need protecting—but you can’t save what you don’t love. And you can’t love what you don’t know.

The Good Bee is a celebration of this most vital and mysterious of nature’s wizards. Here you’ll discover the complexities of bee behavior—as well as the bits that still baffle us—the part they play in the natural world, their relationship with us throughout history, how they are coming under threat and what we can all do about it. Beautifully produced, with hand-made illustrations throughout, it is a story for our times and a book to treasure.

About the Authors

Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum run Urban Bees, which works with communities, charities, businesses, and the public to raise awareness about all bees, support bee populations through education, and has established a number of apiaries around London. Alison Benjamin is also a journalist and editor with the Guardian, while Brian McCallum is a former bee inspector for the UK government and a member of the Bee Farmers’ Association. Together they have written three books on bees, including A World Without Bees.