For the bees: a handbook for happy beekeeping

"This project is, first and foremost, a how-to book. Chapman aims to provide practical, tactical advice on becoming a good beekeeper. She also wants to share the joy of that journey with lots of stories and illustrations about her own beekeeping. In essence, she believes you won't devote resources to bees if you don't love them first. The path to appreciating bees begins with understanding them, and their hives. So chapter one covers bee biology (there is a great sidebar on bee sex), chapter two focuses on the architecture of a hive (why are honeycombs composed of tiny hexagons?), and chapter three is about bee nutrition. There are subsequent chapters on feeding your bees (or not, just don't use agave nectar, which sounds like it should work but white sugar is better), seasonality, and inspecting your hive. By the second half of the book, we are learning more advanced skills, like how to spot pests and diseases, how to grow your hive, manage swarms (these are not angry bees! They're just looking for a good home and beekeepers will catch them), and, yes, harvest honey if you're lucky enough to have some in your hive"--