Bee book recommendations

Nature Talk
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1

As an amateur entomologist and avid bee enthusiast, I want to learn as much as I can, and a good way to do that is through books. However, I’m finding that books about wild bees and wasps are not that widespread, so I was wondering if any of you had recommendations for bee or wasp books.

I’ve already found these:

  • The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril
  • The Mind of a Bee by Lars Chittka
  • Buzz by Thor Hanson
  • Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson
  • Bumblebees: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation by Dave Goulson
  • Bumble Economics by Bernd Heinrich
  • What a Bee Knows by Stephen L. Buchmann
  • Wasps by Eric R. Eaton
  • Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them by Paige Embry
2

I also highly recommend The Bees in Your Backyard, as well as:

Bumblebees of North America, by Williams, et al. (Princeton, 2014)

The Bee: A Natural History, by Noah Wilson Rich (Princeton, 2014)

Honeybee Democracy, by Thomas Seeley (Princeton, 2010)

A Sting in the Tail: My Adventures with Bumblebees, by Dave Goulson (U.K)

3

Hymenoptera: The Natural History and Diversity of Wasps, Bees and Ants by Stephen A. Marshall has great information about and photos of bees, in addition to other hymenopterans.

4

“Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps” by Seirian Sumnerb.

Watch the PBS show: “My Garden of a Thousand Bees”. It’s wonderful. It is available on DVD, so check your local library. It may be in YouTube if you can’t watch it here:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/my-garden-thousand-bees-about/26263/

5

Those books all sound good but if you need a break from the serious, my brother gave me the following book that was good for a few chuckles: OMFG, BEES! Bees Are So Amazing and You’re About to Find Out Why - by author and illustrator Matt Kracht.

6

Olivia Carrill and Joe Wilson have a broader bee book:

Common Bees of Eastern North America

Heather Holm published a great one:
Wasps (A Guide for Ea. North America); covers biology, diversity, ecology… some great photos and ID tips

7

Our local library has it! Thanks. I just requested it.:books:

8

On Wasps, don’t forget this by our @humanbyweight The Social Wasps of North America Chris Alice Kratzer, 2022

For some thick publications and deep dives:
The Bees of the World Charles D. Michener 2nd edition 2007 972 pages

  • this resource is heavily used for its identification keys down to the subgenus level for bee groups worldwide. Mostly though for bees in hand.

The biology and external morphology of bees ; with a synopsis of the genera of northwestern America 1969 (pdf from OSU available here)

  • technical entomological text full of terminology, definitions