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Craig P. Burrows: What the Bees See (2024, Chronicle Books LLC) 3 stars

Beautiful photos of flowers, text about honeybees and manuka

3 stars

The photos are captured with an unusual technique, but they don't show the UV marks on flowers. You don't see any of the rays and rings known to help bees find the pollen. The text carefully explains that they capture the fluorescence in visible light caused by ultraviolet light. What this mainly shows is that pollen fluoresces. What really bugged me is that none of the photos are captioned! You have to turn to a list in the back notes to find out what they are. Once the text has explained what the photos are, it delves into how insects see. Then it gives an overview about honeybees. Having reached roughly the halfway point, it seems to run out of things to say about bees and spends most of the remainder talking about manuka honey. So much is written and repeated about manuka, you begin to wonder if the book was subsidized by the Manuka Board.

Great photos, though.