[06/08/2010] -- I hated bees. I hated everything about them. Their ominous buzz, their vicious sting, nothing could persuade me that they had any social or environmental value worth preservation. However, a little bit more than 200 pages into Dr. Laurence Packer's Keeping the Bees not only changed my mind, it made me sympathetic to the busy little critters. Despite some structural misses and a few editing faux pas, Keeping the Bees is a key-stone read in the fight to conserve and protect declining bee populations.

It is not a simple task to elicit compassion for an insect which is frequently labeled a nuisance; how often is the word "bee" prefaced with "poor little?" Indeed, Packer does explain how some bees have earned the reputation. For example, upon disturbance, some stingless honey bees will "drool over you, and their saliva is a caustic mixture that burns the skin." It's hard to feel sorry for something which attacks in such a malicious and, if I may, obscene way. So then why shouldn't I swat at a honey bee? Why shouldn't I torch the hive in my backyard and yours?

Packer's passionate, caring and insightful narrative explains precisely why. Bees are intelligent and complex, self-sustaining and deeply entrenched in our way of life. Without bees, of which there are over 19,000 species, most of our food would cease to exist, and this is only one of several reasons Packer thoughtfully lays out.

Yet it is more than bees' utility to humans which seems to motivate Packer's treatise. Keeping the Bees suggests a quiet dignity and dedication to co-operative production - one threatened by human existence. It very well may be that the old adage is true: despite potential threat, bees are more afraid of us than we are of them. Case in point: during the examination of a sweat bee nest, Dr. Packer found the adults of the community "cowering at the end of the burrow." These are hardly the villainous creatures we imagine them to be.

However, despite the charming anecdotes and self-effacing style, Keeping the Bees breaks journalism's golden rule: show, don't tell. Packer's extensive statistical evidence suffers greatly by being buried in text. The opening chapters offer a wealth of important information about bee population decline (information which establishes the précis for the book) yet it becomes tiresome to read in written form. Graphs, tables or charts would be easier on the eyes and the reader's attention. This structural approach only materializes in the very last pages of the book where Packer enumerates six steps to encourage bee communities.

Despite a couple of statistically-heavy paragraphs, Keeping the Bees is an essential read. If you like bees, you need to read it. If you don't like bees, you really need to read it. Our ecology and breakfast depend on it. (4.5/5)

Full Title: Keeping the Bees
Author: Laurence Packer
Publisher: HarperCollins
Hardcover: 262 pages
Pub Date: May 15, 2010
Price: $29.99