From A to Bee: My First Year as a Beginner Beekeeper [Kindle Edition]

James offers us an entertainingly jolly, extremely readable account of all the trials and tribulations of becoming an English beekeeper. Not only is he combining this with a hefty workload as an international travel agent and being dad to a young toddler, he has to face the worried looks of his wife and friends as he turns into a complete bee geek. The book is written in diary format and follows his challenging journey during 2009 from complete bee novicery to getting his first pot of honey.

My favourite aspect of the book is that James is fearless in poking fun at himself. At a gangly 6'5, he creates a picture of himself as a clumsy Mr Bean style character, at one point falling down a flight of steps as he leaves his beekeeping classes. On another occasion he attempts to communicate with Polish beekeepers that he is a fellow beekeeper too by running around making buzzing noises and pointing at their honey - "As I walked away, I did turn back for one last look at these moustached Polish beekeepers and they were just looking at each other with a rather strange expression; one then shrugged whilst the other started laughing."

It is quite touching how completely absorbed he becomes in the bees, obsessively reading the nights away (a glass of red wine or whiskey at his side) and driving around trying to find out the local forage in his area. He also develops from being most interested in getting his first pot of honey to being deeply concerned with all the threats his bees and those across the world face. I think all of us beekeepers understand that feeling of wonderment at how much there is to learn, and how amazing these fascinating little creatures are....

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This little book is charming, entertaining and full of fun - however along the way we do learn some of the basics of bee keeping and the ups and downs of this most interesting hobby. It is obvious that the author has a passion for his subject, and is not afraid to admit the mistakes he made on starting out. Bee keeping is an adventure and it is interesting to read how the author juggled his extremely busy job, and family responsibilities alongside his new venture with bees.

Is this a book that will teach you all you need to know about bee keeping? No, it is certainly not going to do that, but there are many great books out there that do cover in detail the ins and outs of the craft; this is however, a good introduction for the general reader about starting such a hobby, some of the joys and pitfalls that come along and also the plight of the bees in the world today.

It is an easy read and a satisfying one - there is much humour nestled among the pages and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in gardening, bee keeping and nature. Few people realise the plight of the bees and the pollinators, who are being wiped out in droves by the pesticides that are commonly used today in all our countries - and few seem to know that if the pollinators are gone, then so is mankind. If this book encourages even one person to think more about the pollinators in our world, then it will be a job well done. I highly recommend it.

Lovely little book that will encourage any would be beekeeper to either take it up... Or run for the hills. As I read each chapter it reminded me of my early beekeeping exploits.

James has described his first year as a bee-keeper in a truly entertaining and inspirational way.

Whilst other books will tell you the theory James' book tells you the truth about bee-keeping from first hand experience. It makes you realise that, if you're going to take up the hobby, it will an amazing, interesting and fulfilling time - with mishaps along the way.

Within the book there are a wide range of references to resources that you will find useful if you do take up the hobby, with a useful list of websites and twitter contacts at the end.

A truly great introduction to bee-keeping and it's really motivated me on to get my own bees!

This is quite entertaining and worth reading even if you don't actually plan to start bee keeping but just want to find out a bit more.

a fun book for anyone who is at all into beekeeping,just pick up and read with a drink I find best.

I've been keeping bees for only 33 weeks (yes I'm counting; one does this sort of thing you know) and after reading James book I am as enthused as ever to continue this wonderful hobby! I could/did relate to many of James's experiences especially the warning about getting too close to ones hives unprotected! If you want an entertaining, light hearted and thoroughly interesting read on the subject of bees, then James's book is just the thing; go on, join the crowd and enjoy the beekeeping zeitgeist!

This was bought for a friend and all she has done is rave about how funny the book is and how much can relate to it.