Member Reviews

This book is very helpful for people who are interested in both beekeeping and sustainability. As a person who hopes to eventually have a beehive on my own, I found it to be considered and informative, and aesthetically pleasing. I got so hungry looking at the honey comb images!

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This is a well presented book with beautiful photos and clearly written text. It is not a fully comprehensive guide to keeping bees, but there are many books available if this is what you are looking for. What stands out with this book is the focus on the bees themselves, on developing an environment that suits them, rather than focusing on what is easiest for the beekeeper, and not necessarily best for the bees. I think this approach is what makes the book an excellent read for any one interested in keeping bees for honey, but also for anyone who is interested in protecting and encouraging bees on their property.

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This book is packed with information. I went into reading this with absolutely no knowledge of beekeeping so this was incredibly insightful and interesting for me. The photos are beautiful and the format works well, although it was a little difficult to read as an ebook so id recommend either reading on a tablet or a physical copy.

Would definitely recommend to those interested in beekeeping.

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Interesting look at the various styles and containers used to store bee’s. I’ve been looking awhile at what kind or style of bee hive but I can’t decide. Book offers several styles and ideas from people around the world. Interesting information! Thanks so much for a look!

I received a complimentary copy to look at and am voluntarily leaving this review. Four stars!

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My cousin suggested that our property would be a good location for him to install some beehives. So when the advance read copy of Common Sense Natural Beekeeping became available, I was anxious to read it.

This is an informative book, but it won't teach you how to become a beekeeper. It provides pro's and con's of different techniques.

This was the perfect book for my needs and I will probably have my cousin deliver beehives; we have 10 acres in an area that does not use many pesticides for several miles.

The book provided many very beautiful, high quality pictures and could probably be a coffee-table type of book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kim Flottum the author and the publisher Quarto Publishing Group - Quarry for the opportunity to review Common Sense Natural Beekeeping in exchange for an honest review.

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Common Sense Natural Beekeeping is a well written easy to understand guide to sustainable beekeeping by Kim Flottum. Released 30th Nov 2021 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 128 pages and is available in paperback format.

The author is an experienced beekeeper and former USDA researcher and this book is full of well thought out and sensible advice for sustainable and successful beekeeping. The book is divided into three main sections: an introduction which introduces the main concepts and biological evolution of bees along with the tools & supplies of the apiarist's toolbox,detailed housing needs and possibilities examined with regard to the needs and health of the *bees* and not necessarily prioritizing only the convenience of the beekeeper, a second section covering health and maintenance, and a third and final section covering husbandry practice and procedures.

The photography throughout is in color and is very clear and professionally rendered. The photo captions are easy to understand and relevant.

Beekeeping is such a rewarding and fascinating hobby and improving the health of our own biodiverse environment aids everyone from locally to globally. This is a short but information dense and layman accessible guide. It would make a good selection for public or school library use, home/smallhold library, makers groups, allotment and community garden groups, and similar.

Four and a half stars. Very well done.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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