MixedThe Los Angeles Review of BooksA love letter to wild bees ... BEES ARE IN TROUBLE. The alarm bells began ringing a little over a decade ago, when beekeepers entered previously healthy apiaries and found most of their colonies dead. Today, in the United States, 35–45 percent of colonies die every year...a tragedy in itself but also a serious economic challenge for the crops that depend on honeybees for pollination ... Thor Hanson’s love letter to wild bees, Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees , is thus timely ... To be sure, his book is not a comprehensive guide, but rather a collection of connected essays that reveal fascinating aspects of wild bee biology ... I have only a minor quibble with Hanson’s otherwise appealing book. He’s clearly fond of wild bee researchers as much as the bees they study, but his writing about those he interviewed is too narrowly focused on their obsessive qualities, depicting them as frazzled, overworked, and eccentric. There may be some truth to these stereotypes, but there’s also considerable personal depth and variation among scientists ... the core message of this charming book: be fascinated, and hopefully that will lead us to take action to protect these marvelous and critically important insects.
