Guide to Bees & Honey: The World's Best Selling Guide to Beekeeping

This used to be the 'go to' reference for newish beekeepers to read during the winter of their first year of beekeeping and it is indeed a worthy tome that includes almost everything a beekeeper should need to know, but it's been superseded by more recent books that are more readable and user-friendly. Not many people these days want blocks of text and just a few illustrations, some of which are in black and white.The main problem I've had with this edition is that the book may have been sort of updated but the index hasn't, so searching for some subject matter has been frustratingly fruitless. Unfortunately some of the material is just plain wrong - we don't have MAFF any more, so some wouldn't even know what the acronym refers to.That said, the book does have its uses and does offer a fairly in depth and broad ranging introduction to beekeeping and producing honey. It should, though, be read alongside more up to date material.

I felt a bit cheated when the book arrived as its in black and white and in this day and age I would have thought the illustration could have been in colour. What I have read so far is informative for a beginner but some of it does not make sense if you have not done any bee keeping before. I would suggest needing a more basic book prior to this boo, and buy something with colour in it so you are able to understand the details better.

This book gave me the info I needed to decide against keeping bees. It was more involved than I had anticipated and therefor saved me all lot of time and money, I would have loved to have taken beekeeping on, but the area we had planned for the hive/s was completely unsuitable, and I should not have known this had it not been for the info in this book.

Useful to novices and experts alike this guide will give you more than you need as a beginner but will repay further reference. A really thorough guide.

Ted Hooper really knew his stuff, was practical, and obviously loved his bees. If you start with the correct advice of sticking to one source of information to avoid confusion and contradiction (everyone's an expert!?) then this is the book you should follow. Whatever is happening in the apiary, Ted will have the answer or tell you where to get it. You will constantly refer to it all the time you keep bees. Yes there are more modern books and chemicals etc. but as a foundation for your hobby, you will not find better information.

Pretty good book obviously written by a bee expert but not a publishing expert. Could, for example have added an index to enable people to look up specific topics.

Interesting book to read

Excellent book