There are lots of bee books.  We looked at most before picking the ones we use in our OnLine beekeeping courses, but we're trying to make choices that best address a diverse audience in terms of their locations.  You will find that some books are better suited to your geographical location and climate than others.  Look at where the authors are located, or where they have spent most of their time.

As a general rule, I recommend books written by people with years of hands on experience with bee management where at least one of the authors is also well versed in bee science.  One problem with bee management books for USA - many have been written by people who have mostly kept bees on the east coast and southern states - I've yet to find one that is well suited to our northern states where overwintering is a problem.  Also, most of the books from the USA reflect beekeeping practices in places where shrubs and trees make up much of the honey and pollen resources such as the hardwood forest areas of the east coast, whereas that's clearly not the case in many of our more arid, western states.

For northern states, and for more advanced beekeeping guidelines, we look to Canadian publications.  

There are lots of books on the basics, but not much in terms of more advanced management for our continent.  So far, the Canadians seem to have a bit more to offer for that level of beekeeping, but I will admit to not finding any one book that truly fits the need of the more advanced beekeeper.

Obviously, there are reference books that all beekeepers should have.  Hive and Honey Bee, ABC XYZ, Pollinator Protection by Johansen and Mayer (for overview of pesticides), and most anything written by Eva Crane.

I've seen better books than we have from Australia and other countries.  These address issues that I don't even see being discussed much in N. America.  Some European countries have shelves of books.  Question is, where does one draw the line?  

The go to place for bee books, especially hard to find ones, in the US is Larry Conner at Wicwas Press.


 


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