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Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey, the Sweet Liquid Gold That Seduced the World
by Bishop, Holley
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0743250214
- ISBN 13
- 9780743250214
- Seller
-
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Free Press; Simon & Schuster, 2005. 324 pages, illustrations; 24 cm. Near fine. Tight, clean copy. Light shelfwear. Fine DJ. A near-fine copy of the first printing. "'Honey has been waiting almost ten million years for a good biography,' writes Holley Bishop. Bees have been making this food on Earth for hundreds of millennia, but we humans started recording our fascination with it only in the past few thousand years -- painting bees and hives on cave and temple walls and papyrus scrolls, revering them in poetry and art, even worshipping these amazing little insects as gods. From the temples of the Nile to the hives behind the author's own house, people have had a long, rapturous love affair with the beehive and the seductive, addictive honey it produces. Combining passionate research, rich detail, and fascinating anecdote, Holley Bishop's Robbing the Bees is an in-depth, sumptuous look at the oldest, most delectable food in the world. Part biography, part history, Robbing the Bees is also a celebration, a love letter to bees and their magical produce. Honey has played significant and varied roles in civilization: it is so sweet that bacteria can't survive in it, so it was our first food preservative and all-purpose wound salve. Honey wine, or mead, was the intoxicant of choice long before beer or wine existed. Hindus believe honey leads to a long life; Mohammed looked to honey as a remedy for all illness. Virgil; Aristotle; Pythagoras; Gregor Mendel; Sylvia Plath's father, Otto; and Sir Edmund Hillary are among the famous beekeepers and connoisseurs who have figured in honey's past and shaped its present. To help navigate the worlds and cultures of honey, Holley Bishop -- beekeeper, writer, and honey aficionado -- apprentices herself to a modern guide and expert, professional beekeeper Donald Smiley, who harvests tupelo honey from hundreds of hives in the remote town of Wewahitchka, Florida. Bishop chronicles Smiley's day-to-day business as he robs his bees in the steamy Florida panhandle and provides an engaging exploration of the lively science, culture, and lore that surround each step of the beekeeping process and each stage of bees' lives. Interspersed throughout the narrative are the author's lyrical reflections on her own beekeeping experiences, the business and gastronomical world of honey, the myriad varieties of honey (as distinct as the provenance of wine), as well as illustrations, historical quotes, and recipes -- ancient, contemporary, and some of the author's own creations." - Publisher. CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION; 1. Swamp Cache; 2. The Bee Master; FEAR; 3. Robbing the Bees; RESPECT; 4. Pollination; 5. The Sting; ARROGANCE; 6. Food, Wine, and Fishing; TIME; 7. Liquid Currency; 8. Wax; 9. Medicine Ball; GRATITUDE; 10. Some Honey Recipes, Old and New; ILLUSTRATION CREDITS; A FINAL NOTE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; About The Author. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.
Synopsis
Honey has been waiting almost ten million years for a good biography. Bees have been making this prized food -- for centuries the world's only sweetener -- for millennia, but we humans started recording our fascination with it only in the past few thousand years. Part history, part love letter, Robbing the Bees is a celebration of bees and their magical produce, revealing the varied roles of bees and honey in nature, world civilization, business, and gastronomy. To help navigate the worlds and cultures of honey, Bishop -- beekeeper, writer, and honey aficionado -- apprentices herself to Donald Smiley, a professional beekeeper who harvests tupelo honey in the Florida panhandle. She intersperses the lively lore and science of honey with lyrical reflections on her own and Smiley's beekeeping experiences. Its passionate research, rich detail, and fascinating anecdote and illustrations make Holley Bishop's Robbing the Bees a sumptuous look at the oldest, most delectable food in the world.
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Details
- Bookseller
- LEFT COAST BOOKS
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 113876
- Title
- Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey, the Sweet Liquid Gold That Seduced the World
- Author
- Bishop, Holley
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st
- ISBN 10
- 0743250214
- ISBN 13
- 9780743250214
- Publisher
- Free Press; Simon & Schuster
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2005
- Size
- 8vo
- Keywords
- COLLECTIBLE
- Bookseller catalogs
- XXX / COLLECTIBLES;
Terms of Sale
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Shelfwear
- Minor wear resulting from a book being place on, and taken from a bookshelf, especially along the bottom edge.
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...