Want to know what books Helen Jukes recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Helen Jukes's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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This book, already translated into ten languages, may at frst sight appear to be just about honeybees and their biology. It contains, however, a number of deeper messages related to some of the most basic and important principles of modern biology. The bees are merely the actors that take us into the realm of physiology, genetics, reproduction, biophysics and learning, and that introduce us to the principles of natural selection underlying the evolution of simple to complex life forms. The book destroys the cute notion of bees as anthropomorphic icons of busy self-sacrificing individuals and... more This book, already translated into ten languages, may at frst sight appear to be just about honeybees and their biology. It contains, however, a number of deeper messages related to some of the most basic and important principles of modern biology. The bees are merely the actors that take us into the realm of physiology, genetics, reproduction, biophysics and learning, and that introduce us to the principles of natural selection underlying the evolution of simple to complex life forms. The book destroys the cute notion of bees as anthropomorphic icons of busy self-sacrificing individuals and presents us with the reality of the colony as an integrated and independent being—a superorganism with its own, almost eerie, emergent group intelligence. We are surprised to learn that no single bee, from queen through drone to sterile worker, has the oversight or control over the colony. Instead, through a network of integrated control systems and feedbacks, and communication between individuals, the colony arrives at consensus decisions from the bottom up through a type of swarm intelligence. Indeed, there are remarkable parallels between the functional organization of a swarming honeybee colony and vertebrate brains. less 
Helen JukesBrilliant, and as in-depth a study of honeybee biology and colony processes as any I came across. (Source)
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2
The bee is the most studied creature on the planet after man, and down the ages this insect and its honey have been harnessed by doctors, philosophers, scientists, politicians, artists, writers and architects as both metaphor and material. In her buzzing narrative, Hattie Ellis tells how all these people have found inspiration in the honey bee. We also discover some of th mysterious ways of bees - how they can make up to 24,000 journeys to produce a pound of honey, with each been producing one teaspoonful in a lifetime; we see how, charmingly, they communicate by dances; and we look under the... more The bee is the most studied creature on the planet after man, and down the ages this insect and its honey have been harnessed by doctors, philosophers, scientists, politicians, artists, writers and architects as both metaphor and material. In her buzzing narrative, Hattie Ellis tells how all these people have found inspiration in the honey bee. We also discover some of th mysterious ways of bees - how they can make up to 24,000 journeys to produce a pound of honey, with each been producing one teaspoonful in a lifetime; we see how, charmingly, they communicate by dances; and we look under the lid of the hive to find as many as 100,000 bees living and working in total discipline. But we witness their dark side, too - such as the savage, untamed energy of the swarms of killer African bees that are sweeping through America. We also explore some of the many unsolved questions surrounding the honey bee, some of them at the very cutting edge of contemporary medical research. The bee existed long before man; and without bees, we would soon start to die. Hattie Ellis shows us how this small insect can tell us more about ourselves than any other living creature. less Helen JukesLike a storybook: a fluid and lyrical history of bees and honey and their significance in human culture, covering everything from the use of mead as an aphrodisiac to Muhammed Ali’s special penchant for pollen. (Source)
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First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. more First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. less Helen JukesCrane travelled to over 60 countries in the course of researching this book, the first comprehensive history of what she called the people’s use of social bees. (Source)
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4
A Selection
Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), John F. Healey | 4.30
Pliny’s Natural History is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Mingling acute observation with often wild speculation, it offers a fascinating view of the world as it was understood in the first century AD, whether describing the danger of diving for sponges, the first water-clock, or the use of asses’ milk to remove wrinkles. Pliny himself died while investigating the volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79, and the natural curiosity that brought about his death is also very much evident in the Natural History — a... more Pliny’s Natural History is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Mingling acute observation with often wild speculation, it offers a fascinating view of the world as it was understood in the first century AD, whether describing the danger of diving for sponges, the first water-clock, or the use of asses’ milk to remove wrinkles. Pliny himself died while investigating the volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79, and the natural curiosity that brought about his death is also very much evident in the Natural History — a book that proved highly influential right up until the Renaissance and that his nephew, Pliny the younger, described ‘as full of variety as nature itself’. John F. Healy has made a fascinating and varied selection from the Natural History for this clear, modern translation. In his introduction, he discusses the book and its sources topic by topic. This edition also includes a full index and notes. less Helen JukesWritten in the first century AD, and a bit like going on a fantastical adventure trail through the natural world. (Source)
Caspar HendersonThe Natural History, written before 79 AD, is one of the key works of European Classical Antiquity, a foundation of the tradition that later became known as natural philosophy and that we now call science. Among Roman authors perhaps only Lucretius, who argued the world was made of atoms, has been as influential. (Source)
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