- ISBN13: 9783540787273
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
With spectacularly beautiful colour photographs and an easy understandable text The Buzz about Bees tells the story of honeybees in a new perspective. Based on the latest data, notably from his own research group, Jürgen Tautz provides a wonderful insight into the realms of bees.
In contrast to the view of bee colonies as perfect societies of selfless individuals ruled by a queen, Tautz introduces them as a “superorganism”, a self organizing and complex adaptive system based on a network of communication; a fascinating result of evolution, a mammal in several bodies.
The entire range of astonishing bee activities is described. Remarkable action photographs never shown before present bees busy with cell cleaning, caring for the brood, serving in the queen’s court, visiting flowers, receiving nectar, producing honey, comb building, entrance guarding, heating and cooling. Spotlights include bees grooming, swarming, fighting, telephoning, sleeping and communicating by high-toned beeping, scents and dances.
The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism
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5 Responses
Last year I was fortunate enough to read Juergen Tautz book, “The Buzz about Bees”. It was hard to put the book down, once I started reading it. Finally it has been published in English and I am delighted that I can share this book with all my friends here in the US. “The Buzz about Bees” is a fascinating and groundbreaking book! Tautz and his team have done an excellent job presenting their research and studies, also the photographs are of very high quality and are quite beautiful. Tautz’s approach to understanding the life of the bees is very innovative and inspiring. Many new and mesmerizing facts about bees are presented such as the mammal-like qualities of the bees. The journey through the book continues from “the bee colony – a mammal in many bodies” and moves to the “super-organism”, which describes the honeybee colony as an undividable entity and as “an organic interpretation of an individual”. The captivating facts put forth by the author are many. Tautz explains “propagated immortality” which is the unique way in which bees proliferate, and the flower wisdom of the bees illustrated with impressive details (ex. bees can gather and carry the amount of nectar of almost half their body weight). Tautz goes on to reveal more aspects of pollination, such as how the flowering world and the bees coevolved on earth, to the extent to which we depend on them – critical in this time where many pollinators are endangered species! He introduces the concept of the “comb-wide-web” to describe the important relationship between wax comb and communication capacities of bees. The talent of the author is evident in his ability to combine excellent scientific work within a wider philosophic framework. As a gifted communicator, he launches this charming and intriguing journey into the beautiful world of the bees and enables us to understand the life of bees on a new and deeper level. In this book you may find, why bees have held humans in their thrall since millennia. All together, “The Buzz about Bees” is a fascinating book, with numerous facts and detailed photographs, compelling for readers of different ages and backgrounds. Educational, impressive, entertaining till the last page, this is a book for anyone who is interested in bees, nature, and the miracle of life.
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on May 18th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I’m just a regular person who’s interested in the world around her–not a beekeeper, scientist, or teacher–and I found this book absolutely fascinating. It is filled with remarkable, and sometimes groundbreaking, information about honey bees and bee hives. It’s written at a level that is suitable for scientists and bee professionals but is also understandable for lay people. The images are sharp and absolutely stunning. I think about this book every time I see a bee-like insect or a group of plants being visited by pollinators. It’s a wonderful addition to any nature library.
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on May 18th, 2010 at 1:09 am
I have been teaching beekeeping for the last 8 eight years. I search and search for reliable material to put into the class. I have found numerous books over the years that have been written by good beekeepers and professors but none write about the inside of the hive. This book is about the hive, the bees in the hive and how they interact with each other. The German’s are renouned for their accuracy and research. I believe that they have outdone themselves this time. If you want to understand what happens in the hive this is the book for you. It is written clearly with lots of related pictures. I thank Juergen Tautz for his time and effort in writting this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on May 18th, 2010 at 2:43 am
It was a little more money than I’d normally spend on a book that I was just buying for pleasure. I bought it for my husband. He keeps bees and has read every book he can get his hands on. He knew a lot of the things in the book already, but there were some interesting new things he learned, too. I learned a lot and especially enjoyed all the superorganism stuff.
Beautiful photos and just really fascinating info.
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on May 18th, 2010 at 4:38 am
I could not put this book down. I found the approach to not only be refreshing but it makes sense. I will never look at a beehive in the same way again. I planned on raising bees next year, now the honey will be the secondary reason, learning and observing will take precedence.
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on May 18th, 2010 at 7:03 am
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