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A review by heykellyjensen
The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America by Hannah Nordhaus
Although this gets unnecessarily repetitive at times, it's a fascinating exploration of beekeeping and the challenges beekeepers have in protecting their livelihoods. There's so much in here I knew nothing about and now I'm going to think about whenever I see bees or indulge in my daily honey with breakfast.
I'd originally picked this up hoping to draw some conclusions for myself on the consumption of honey. I love it, since it's a natural sweetener, but I know it's drawn so much conversation in the vegan community. While I'm not vegan, I'm fascinated by how something that seems cut and dry isn't. I'd hoped there would be more of that sort of social element to this book, and to an extent, the second to last chapter hits on everything I was interested in (sociopolitical issues relating to honey and bees, including a look at different types of honey and how they're called what they are). Even though the whole of the book wasn't what I hoped for, it was worth my time, and I absolutely have an answer to my honey-related consumption questions.
Likewise, I now know how to tell when it's really good honey or really crummy honey. And, despite how much I love fancy German honey, perhaps I'll consider going back to local raw Wisconsin honey. We'll see.
I'd originally picked this up hoping to draw some conclusions for myself on the consumption of honey. I love it, since it's a natural sweetener, but I know it's drawn so much conversation in the vegan community. While I'm not vegan, I'm fascinated by how something that seems cut and dry isn't. I'd hoped there would be more of that sort of social element to this book, and to an extent, the second to last chapter hits on everything I was interested in (sociopolitical issues relating to honey and bees, including a look at different types of honey and how they're called what they are). Even though the whole of the book wasn't what I hoped for, it was worth my time, and I absolutely have an answer to my honey-related consumption questions.
Likewise, I now know how to tell when it's really good honey or really crummy honey. And, despite how much I love fancy German honey, perhaps I'll consider going back to local raw Wisconsin honey. We'll see.