Hi Ken: You asked for an all-time favorite bee book. My favorite all time bee-book read is also ‘The Queen Must Die’. Longood freely admits in the preface to anthropomorphism. Well, so what..... Back in July John Sturman asked for a list of beekeeper’s top ten books that new beekeeper's might want. Unfortunately it seemed to me to have ended up as an argument over which were better books--old books or new books. Eva Crane’s book ‘Bees and Beekeeping Science, Practice and World Resources’ in my opinion ranks right at the top of a list of beekeeping books to have. A most excellent book. Unfortunately it went out of print a few years back, but copies are still obtainable from used booksellers. ‘The Hive and the Honey Bee’ is sometimes referred to as the beekeeper’s bible. All kinds of beekeeping information. It’s index could be improved a bit, but still a book to have for your library. Mark Winston’s ‘The Biology of the Honey Bee’ is very readable and informative Dewey Caron’s book ‘Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping’ is another book I have and like. Diana Sammataro’s ‘The Beekeeper’s Handbook’ is considered by many to be one of the best beginner beekeeping manuals. A good reference book to have on Honey Bee Pests, Predators, & Diseases is a book by the same title edited by Roger A. Morse and Kim Flottum ‘Value Added Products from Bee Keeping’ has lots of useful information and is the U.N. FAO Agricultulral Services Bulletin No. 124. It can be read and/or copied from here: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e00.htm Finally, although I don’t own a copy of ‘Beekeeping for Dummies’ by Howland Blackiston, I checked out our library’s copy a few months back. Some people are put off by the title, but it seemed to me to be another decent beginning beekeeper manual. Regards, Dick Allen :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::