REVIEW: Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees (nonfiction book) by Thor Hanson

Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review: 

Hanson starts this book off with an author's note that basically says "while honeybees are mentioned here, they were not my focus." Since honeybees are so often the first kind of bee people think about when they think about bees, I appreciated Hanson's broader look.

Hanson starts by looking at what we know about how bees evolved and what the earliest bees were like. Then he looks at bees and their relationship with flowers, bees and their relationship with us, and bee conservation efforts. Throughout all that, there are mentions of Hanson and his son watching and trying to attract local bees near their home, Hanson taking a course on catching, pinning, and identifying various bee species, and more.

As with Hanson's book on feathers, I occasionally found myself wishing this book included color photos. The lack of color photos wasn't a deal-breaker though - this was still an excellent read. I particularly enjoyed learning more about the ways in which bees are used in agriculture, and about efforts to encourage the return of native bees and hopefully reduce agriculture's reliance on having to bring in rented hives (which then have to deal with the stress of being transported and the nutritional issues brought about by having access to limited types of plants). 

REVIEW: Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle (nonfiction book) by Thor Hanson

Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I'm trying to make myself read more nonfiction. Thor Hanson seemed to be a well-recommended science writer, and biology- and evolution-related topics interest me, so I decided to give this a try.

Near the end of the book is this quote:

"'Feathers are already incredible in every way!' [Dr. Kimberly Bostwick] exclaimed at one point. 'We just need to be able to see it.'" (260)

I felt like it summed up the primary appeal of this book for me. Looking at what we know about the evolution of feathers, the way they function, their use in flight and mating displays, and more, Hanson highlighted all sorts of ways feathers are amazing. If I'd ever been inclined to think they were ordinary and boring, this book would have convinced me otherwise. As it was, I hadn't realized how many aspects of feathers I'd never thought much about.

If I could have changed one thing about this book, it was the black-and-white illustrations. It's not possible for books like this to include illustrations featuring everything interesting in them, for sure, but the pictures in the chapter on feather coloration were so disappointing as to feel like a waste of space. If you're going to include pictures specifically designed to highlight the colors in an artist's reconstruction of a feathered dinosaur or the color of tevau (feather money coils), those pictures really need to be in color themselves.

All in all, this was a fascinating read, and I plan on trying more of Hanson's books.