The Lives of Bees

The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild

By: Thomas D. Seeley

Narrated by: William Hope

How the lives of wild honey bees offer vital lessons for saving the world’s managed bee colonies

Humans have kept honey bees in hives for millennia, yet only in recent decades have biologists begun to investigate how these industrious insects live in the wild. The Lives of Bees is Thomas Seeley’s captivating story of what scientists are learning about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees living outside the beekeeper’s hive - and how wild honey bees may hold the key to reversing the alarming die-off of the planet’s managed honey bee populations.

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science, as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and reveals how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping - Darwinian Beekeeping - which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past 30 million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He tells beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees.

Engaging and deeply personal, The Lives of Bees reveals how we can become better custodians of honey bees and make use of their resources in ways that enrich their lives, as well as our own.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Thomas D. Seeley (P)2019 Princeton University Press

Critic reviews

"A wealth of information about honeybees based on decades of scientific research." (Kirkus)

Wish I had access to the graphs

This is not a criticism of the actual book. That was great. I would really enjoy access to the graphs, charts, and other data visualizations in the book. It's really hard to understand that information without any sort of visual aid.

Wonderful Perspective on Nature’s Way

I believe I will try to incorporate some of the more natural ways of keeping, which is difficult to do being that I am an Alaskan beekeeper. I can take small steps to make life more successful for the bees, a little less productive for me. But , this for me is a hobby not a business. It’s hard for me not to have deeper feelings for the bees, now that I have a better understanding

a must for every beekeeper

Whether you or a backyard beekeeper, just thinking about getting into beekeeping, or are a large commercial apiary owner, this book is a must-read. the author has given insight that would otherwise take a lifetime to acquire.

Great info but, like academic report.

I learned much about bees but, it took effort to push through to continue listening b/c it was more like an academic report with emphasis on numbers & figures.

best bee book I have found so far

does not teach you how to set up your first bee box but definitely goes into detail on how to care for them after that.

Excellent and engaging

Greater appreciation of this natural process and their role in the modern world. A life’s work and a great contribution

Eye opening and fun

I have hundreds of audio books now and still have very few to no reviews even for books I claim to love.
The Lives of Bees is an amazing story of discovery and and insights into bees life's preferences and habits.
wonderfully narrated.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in artificial intelligence, natural studies, bees, and gardens

Disclaimer, this book does assume that you either know a bit about beekeeping or will pair this with a general guide as it touches most components of beekeeping but doesn't explain all of it.

Extraordinary text and information

I'm a huge Thomas Seeley fan and really enjoy the book. I also have the hard copy and am very happy with it.
The audible book is very convenient as I can listen to it while I work.
PROBLEMS with the narration - I kept thinking a truck was coming up my drive as there are background noises included in the narration that simply should not be there. My advice would be to invest in a sound booth so the narration is clean.
Overall William Hope did a nice job but having vehicle background noises is not acceptable in a professional narration.
Great book!
Love the book, the content is exceptional and enriched my understanding of honeybees.
I highly recommend this book!
New or advanced apiary managers will certainly appreciate the information.

Very Informational

Be warned that this book is not entertaining. However, it is full of great information. It is one man steadily sharing his scientific process for understanding all the major facets of how bees live in the wild. I don't read books like this too often because they are so mechanical, but I learned a lot and I'm happy I read it.

A truly fascinating, scientific view of the h. bee

awesome read, audibly. I doubt I would have gotten thru it visually. sort of text book, but if you are into honey bees, you have to hear this.