BBKA book list updated

[DanBee]

The BBKA book list has been updated, and a new PDF version is available on the BBKA website - look under Learn - Modules - Book list.

In updating the list, priority was given to titles which are currently available from the usual booksellers and which cost less that £30. Many that are hard to find and/or well over the £30 target have been removed or sidelined; emphasis was placed on having a selection of affordable books for each module and assessment. There was also a move to remove some of the charming but dated titles.

The format of the list was also revised, since it was felt that a short list per module or assessment would be preferable to the large single matrix that had previously evolved.

Clearly the list is not exclusive - not being listed does not mean it is a bad book per se, rather that there are more relevant, current, detailed, or approachable titles on the same subject.

 

[Black Comb]

It is better.
But there are 2 or 3 on there that I have been searching for for the past 2 years and still can not find.
My association does not have a library, nor any interest in having one.

 

[Easy Beesy]

Why not write to / contact a local Branch Secretary and ask if they have a library? Then if no one is using the book you need, you could offer a refundable £10 deposit to borrow it? Or borrow from a fellow member who has passed the relevant module - same terms?

 

[Black Comb]

Good idea.
I might contact the local county exam secretary re. this.

 

[DanBee]

It is better.
But there are 2 or 3 on there that I have been searching for for the past 2 years and still can not find.
My association does not have a library, nor any interest in having one.

Out of interest: which titles?

 

[Neils]

Dan,

If you can find a copy of Snodgrass' Anatomy of the Honeybee available outside of an association library I'll be impressed. The best I could find was a print of a scan from a third party via tax dodg...Amazon.

Stell's book on the same subject is excellent though and costs the same from IBRA as it does from amazon.

 

[Black Comb]

Neil

One on Fleabay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anatomy-o...431879631?pt=UK_Magazines&hash=item48472e91cf

One on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anatomy-Hon...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0801493021

Both new paperback.

 

[susbees]

There are plenty copies of Snodgrass around - but it's really not an essential read (unless you wish to become a specialist). Unpicking terminology between the various anatomy books is a bit of a headache...

I came across an online BKA library list for over 270 books and leaflets. Spare a thought for BKAs with NO library. Ours was finally disbanded last year (while I was in a low loader bucket collecting a swarm...). Our committee has changed a bit since then thankfully.

 

[Tim1606]

Dan,

If you can find a copy of Snodgrass' Anatomy of the Honeybee available outside of an association library I'll be impressed. The best I could find was a print of a scan from a third party via tax dodg...Amazon.

Stell's book on the same subject is excellent though and costs the same from IBRA as it does from amazon.

Found one at T*****s a few weeks ago.

 

[Neils]

All change then I couldn't find a copy anywhere outside our association library when I looked last year. I will admit to hating eBay with a passion though which is perhaps why I couldn't find one. Though is that a proper paperback or a hokey scan printed out?

 

[Black Comb]

its a proper paperback with drawings.
The one on Amazon is cheaper.

I find it a pain to use as the drawings are referenced with letters which are explained in text on a different page. The abbreviations are then explained on another page! The drawings are very good.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Make sure you buy a post 1956 edition ( blue paperback edition), The cheaper books are facilimlies of the 1909 edition and don't include some of the calcs

 

[DanBee]

If I'm thinking of the right book, there is a good quality reprint of Snodgrass with a blue and white hexagon pattern on the cover... ah, this one:

£27 at Northern Bee Books.

 

[DanBee]

... Bear in mind that Snodgrass is heavy going for the un-initiated. I put it aside as "archaic" and "obtuse" at first encounter. Read Dade's Anatomy & Dissection a few times, get familiar and comfortable with it, and then you will want to progress onto Snodgrass - and you will find that it adds extra depth and explanation. I don't notice the obscure abbreviations and page-flicking to find references now

So many of the anatomy books are derivative of Dade, and yet Dade summarised Snodgrass... you can see it in the diagrams, and in the errors repeated in the diagrams...!

Stell's book is very good, yet comes at bee anatomy from a different direction again. I'd say it also works best if you've got the basics already. Lesley Goodman's Form and Function is rarely bettered for external anatomy and physical/mechanical aspects. She has the clearest diagrams and explanation of the mouthparts, for instance - an area of insect anatomy that feels so alien that it is very difficult to rationalise all the bits and pieces and how they operate / articulate.

 

[clv101]

Having recently read "The Biology of the Honey Bee - Mark L. Winston" I'm looking for a more detailed look at how bees work. I can't decide between Dade's book and Stell's. As they are quite expensive I only really want to buy one! I like the look of Stell's pictures, but which will I learn the most from.

 

[Queens59]

Better beginnings for Beekeepers took hours of searching to find - as many places claim to have it until you are ordering and then 'This item is out of stock - we will tell you when we have a copy' argh!!!

 

[DanBee]

Having recently read "The Biology of the Honey Bee - Mark L. Winston" I'm looking for a more detailed look at how bees work. I can't decide between Dade's book and Stell's. As they are quite expensive I only really want to buy one! I like the look of Stell's pictures, but which will I learn the most from.

Winston's book is 90% behaviour and 10% biology - excellent book but misleading title!

Do you mean "how bees work" in terms of physical systems and physiology? Snodgrass is the authoritative source that many draw upon, including Dade & Winston, but is heavy going if you've not yet got comfortable with, e.g. Dade. Stell does not have the level of description that you are looking for, I suspect, and to get the most out of the novel illustrations you need to already be familiar with what you are looking at IMHO. Goodman's Form and Function is excellent for external anatomy, movement, mouthparts, and sensory systems and is better than Snodgrass in these areas. I would suggest Dade first, then Goodman, then Snodgrass

 

[MuswellMetro]

Having recently read "The Biology of the Honey Bee - Mark L. Winston" I'm looking for a more detailed look at how bees work. I can't decide between Dade's book and Stell's. As they are quite expensive I only really want to buy one! I like the look of Stell's pictures, but which will I learn the most from.

I am finding that I prefer stell because the pic are with the text and found it less like a Victorian school book than Dade,

you may find it easier to loan Dade rather than Stell from your local library on the library exchange scheme (if the library has not closed down yet)

 

[MuswellMetro]

I am finding that I prefer stell because the pic are with the text and found it less like a Victorian school book than Dade,
vyou may find it easier to loan Dade rather than Stell from your local library on the library exchange scheme (if the library has not closed down yet)

see this on stell's web sitefor his style and preveiw of chapter 9

http://www.understandingbeeanatomy....2012/10/Chapter-9-The-Respiratory-System2.pdf

and main index

http://www.understandingbeeanatomy.com/

 

[Black Comb]

Celia Davies "the honeybee inside out" is also very good and very readable.