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What Do Bees Think About?
Explore the mind of a bee and learn what drives its behavior.
Have you ever observed a bee up close and wondered what was going on inside its head? Like ours, insects' brains take up most of the space in their heads, but their brains are smaller than a grain of rice, only 0.0002% as large as ours. But what purpose does the insect brain serve, and how does that drive their creativity, morality, and emotions?
Bees in particular exhibit unexpected and fascinating cognitive skills. In What Do Bees Think About? animal cognition researcher Mathieu Lihoreau examines a century of research into insect evolution and behavior. He explains recent scientific discoveries, recounts researchers' anecdotes, and reflects on the cognition of these fascinating creatures. Lihoreau's and others scientist's research on insects reinforces the importance of protecting and preserving insects such as after all, our survival on the planet is deeply dependent on theirs. This book provides an eye-opening window into the world of insect cognition and echoes an important ecological message about bees—they are intelligent creatures sharing the same fragile ecosystem as us.
Have you ever observed a bee up close and wondered what was going on inside its head? Like ours, insects' brains take up most of the space in their heads, but their brains are smaller than a grain of rice, only 0.0002% as large as ours. But what purpose does the insect brain serve, and how does that drive their creativity, morality, and emotions?
Bees in particular exhibit unexpected and fascinating cognitive skills. In What Do Bees Think About? animal cognition researcher Mathieu Lihoreau examines a century of research into insect evolution and behavior. He explains recent scientific discoveries, recounts researchers' anecdotes, and reflects on the cognition of these fascinating creatures. Lihoreau's and others scientist's research on insects reinforces the importance of protecting and preserving insects such as after all, our survival on the planet is deeply dependent on theirs. This book provides an eye-opening window into the world of insect cognition and echoes an important ecological message about bees—they are intelligent creatures sharing the same fragile ecosystem as us.
168 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2024
2 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 20, 2024
A fascinating account of the life of bees. Animal cognition researcher Mathieu Lihoreau examines a century of research into insect evolution and behavior, explaining recent scientific discoveries, recounting researchers' anecdotes, and reflecting on the cognition of these fascinating creatures. The author is also mildly amusing, which was a bonus (humour doesn't always work fro me).
May 4, 2024
it was very interesting and fascinating, the explanations were clear and understandable
I'm also, kind of, less "afraid" of them
thanks to net galley for the advanced copy
I'm also, kind of, less "afraid" of them
thanks to net galley for the advanced copy
September 3, 2024
3.5 - learned a few fun things, love how nerdy the author is. light and easy, but didn't quite answer the question, but also...we don't actually know the answer! (spoiler?)
May 11, 2024
This nonfiction audiobook was translated from French by Alison Duncan and narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick. I received a free copy from NetGalley. Taking a deep dive into the lives of bees, this book looks at a bees inner life and thought progress. It was really interesting stuff. I personally am not a fan of bees at all (I like them in general from far away but close up I’m scared of being stung!) and have never given much thought to how bees think. Lihoreau paints a nuanced picture of a bees inner workings. He explores their sense of direction and ability to communicate and share information about locations of nectar and possible new nests.
I thought this was a great listen. I really enjoyed the authors sense of humor and style. This could have been a very dry topic but he interspersed personal anecdote and gave great detail about bee topics he covered, making it a really fun listen. The narrator kept a great pace and brought life to the words. I feel like after finishing the book I do know more about bee in general, and what they think about think and communicate about. One of the ways that they communicate is by dancing a waggle dance. How cute is that! At less than 7 hours listening time, this is a great book to put on to learn a little something, and occupy your mind with something new and interesting.
I thought this was a great listen. I really enjoyed the authors sense of humor and style. This could have been a very dry topic but he interspersed personal anecdote and gave great detail about bee topics he covered, making it a really fun listen. The narrator kept a great pace and brought life to the words. I feel like after finishing the book I do know more about bee in general, and what they think about think and communicate about. One of the ways that they communicate is by dancing a waggle dance. How cute is that! At less than 7 hours listening time, this is a great book to put on to learn a little something, and occupy your mind with something new and interesting.
May 11, 2024
What do bees think about? What do their days look like? Are they creative and innovative? In this remarkable book, Mathieu Lihoreau discusses all of these questions and more.
Taking the reader on a journey through years of insect studies, as well as his own research and experiences, the author provides an in depth look at the lives of bees to better understand how they navigate the world around them.
While this book is based on research, the author has done a fantastic job at communicating the studies and findings in a way that is easy to digest at any level of scientific understanding. As someone who works in agricultural science, I found this book to be a light, but incredibly informative read that I would easily recommend to anyone with even a small interest in bees.
The narrator for the audiobook, Elliot Fitzpatrick, gives a wonderful performance as well. The narration is easy to follow and moments of humor or excitement come across very clearly while listening.
It is also beautifully translated by Alison Duncan.
*Many thanks to Mathieu Lihoreau, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook for review.*
Taking the reader on a journey through years of insect studies, as well as his own research and experiences, the author provides an in depth look at the lives of bees to better understand how they navigate the world around them.
While this book is based on research, the author has done a fantastic job at communicating the studies and findings in a way that is easy to digest at any level of scientific understanding. As someone who works in agricultural science, I found this book to be a light, but incredibly informative read that I would easily recommend to anyone with even a small interest in bees.
The narrator for the audiobook, Elliot Fitzpatrick, gives a wonderful performance as well. The narration is easy to follow and moments of humor or excitement come across very clearly while listening.
It is also beautifully translated by Alison Duncan.
*Many thanks to Mathieu Lihoreau, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook for review.*
May 6, 2024
I picked this book up purely because it struck my interest, and it was indeed a compelling read. Mathieu Lihoreau presents many scientific observations about insect behavior that contribute to our understanding of their cognition. I feel a greater sense of awe for bees, especially, and their vital and precious role in the global ecosystem. The translator and audiobook narrator did a great job presenting the original author's work in a way that was very accessible, engaging, and informative.
Thank you to RB Media (Tantor Audio) for gifting me with an ALC to review!
Thank you to RB Media (Tantor Audio) for gifting me with an ALC to review!
May 19, 2024
I became a beekeeper because I am in awe of these incredible creatures. When I had a chance to review the audiobook version of What Do Bees Think About? I jumped at it. I enjoyed hearing the science behind how bees are able to locate food and find their way back to their hive. It was interesting to hear how some of what bees do is similar to that of other insects, animals, and even us humans. I was also happy that the author included information on pesticides' detrimental effects on bees.
Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.
Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.
February 1, 2025
A fascinating book about bees (and occasionally other arthropods) that looks at their behaviour and possible intelligence. Using research done by others or conducted by his team, he shows that bees are not automatons with preprogrammed actions or behaviours, but are individuals that can learn and act on their experiences of the world around them.
The rest of this review looks at each chapter of the book and what it has to say about bee behaviour and thinking.
In "A Poor Sense of Direction", the author looks at how bees navigate their environment and contrasts this with his own poor sense of direction. Despite the bee's small brain, bees have a remarkable sense of direction, able to use clues (visual, electrical, touch, etc.) to guide them towards flowers and back to their hives. Experiments to alter these clues (moving objects placed around the hive and flowers, for example) show how bees rely on these clues to get around. As flying takes a lot of energy, bees have an incentive to optimise their flight paths to get food efficiently: experiments show how bees converge on optimal flight paths after a few trips.
"The Fragrance of Déjà vu" looks at how bees (and other social insects) can recognise and learn from one another. The bodies of bees give off odours, a mixture that consists of their queen's odour, the food and their environment, that can be used to identify bees to each other. Social bees can be less discriminating, allowing hives to be put close together with some mixing of worker bees. In extreme situations, this odour discrimination can be lost, giving rise to 'supercolonies' with many individual queens and workers mixing together (like the massive Argentine ant supercolonies now found in Europe). In contrast, some wasp species can use visual (facial) identification to identify members of their family. Being social insects, bee can also learn from one another. Through experiments, it has been shown that bees that observe other bees perform an action (gather pollen, solve a problem to get a reward) can learn from the observation and perform the same actions, or improve upon it.
"The Limits of a Miniature Intelligence" looks research done on the bee's brain to figure out how it is organised and what it can do. Experiments with stimuli show that bees can be conditioned to associate actions with stimuli to get a reward (like Pavlov's dogs). Bees are also shown to be able to count and even understand the concept of zero. Interestingly, research on wasp that have a social hierarchy show that they are able to infer the order of non-adjacent patterns (if A > B and B > C, therefore A > C). Like another intelligent animal (us), bees (and insects) can also have moods. Flies denied mating choices, for example, tend to feed on alcoholic food, just like depressed people. Bees also have a good sense of self and are able to judge which holes they can fit through. Bees can also know what an object feels like in the dark after being show the object in light (without touching): an impressive test of imagination.
"The Superorganism" looks at how a hive can become more intelligent than individual bees via the 'wisdom of the crowd'. When social bees need to find a new place to build a hive, scouts go out to look for possible locations and return. They then perform actions that indicate the suitability of the location. But while this is happening, other scouts also go out and return with their own location information. These scouts either enhance or inhibit the actions of the earlier scouts, leading to their signals being depressed or enhanced. Once a particular location has the support of many scouts, the decision is made. The hive intelligence also arises because bees are individuals: some bees are very efficient at gathering from some kinds of flowers, while others are not as efficient but are generalist gatherers. This allows the hive to thrive in good times (when some flowers are readily available) and bad times (when there are fewer good flowers but more of many kinds).
"Achilles' Tarsus" looks at the effects insecticides, pollution and poor nutrition can have on bees. Since the brains of bees are small, only a few neurons need to be damaged to alter the bee's behaviour for the worse. Like humans, bees need a varied diet, but the use of bees to pollinate only one type of plant at a time in agriculture causes nutritional problems. These problems can be minimised, but it needs public education and awareness to make people aware of these problems and to convince people how remarkable bees are and what they can do for us and the environment.
The rest of this review looks at each chapter of the book and what it has to say about bee behaviour and thinking.
In "A Poor Sense of Direction", the author looks at how bees navigate their environment and contrasts this with his own poor sense of direction. Despite the bee's small brain, bees have a remarkable sense of direction, able to use clues (visual, electrical, touch, etc.) to guide them towards flowers and back to their hives. Experiments to alter these clues (moving objects placed around the hive and flowers, for example) show how bees rely on these clues to get around. As flying takes a lot of energy, bees have an incentive to optimise their flight paths to get food efficiently: experiments show how bees converge on optimal flight paths after a few trips.
"The Fragrance of Déjà vu" looks at how bees (and other social insects) can recognise and learn from one another. The bodies of bees give off odours, a mixture that consists of their queen's odour, the food and their environment, that can be used to identify bees to each other. Social bees can be less discriminating, allowing hives to be put close together with some mixing of worker bees. In extreme situations, this odour discrimination can be lost, giving rise to 'supercolonies' with many individual queens and workers mixing together (like the massive Argentine ant supercolonies now found in Europe). In contrast, some wasp species can use visual (facial) identification to identify members of their family. Being social insects, bee can also learn from one another. Through experiments, it has been shown that bees that observe other bees perform an action (gather pollen, solve a problem to get a reward) can learn from the observation and perform the same actions, or improve upon it.
"The Limits of a Miniature Intelligence" looks research done on the bee's brain to figure out how it is organised and what it can do. Experiments with stimuli show that bees can be conditioned to associate actions with stimuli to get a reward (like Pavlov's dogs). Bees are also shown to be able to count and even understand the concept of zero. Interestingly, research on wasp that have a social hierarchy show that they are able to infer the order of non-adjacent patterns (if A > B and B > C, therefore A > C). Like another intelligent animal (us), bees (and insects) can also have moods. Flies denied mating choices, for example, tend to feed on alcoholic food, just like depressed people. Bees also have a good sense of self and are able to judge which holes they can fit through. Bees can also know what an object feels like in the dark after being show the object in light (without touching): an impressive test of imagination.
"The Superorganism" looks at how a hive can become more intelligent than individual bees via the 'wisdom of the crowd'. When social bees need to find a new place to build a hive, scouts go out to look for possible locations and return. They then perform actions that indicate the suitability of the location. But while this is happening, other scouts also go out and return with their own location information. These scouts either enhance or inhibit the actions of the earlier scouts, leading to their signals being depressed or enhanced. Once a particular location has the support of many scouts, the decision is made. The hive intelligence also arises because bees are individuals: some bees are very efficient at gathering from some kinds of flowers, while others are not as efficient but are generalist gatherers. This allows the hive to thrive in good times (when some flowers are readily available) and bad times (when there are fewer good flowers but more of many kinds).
"Achilles' Tarsus" looks at the effects insecticides, pollution and poor nutrition can have on bees. Since the brains of bees are small, only a few neurons need to be damaged to alter the bee's behaviour for the worse. Like humans, bees need a varied diet, but the use of bees to pollinate only one type of plant at a time in agriculture causes nutritional problems. These problems can be minimised, but it needs public education and awareness to make people aware of these problems and to convince people how remarkable bees are and what they can do for us and the environment.
May 6, 2024
As our understanding of non-human animal behavior improves, there are more and more studies showing how similar they are to us. Insects, however, remain unexplored and considered pests. In this fascinating book, Mathieu Lihoreau applies the science of ethology to these tiny creatures and shows how much of an inner life and intelligence they possess. Despite the title, this book is not only about bees, but also about many other insects, including ants and even cockroaches. It’s amazing to read how many experiments are being adapted from vertebrates to understand how insects think and how they may even be self-aware. Knowing how wonderful cockroaches are has not helped with my irrational phobia of them, but it is still very interesting to learn of their habits. Elliot Fitzpatrick aces his narration, sounding like a learned professor and really finding the humor in the text. Some parts are scary in that they show how we are destroying these creatures, but there is also hope. The author proposes considering bees the apes of the insect world and, after reading this, I agree.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Tantor Audio.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Tantor Audio.
May 22, 2024
What Do Bees Think About? by Mathieu Lihoreau is a popular science book on bee cognition. I listened to the audiobook. It goes through some of the author's own findings and that of his colleagues on how bees and other insects (cockroaches, wasps) navigate space, socially organize, recognize members of their groups and more. The author stays at a general audience level of discussing issues in the field and relates bee cognition to human problems such as political structures. It has a memoir element to it as the author relates stories from his career and the implications he hopes people will take from his work. He does not go into cognitive philosophy debates simply claiming bees have mental representations for things like their body size rather than more simplistic perceptual cues. Yet the claim with group level behavior is bees are acting on simple individual actions that group behavior emerges from. I would have liked more discussion of how he reconciles needing a mental representation at one level and not needing it at another. But that is a more niche topic that is understandable to leave out of a popular science book.
May 1, 2024
Through anecdotes and scientific discoveries, the author sheds light on the profound importance of understanding and protecting these intelligent creatures. “What Do Bees Think About?” not only provides a glimpse into the captivating world of bees, but also underscores the crucial ecological message of our interconnectedness with these remarkable insects. It's an engaging and informative audiobook that will leave listeners with a newfound appreciation for the world of insect cognition. Credit for this amazing work is shared with Elliot Fitzpatrick, the audiobook narator, and Alison Duncan, book translator.
Note: This review is based on an ARC copy
Note: This review is based on an ARC copy
May 27, 2024
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! My family keeps bees. Really my husband does, but we’re all involved at different times, so I knew this book would be fascinating for me. It was more academic than I expected, but found much of the information to be interesting. Would a “regular” person find it fascinating? I don’t know, but someone who is studying bees or insects of any kind definitely will enjoy this book.
February 6, 2025
They're thinking about a lot, actually. Bumblebees are my favourite, and there's lots of information and details about experiments about what they are capable of.
A nice little book. Draws in more insects too, like roaches and termites and ants.
A nice little book. Draws in more insects too, like roaches and termites and ants.
September 13, 2024
Good balance of light-hearted humor and scientific curiosity
November 28, 2024
This otherwise good book is too French for me to bear.
May 21, 2025
Brilliant!
That's not just my conclusion of the book, but also of the bees.
This book will shed a new light on how you see bees and what you think of them.
Simply brilliant.
That's not just my conclusion of the book, but also of the bees.
This book will shed a new light on how you see bees and what you think of them.
Simply brilliant.
December 28, 2025
New research on insect intelligence mainly by the author. However the author sometimes do not focus on the target of the book, which is bees.
August 11, 2024
Eye-opening essay on the variety of bee intelligence and, yes, emotions. Also, a refreshing view of how science gets done by describing the many ingenious experiments.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews