This is an absolutely amazing subject. We know we don't experience a lot of the world as it is, most wavelengths of light are invisible to us. The modern world has offered us so many ways to simulate the experience of perceiving the things we're missing that it's become almost routine to see some new image previously unimaginable.

The entire scientific world is agog, for example, over the infrared discoveries <a href="https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images/gallery" target="_blank">the James Webb Space Telescope</a> is making with every data release. Miracles of discovery are taking place in astrophysics, in astronomy, that were inconceivable (that word means exactly what I think it means) a decade ago.

Now it's the Earthbound world's turn.

The author is a horticulturist, an artist, and a photographer who marries all his passions with a scientist's viewpoint. He's been published in <I>National Geographic</I>, so we know he's at the top of his field. His horticultural training, melded to his photographic career, led to the idea of this book.

I've selected some design-heavy pages to go (on my blog) with his absolutely stunning (to me, anyway) photos that marry UV perception to our ordinary perception. I hope it gives you an idea of just what a visual feast this book is. Stunning in the best possible way&mdash;I was a bit dizzy from looking at the blends of perception the author and publisher created and presented here.

The text is very much what I expected. The author speaks knowledgeably about the honeybee, its life and its function in nature. He carefully grounds the reader in the reality of the creature's ways and means before waxing lyrical about its very different perception that we call vision.

It is not a kids' book. It's what I'd encourage you to give to your budding biologist, your green-the-world young person, or the shutterbug giftee...the physicist, the gardener, the environmentalist...anyone who loves beautiful books....

It is a lovely thing to have on your coffee table, if you've been extra-good and Santa needs to reward you, too.

Will I recommend this and use it for my curriculum? Yes! A resounding yes!

I'll never look at bees and flowers the same way again! :) I am truly blown away! With three-quarters of the worlds plants relying on insect pollinators to reproduce this book is fascinating.

The photos reveal what plants actually look like to bees and what is attracting bees to that flower. The photos are exquisite and I'll never look at most flowers the same again!

It's an illuminating book for the yes and the mind. Thank you, Craig P. Burrows

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review What the Bees See by Craig P. Burrows.

This was such a unique concept. This is a creative educational resource about bees while at the same time is a stunning work of art. The photographs are in a specific style (UVIVF images) that makes this book stand out from similar bee books or photography books. I learned so much reading this and it furthered my love of bees while leaving me feeling inspired. You can tell this book was derived from a place of love for bees which showed through each page of it. Highly recommend this for everyone to experience.

Wow. The imagines are captivating. This book is one of those ones you set out on your coffee table and flip through for pure enjoyment.

Very well done. The research and text was informative and beyond interesting.

I highly recomend this book to all audiences.

In this gorgeous 195-page book, botanical photographer Craig P. Burrows offers 70 stunning ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photographs of flowers to simulate what bees and other pollinators might see. The book also includes close-up photographs of bees, as well as charts and other informative illustrations. Between the images, you’ll find short essays and interviews about bees and the products they produce.

I found the text interesting, but it’s the photographs that really set this book apart. My only frustration is that many of the photographs lacked captions. You’ll have to refer to the Index of Plant Species in the back to find out what some of the photo subjects are. Other back matter includes a List of Contributors, References, and Acknowledgements.

This book would make a wonderful gift for a nature lover or be an interesting addition to your coffee table. The photographs inspire wonder.

Thanks to Chronicle Books for providing me with an electronic ARC through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.

This book contains 70 beautiful ultraviolet photos but not as many as I had expected; I would have loved to see many more photos for a 200 page book. I was looking forward to the writing but it was a bit dense like a textbook, I expected it to be lighter. However the information the book contains is good—and there’s a lot of it.

I appreciated exploring the beauty of plants in this book, and how the author passionately explains the relationship between plants and pollinators. The author adds that other species such as birds, bats and butterflies also fall under the pollinator category. The flower lures in its partner with its beautiful shapes, colors and smells. The pollinator partner helps to spread the seeds over the land.

The photography is beautiful, and the information provided here is intelligent and skillfully written. Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing this title in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars.

An informative book with stunning imagery, "What the Bees See" is an inspiring resource for nature lovers. The UVIVF photos featured in this book are not an exact representation of how bees see the world, but rather an imaginative tool to help us understand bee/insect’s perspective. It's important to read the text carefully to avoid any misunderstandings based on the book's title.

Personally, this book has inspired me to learn more about bees and nature. The author's work is truly admirable.

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Yes, you can get this as a coffee book and give it as a gift to impress your friends, and that is enough. But there is so much more here!
The pictures have an unusual look and the author explains the science behind how they are different. They have such an unusual, haunting, luminescent look. Even the bees are gorgeous.
But there is also a lot of information about bees and their habitats. Youcan learn about why bees are vital in different areas of the world, and there is even fascinating information about why food is important as food and medicine. I had no idea honey could help with cancer and dry eye.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for letting me read this gorgeous ARC

First and foremost this book is GOREGOUS! The photography is stunning, taking you on a journey between the world we see and the beautiful world that bees see. Not only is it jammed pack with amazing photos, but it also houses a plethora of information about our favorite pollinators. Myself and my children ohhh and awhhed as we turn the pages, pointing out our favorite photos paired with our favorite bee facts. I found the balance of information and photography mixed well making this beauty a perfect "coffee table" centerpiece.

I am a good photographer … but I am not in this photographer’s league. Burrows uses UVIVF (Ultraviolet-Induced Visible Fluorescence) to capture photographs of flowers the way that bees might see them. In the book, Burrows and his scientific compatriots are quick to recognize that humans can’t possibly see the world the way bees do because of the bees’ compound eyes. But with Burrows’ amazing pictures, we can imagine it based on the bees’ superior visibility of flowers in the ultraviolet range.

With scientific diagrams and descriptions worthy of my favorite high school teacher, this book makes the “visible” spectrum easy to understand. I use quotes because, as stated, bees have a different visible spectrum than humans.

The beauty of the photography highlights the importance of bees in our garden environment. And I, for one, am here for it.

Why I Chose This Book
First of all, look at that cover photo! Yes, I was expecting something like a coffee table book. Let me tell you I was not disappointed!

This wonderful book is full of interesting details including descriptions of various types of bees, stages of life, environmental and disease threats, pollen and nectar gathering, and hive organization. One graph compares the lifespan of a human if she were a queen honeybee. Let’s just say it’s a long, long time!

First, why do we care about bees? Because our survival is in their hands. Eighty percent of the world’s food comes from flowering plants that need a pollinator to reproduce, and the keystone species honeybee plays an outsized role. What would life be without coffee and chocolate!

Any important job will have specialized tools, and to accomplish the amazing task on behalf of ecology, the food chain, and our survival, a bee must be able to locate pollen and nectar. To do so, her most important tool is her eyes. I say her, because it is the female honeybee who forages for pollen and nectar. The bee will use various visual cues such as landmarks, vertical features (roads, drainage ditches), and polarized light e-vectors when foraging. She will pass along this gps information via a dance when she returns to the hive.

Like most animals, honeybees see ultraviolet light, but they see it faster than other creatures. UV light plays a critical role in finding pollen but also penetrates cloud cover, widening the foraging window. Color patterns in flowers are nectar guides and iridescent, not all of which are visible to the human eye. For honeybees, these vectors are pay dirt.

The book is well designed, and the information alone is worth a read. But the most spectacular feature of this book is the photography. The flower images are produced using ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography to mimic how a bee sees, and they are breathtaking.

Many thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

I have never had even the slightest interest in bees, in fact I am terrified of them. However, the cover drew me in. It was so interesting to see what the world looks like through a bee’s eyes. All of the pictures were gorgeous! I also enjoyed learning so many new facts about bees that I have never heard before. For any other people who have a phobia of bees, give this book a try, it might just change your mind!

What the Bees See is an amazing book filled with captivating photography and fascinating information. I learned so much reading this book and can’t wait for it to publish so I can purchase for a dear friend.
#WhattheBeesSee #NetGalley

So bees are basically like ravers, where everything is covered, bathed in blue light? I absolutely loved the photographs, and found the educational aspect illuminating. Seeing things in such close-up gave me a sense of wonder, and made me curious about what I'd never seen before. Thanks for the ARC! Beautiful photos that I hope to return to, or perhaps give this book as a gift.

Ultraviolet photography, crisp graphics, delectable information design - this book is stunning. What The Bees See is a visual feast. About half of its 200 pages are filled with full-page photos and visualizations of the things we know about bees.

I'll be upfront with you and tell you that I'm afraid of bees and picked this up because I wanted to see ultraviolet macro photography of flowers. This did not disappoint in that respect.

By nature of ultraviolet light, we can't see it, so the people taking UV photos have to make choices about how they'll color them when printing a book in the spectrum of colors that humans can actually see. The designers of this art book made a gorgeous conversion from bee-visible to human-visible colors.

I would love it if some art school libraries added this to their shelves to give artists some visual inspiration that is entangled with science. With the pages and pages of information about bees, it also wouldn't be out of place in the Nature section of a public library.

Thank you, Chronicle Books, Craig Burrows and the rest of the team behind this stunning creation for a free Netgalley advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a symphony to the senses with full color UV images of flowers under the spectrum. The photos really bring to life what a bee sees. The scientific information contained in this book is amazing. I would recommend this book for those who respect and admire bees, to those who wish to simply view the stunning pictures. I found the discussion between the differences of honey, propolis, and royal jelly very interesting. The dietary components in each of these food materials/sources was very insightful and full of detailed information regarding the types of health benefits available from the world of bees. I also found it amazing that of 20,000 bee species in the world, that only 8 species actually produce honey! I will recommend this book to addition to our library collection. Great read!

This book is essentially a text book about bees with some cool ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photos mixed in. I honestly didn't read all the text because a lot of it was more in-depth than I cared to get into, but someone who is more interested in bees would probably find it informative. I was captivated by the photos. They were not like anything I have seen before and they were truly beautiful.

What the Bees See by Craig P. Burrows is an enlightening read. Admittedly, I knew little about bees when I picked up this book. I was drawn to the color, the light, and the flowers. Seeing flowers in a way that bees potentially see them was just awesome for me. The capture of fluorescence photography is stunning. Thankfully, I learned quite a bit in the process as well. I found the content well written and easy to follow along. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

I wanted to see this book because I was curious about the photography. The pictures were really pretty and interesting. I was expecting this to be more of an art/photography book with prose to tie the pictures together, but it wasn't quite that. The book delves into how bees function, their role in the environment, and about the benefits of honey, but a lot of the pictures were of random flowers that were separate and apart from that. So for anyone that wants to learn about bees and the impact their demise would have, this could be a good book to start with. Might be kinda preachy if you're already into environmental issues, but there's a lot of good basic information here.