What the Bees See: A Honeybee's Eye View of the World

by Craig P. Burrows

Discover the magical world of the honeybee with this deluxe book, featuring 70 stunning images shot with ultraviolet technology.

A comprehensive look into the amazing science of bees, this book collects mesmerizing ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photography of flowers and nature and offers fascinating research that explores every aspect of our relationship with honeybees. Learn about the history of beekeeping, current environmental impacts affecting bees, and the rise of bee products in medical and wellness spaces. As you travel through the world of bees, you'll discover a diverse range of flora showcased in a whole new light through the ultraviolet spectrum, from orchids and anemones to manuka and cactus blossoms. A gorgeous gift for environmentalists and photography fans alike, this in-depth book invites us to reimagine the world from a bee's point of view and better understand its importance to the future of all life on earth.

PHENOMENAL NATURE  Craig P. Burrows has been specializing in UVIVF photography for nearly a decade, and this book includes 70 incredible photos taken using this innovative technique. Burrow's luminescent images capture the magic of nature and showcase flowers glowing in otherworldly blues and teals, simulating how bees and other pollinators become attracted to the plants.

GET THE BUZZ ABOUT In addition to the incredible UV photography, this book features engaging illustrations and infographics, archival and historical images, and original interviews with over forty of the world’s leading experts on bees and bee products. Organized into three distinct sections on bee ecosystems, bee products and cultivation, and modern medical and wellness advances tied to bees, this in-depth book illuminates the extraordinary role the honeybee has played throughout history and will answer questions you didn’t even know you had.

SUSTAINABILITY GIFT This deluxe photobook is a great gift for nature lovers, bee and beekeeping enthusiasts, and anyone who cares about environmental conservation and preservation. Add it to the shelf with books like the  National Geographic Photo Ark series by Joel Sartore and DK's  The Bee Book .

Perfect

Genres: Science, Nature, Art, Nonfiction, Photography, Animals, Environment

192 pages, Hardcover

Published March 5, 2024

About the author

Craig P. Burrows is a botanical photographer known for his work with ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated exploring the beauty of plants in this book, and how the author passionately explains the relationship between plants and pollinators. The author adds that other species such as birds, bats and butterflies also fall under the pollinator category. The flower lures in its partner with its beautiful shapes, colors and smells. The pollinator partner helps to spread the seeds over the land.

The photography is beautiful, and the information provided here is intelligent and skillfully written. Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing this title in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains 70 beautiful ultraviolet photos but not as many as I had expected; I would have loved to see many more photos for a 200 page book. I was looking forward to the writing but it was a bit dense like a textbook, I expected it to be lighter. However the information the book contains is good—and there’s a lot of it.

*Provided a DRC (digital review copy) from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

[Daveann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a special, stunning, visually appealing piece of art this book is! This was interesting to “see” the bees’ perspective. This would be a great gift for the bee keeper in your life or anyone for that matter.

[MKF · Rating 3 out of 5]

The flower photos are beautiful but they are just to draw you in and you realize there really isn't that many. I had expected this to be an art book but it is actually more of a textbook all about bees. You learn all about bees including information on their importance in the world, history, and descriptions. There is one part that is a bit strange and that's when they were discussing how long a queen bee lives. The writer then said that if humans lived the same length of time we could be born before Jesus and still be alive. I'm not sure why they would include that reference in a book about bees and not include a reference to something more scientific. It's not a real problem though and id still a good book if you like bees.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome photos and fascinating topics. I found manuka honey to be completely interesting, however I found the writing sort of devolved to repetitive phrases.

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Discover the magical world of the honeybee with this deluxe book, featuring 70 stunning images shot with ultraviolet technology.

A comprehensive look into the amazing science of bees, this book collects mesmerizing ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photography of flowers and nature and offers fascinating research that explores every aspect of our relationship with honeybees. Learn about the history of beekeeping, current environmental impacts affecting bees, and the rise of bee products in medical and wellness spaces. As you travel through the world of bees, you'll discover a diverse range of flora showcased in a whole new light through the ultraviolet spectrum, from orchids and anemones to manuka and cactus blossoms. A gorgeous gift for environmentalists and photography fans alike, this in-depth book invites us to reimagine the world from a bee's point of view and better understand its importance to the future of all life on earth.

PHENOMENAL NATURE IMAGERY: Craig P. Burrows has been specializing in UVIVF photography for nearly a decade, and this book includes 70 incredible photos taken using this innovative technique. Burrow's luminescent images capture the magic of nature and showcase flowers glowing in otherworldly blues and teals, simulating how bees and other pollinators become attracted to the plants.

GET THE BUZZ ABOUT BEES: In addition to the incredible UV photography, this book features engaging illustrations and infographics, archival and historical images, and original interviews with over forty of the world’s leading experts on bees and bee products. Organized into three distinct sections on bee ecosystems, bee products and cultivation, and modern medical and wellness advances tied to bees, this in-depth book illuminates the extraordinary role the honeybee has played throughout history and will answer questions you didn’t even know you had.

SUSTAINABILITY GIFT BOOK: This deluxe photobook is a great gift for nature lovers, bee and beekeeping enthusiasts, and anyone who cares about environmental conservation and preservation. Add it to the shelf with books like the National Geographic Photo Ark series by Joel Sartore and DK's The Bee Book.

Perfect for:
Bee, insect, and bug enthusiasts
Nature lovers and environmental activists
Flower and nature photography lovers
People interested in learning about bee products used in medicine, wellness, and skincare
People interested in UVIVF technology and innovative photography techniques
Fans of nature documentaries like David Attenborough’s Life In Color series
Fans of Craig P. Burrows's research and photography

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: This is an absolutely amazing subject. We know we don't experience a lot of the world as it is, most wavelengths of light are invisible to us. The modern world has offered us so many ways to simulate the experience of perceiving the things we're missing that it's become almost routine to see some new image previously unimaginable.

The entire scientific world is agog, for example, over the infrared discoveries the James Webb Space Telescope is making with every data release. Miracles of discovery are taking place in astrophysics, in astronomy, that were inconceivable (that word means exactly what I think it means) a decade ago.

Now it's the Earthbound world's turn.










The author is a horticulturist, an artist, and a photographer who marries all his passions with a scientist's viewpoint. He's been published in National Geographic, so we know he's at the top of his field. His horticultural training, melded to his photographic career, led to the idea of this book.

I've selected some design-heavy pages to go with his absolutely stunning (to me, anyway) photos that marry UV perception to our ordinary perception. I hope it gives you an idea of just what a visual feast this book is. Stunning in the best possible way—I was a bit dizzy from looking at the blends of perception the author and publisher created and presented here.

The text is very much what I expected. The author speaks knowledgeably about the honeybee, its life and its function in nature. He carefully grounds the reader in the reality of the creature's ways and means before waxing lyrical about its very different perception that we call vision.

It is not a kids' book. It's what I'd encourage you to give to your budding biologist, your green-the-world young person, or the shutterbug giftee...the physicist, the gardener, the environmentalist...anyone who loves beautiful books....

It is a lovely thing to have on your coffee table, if you've been extra-good and Santa needs to reward you, too.

[Anne (eggcatsreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love both botany and entomology, so I immediately grabbed this book when I saw it was available. Not only are the photos descriptive and beautiful, but there is a lot of well-researched information to consume in this book. This is a book that would have fit perfectly in my college classes, which included classes that focused on the interactions between insects and plants, and how they communicate with one another.

I really appreciated the beginning explaining the different color spectrums humans and bees see, and the comparisons with photos of the same flower based on which spectrum is being seen - ours, or the bees. I also liked that this book goes both into vivid detail about all the topics covered, but also starts from the "beginning" as it were, and breaks down the building block information so any reader can understand the more complex information.

If you were interested in learning more about how bees interact with flowers, how bees live their lives, how honey is both created and it's benefits, and how humans interact and live with bees, then look no further. This is a great book to learn more information about these topics on, and it is written in an easy-to-understand format that doesn't talk down to you or oversimplify things - instead, it explains it to you using diagrams and photos.

I think this book would be perfect for anyone interested in the relationship between bees, flowers, and humans, and would be a great read regardless of the level of information you begin with. A more experienced reader would use the early explanations as a refresher before diving into the more complex topics, while someone with no knowledge would not be lost as they are given the same information in an easy-to-understand way.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Chronicle Books for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book is full of interesting details including descriptions of various types of bees, stages of life, environmental and disease threats, pollen and nectar gathering, and hive organization. One graph compares the lifespan of a human if she were a queen honeybee. Let’s just say it’s a long, long time!

First, why do we care about bees? Because our survival is in their hands. Eighty percent of the world’s food comes from flowering plants that need a pollinator to reproduce, and the keystone species honeybee plays an outsized role. What would life be without coffee and chocolate!

Any important job will have specialized tools, and to accomplish the amazing task on behalf of ecology, the food chain, and our survival, a bee must be able to locate pollen and nectar. To do so, her most important tool is her eyes. I say her, because it is the female honeybee who forages for pollen and nectar. The bee will use various visual cues such as landmarks, vertical features (roads, drainage ditches), and polarized light e-vectors when foraging. She will pass along this gps information via a dance when she returns to the hive.

Like most animals, honeybees see ultraviolet light, but they see it faster than other creatures. UV light plays a critical role in finding pollen but also penetrates cloud cover, widening the foraging window. Color patterns in flowers are nectar guides and iridescent, not all of which are visible to the human eye. For honeybees, these vectors are pay dirt.

The book is well designed, and the information alone is worth a read. But the most spectacular feature of this book is the photography. The flower images are produced using ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography to mimic how a bee sees, and they are breathtaking.

Many thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

[rotataa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative book with stunning imagery, an inspiring resource for nature lovers. The UVIVF photos featured in this book are not an exact representation of how bees see the world, but rather an imaginative tool to help us understand bee/insect’s perspective. It's important to read the text carefully to avoid misleading assumption 'What the Bees see' based on the book's title.

Actually I didn't read all the texts (some parts i wasn't interested in) but this book has inspired me to learn more about bees and nature. The author's work is truly admirable.

Lưu lại vài ý học được cho đỡ quên:
- Reds are attractive to birds, blues are attractive to bees. But there are some bees that also like yellow flowers. They value things differently.
- Peak season: 60.000 bees (only 5% male) + 1 queen bee.
- Làm ong chúa có sướng không? Virgin queens fight to the death, as there can only be 1 queen bee in a colony at a time. Sau đó là "3000 năm" sinh đẻ, nếu khả năng sinh sản có vấn đề sẽ bị thay thế (bởi ong thợ hoặc người nuôi ong). 3000 năm là tính theo lịch con người cho dễ hình dung. Ong chúa có thể sống gấp 40 lần so với ong thợ (ong thợ khoảng 6 tuần).
- Ong đực (drone bees) có vẻ hơi khổ. Chết ngay sau khi giao phối với ong chúa.
- In a honeybee's lifetime, it will produce just 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey. Từ giờ mỗi lần dùng mật ong phải trân trọng hơn.
- Royal jelly: bé lava nào có tiềm năng sẽ được ăn sữa ong chúa (chế độ dinh dưỡng đặc biệt) để trở thành ong chúa tương lai. While every larvae is fed royal jelly for the first three days, only the queen bee larvae are fed it beyond that.
- "Flowers don't look pretty to please the human eye, but rather to have sex as often as possible with as many strangers as possible". Hơi thô nhưng cũng nói vậy cũng tốt, con người cần bớt cao ngạo.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this gorgeous 195-page book, botanical photographer Craig P. Burrows offers 70 stunning ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photographs of flowers to simulate what bees and other pollinators might see. The book also includes close-up photographs of bees, as well as charts and other informative illustrations. Between the images, you’ll find short essays and interviews about bees and the products they produce.

I found the text interesting, but it’s the photographs that really set this book apart. My only frustration is that many of the photographs lacked captions. You’ll have to refer to the Index of Plant Species in the back to find out what some of the photo subjects are. Other back matter includes a List of Contributors, References, and Acknowledgements.

This book would make a wonderful gift for a nature lover or be an interesting addition to your coffee table. The photographs inspire wonder.

Thanks to Chronicle Books for providing me with an electronic ARC through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Yes, you can get this as a coffee book and give it as a gift to impress your friends, and that is enough. But there is so much more here!
The pictures have an unusual look and the author explains the science behind how they are different. They have such an unusual, haunting, luminescent look. Even the bees are gorgeous.
But there is also a lot of information about bees and their habitats. Youcan learn about why bees are vital in different areas of the world, and there is even fascinating information about why food is important as food and medicine. I had no idea honey could help with cancer and dry eye.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for letting me read this gorgeous ARC

[Audrey Sauble · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m rating this book mostly for the photos, which are amazing—lots of closeup shots of both honeybees and flowers. My favorites were the panels split between what humans see and the UV colors bees would see.

For the text, the first half of the book had some interesting facts about the process behind the photos, as well as the bees themselves. There’s second half focuses largely on honey and its usefulness to humans. There’s a couple brief notes about other bees, but most of the book focuses exclusively on honeybees—and especially the potential ‘miraculous’ qualities of a specific type of honey.

[shey · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost this book is GOREGOUS! The photography is stunning, taking you on a journey between the world we see and the beautiful world that bees see. Not only is it jammed pack with amazing photos, but it also houses a plethora of information about our favorite pollinators. Myself and my children ohhh and awhhed as we turn the pages, pointing out our favorite photos paired with our favorite bee facts. I found the balance of information and photography mixed well making this beauty a perfect "coffee table" centerpiece.

[Blanca Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed this books. The Author Craig P. Burrows, botanical photographer has in this book splendid ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photographs of flowers, which is the way bees see flowers. The photographs are truly amazing! I recommend reading the book in digital form because that allows you to enlarge the photos and see every detail. The book explains many things about bees, bee types, honey production, etc.. All together it is a delightful introduction to the world of Bees. I highly recommend the book to people of all ages.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially a text book about bees with some cool ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photos mixed in. I honestly didn't read all the text because a lot of it was more in-depth than I cared to get into, but someone who is more interested in bees would probably find it informative. I was captivated by the photos. They were not like anything I have seen before and they were truly beautiful.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a good photographer … but I am not in this photographer’s league. Burrows uses UVIVF (Ultraviolet-Induced Visible Fluorescence) to capture photographs of flowers the way that bees might see them. In the book, Burrows and his scientific compatriots are quick to recognize that humans can’t possibly see the world the way bees do because of the bees’ compound eyes. But with Burrows’ amazing pictures, we can imagine it based on the bees’ superior visibility of flowers in the ultraviolet range.

With scientific diagrams and descriptions worthy of my favorite high school teacher, this book makes the “visible” spectrum easy to understand. I use quotes because, as stated, bees have a different visible spectrum than humans.

The beauty of the photography highlights the importance of bees in our garden environment. And I, for one, am here for it.

Why I Chose This Book
First of all, look at that cover photo! Yes, I was expecting something like a coffee table book. Let me tell you I was not disappointed

[Carol Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the Bees See is an amazing book filled with captivating photography and fascinating information. I learned so much reading this book and can’t wait for it to publish so I can purchase for a dear friend.
#WhattheBeesSee #NetGalley

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cool and unique perspective on how bees see flowers. Good overview on bee life and history of their lives. An awesome, beautiful coffee table book with some good overview of bees, flowers birds and trees

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting the beautiful photographs, but I wasn’t expecting the fascinating, deeply researched text. Excellent infographics and organization. And the photographs are amazing!

[Allen Shoaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good I purchased one for all grandkids. Loved the photo's and educational aspect.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The part about bees - their lives and importance to the environment and health - was interesting. The images were less interesting, I thought.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the Bees See by Craig P. Burrows is an enlightening read. Admittedly, I knew little about bees when I picked up this book. I was drawn to the color, the light, and the flowers. Seeing flowers in a way that bees potentially see them was just awesome for me. The capture of fluorescence photography is stunning. Thankfully, I learned quite a bit in the process as well. I found the content well written and easy to follow along. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

I wanted to see this book because I was curious about the photography. The pictures were really pretty and interesting. I was expecting this to be more of an art/photography book with prose to tie the pictures together, but it wasn't quite that. The book delves into how bees function, their role in the environment, and about the benefits of honey, but a lot of the pictures were of random flowers that were separate and apart from that. So for anyone that wants to learn about bees and the impact their demise would have, this could be a good book to start with. Might be kinda preachy if you're already into environmental issues, but there's a lot of good basic information here.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“One in every three bites of food we eat exists only because of insect pollinators” 🐝😯 this is such a fun book. Would recommend readers pick up a hard copy, the pictures and text are so beautifully done!