+ 08.02.2010 + “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.” –Albert Einstein

The strange case of the vanishing western honeybee has led to fears that we are dangerously out of kilter with nature. This important and compelling book will dramatically examine the environmental, political and economic forces shaping the honeybee's fragile existence - and why the world can't survive without it.

A third of all that we eat, and much of what we wear, relies on pollination by honeybees. So if — or when — the world loses its black-and-yellow workers, the consequences will be dire.

What is behind this catastrophe? Viruses, parasites, pesticides and climate change have all been blamed, as has modern monoculture agribusiness. In this timely book, two keen amateur apiarists investigate all the claims and counterclaims with the help of scientists and beekeepers in Europe, America and elsewhere.

They ask the question that will soon be on everyone’s lips: Is there any possible way of saving the honeybees — and with them, the world as we know it?

“The success of A World Without Bees lies in its explanation of the challenges faced by the honey bee population and the intensiveness of commercial beekeeping.” Daily Telegraph

Guardian Newspapers 2010