More Than Honey: Vom Leben und Überleben der Bienen

by Markus Imhoof, Claus-Peter Lieckfeld

Seit ein paar Jahren beunruhigen uns Meldungen über das Bienensterben. Theorien über Viren, Parasiten oder Pestizide sollen das rätselhafte Phänomen erklären. Dabei geht es nicht nur um ein paar Tonnen weniger produzierten Honig: Unsere Nahrungsmittelproduktion hängt von der Arbeit der Honigbiene ab, ohne ihre Bestäubungsarbeit fiele ein Drittel der gesamten Welternte aus. Biene und Mensch verbindet eine Jahrhunderte alte Symbiose die jedoch zunehmend aus dem Gleichgewicht gerät. In "More Than Honey" spürt Markus Imhoof den Ursachen dafür nach. Er zeigt das Leben der Bienen und lässt Menschen zu Wort kommen, die mit und von den Bienen leben: eine Bienenzüchterin, die Königinnen für die ganze Welt produziert; einen Großimker, der mit seinen Trucks 15.000 Völker als Bestäubungsarmee quer durch die USA schickt; und eine Pollenhändlerin in China, wo unterdessen Menschen Blüten von Hand bestäuben ...Im Buch zu Markus Imhoofs Dokumentarfilm "More Than Honey" berichtet der Claus-Peter Lieckfeld von fünf Jahren Recherche, präsentiert Hintergründe und geht da ins Detail, wo der Film sich auf Bilder beschränken muss.
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Genres: Nonfiction, Science

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rachel Cunning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Markus Imhoof outlines many of the problems facing beekeepers today in his book More Than Honey: The Survival of Bees and the Future of Our World, which Imhoof had originally produced as a documentary. His slant is strongly pro-bees and anti-pesticides and, in conjunction, anti-commercial agriculture. On the whole, I would recommend seeing the documentary over reading the book if subtitles don’t bother you. This is a strong statement as I haven't seen more of the documentary than its cinematically gorgeous trailer. However, I suspect the narrative arc is stronger in the documentary than it is in the book because the book is so strongly divided into thematic chapters. I wrote a more thorough reviewon my website, which was shared to

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often hear that bees are dying off in record numbers and that if it continues, it will wreak social and economic havoc.
The beginning of this book explains why in clinical and very stark betrayal. While this is fascinating, unfortunately the book then veers off into the lives of beekeepers and the minutiae of species, and the in and outs of beekeeping.
Those interested in such things will probably really enjoy this book. However judging by the title, I was under the impression that this book would be about why bees are important. This is not to say the book isn't interesting in parts, it certainly is, only that it isn't the book I thought it would be.

[Andrew Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like there wasn't really a conclusion to this book at all...

[Matt Chester · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started strong in discussing the issues facing the honeybee, and the catastrophic effect of their pending population collapse. However it quickly adjusted to simply describing the current life of bees and beekeepers, abandoning the discussion of why the honeybees are so important to the world's ecology and food supply or what should be done to fix it. The last chapter discussed the making of the documentary of the same name, which was definitely interesting on its own-- but did not make up for the missed information I was hoping to read.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more from this: more about the history of beekeeping, more about how bees are vital for polination, more in general. It was too dry and clinical and I found myself skimming a lot of it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

More info for my quest to keep bees! Very interesting! Well worth reading, even if you"re not interested in keeping bees!

[MC Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot of buzz about this book.