title: Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee
author: Hattie Ellis
publication date: April 25, 2006
publisher: Broadway Books
It is closer to the truth to say that bees perform an act of alchemy. Honey is nothing less than concentrated nectar; and a pot of good honey is the essence of its surroundings…through the transforming power of the bee.
— Hattie Ellis (Sweetness and Light)
I have always loved honey. And I have always been terrified of bees. I’ve never been stung, but the idea of being stung is terrifying enough. When I was in grade school, a bee once landed on my ear and JUST SAT THERE until a brave friend grabbed and and sent it on its way. I still remember being paralyzed by the loud buzzing in my ear. Maybe the bee was trying to tell me the secret of honey?
But my fear has never stopped me from being fascinated by these amazing creatures. Honey, and its creator, the honeybee, is a treasure trove of amazingness. So, when I saw Hattie’s book, Sweetness and Light, I didn’t hesitate to start reading. I was expecting an in-depth book about bees and honey, but instead I received a history of the human relationship with bees, aka beekeeping.
The majority of the book is a well-researched timeline of how beekeeping evolved through history, with Hattie’s stories from her own personal quest for information liberally thrown into the mix. The rest of the book discusses how we have been trying to figure out bees for centuries – other than ourselves, the honeybees is the most researched living thing in history – and how the bee has influenced other areas of our lives.
In Architecture: Did you know that Frank Lloyd Wright was influenced by the bee? He incorporated hexagonals (just like a honeycomb) into his building designs from the 1920s onward. This reminded me of the odd hexagonal shaped rooms in my high school. My friends and I had all wondered at one time or another – why are the classes so funny shaped?
In health: Did you know that honey protects wounds from infection with its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties? Or that in both lab and clinical cases, honey has been shown to be effective against MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant “superbug”?
In literature: Sylvia Plath (her husband kept bees and her father was an entomologist who wrote about bumblebees) wrote a sequence of “Bee Poems” near the end of her life that used bees and beekeeping as metaphors for her life.
There are more interesting stories and facts in Sweetness and Light and by the end of it all, I had a much better understanding of beekeeping, bee-breeding, and our relationship with honeybees. I was even tempted to look into urban beekeeping (the sweet idea of harvesting my own honey was quickly overruled by my fear of being stung).
With the recent epidemic of dying bees, it’s more important than ever to take a closer look at how humans interact with these amazing creatures. Honeybees are vital to the survival of our planet and for a total beginner like me, Sweetness and Light was a perfect introduction.
Click here to purchase Sweetness and Light from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon
Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. However, I am part of The Book Depository and Amazon affiliate programs and the product links shared in this post are affiliate links – if you click them and purchase something, I will receive a tiny commission fee (at no extra cost to you) which helps me keep this site running. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.
