How you can help save the bees, one hive at a time

A memoir of the author's childhood growing up under the wing of her beekeeper grandfather in Big Sur, California. Meredith is my friend as well as the original beekeeper at the San Francisco Chronicle's building rooftop. Readers get immersed in why people get into beekeeping, sometimes as a means of escaping the human world a bit. This book connects us with the wonders and magic within a honey beehive.

This book provides insight into how the world could eventually be overtaken by something other than humans — in this story, it's plants. Our honeyDNA project first looked into plant DNA from honey samples as blueprints for healthy habitats. This book brings those maps to life, by animating the hidden plants lurking and waiting to take over our cities when we're gone.

A download of my brain after I completed my PhD and two years of faculty teaching. Each page turn presents a new topic, including bee biology, beekeeping, religion and a directory to rare species worldwide. It's a sort of coffee table book in format, with a great layout of bees the Museum of Natural History in London.

This book expands on the ways in which the science of genomics can reveal the hidden world around us. Dunn and his team collected samples of dust around the house to understand all the life forms living within, including tens of thousands of species of bacteria, thousands of fungi species, a thousand insect species (including bees) and a dozen mammals (including humans).

This book is all about the microbes in our soil, under our feet and helping grow our food. My team's lead horticulturist, Renee Bolivar, loves the book's imagery of standing on the dirt like you're standing on the ocean — experiencing the Earth to be moving (use your imagination!), alive with microbial life in an infinite universe of possibilities. It all starts in the soil: healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy people.

This book explores why some human civilizations advanced over others. My interest in bees stems from their social nature. In college, I wondered why bees have survived their 100 million years or so of life, living in complex societies without doctors, hospitals, nurses or pharmacies. Diamond's books, including Collapse, consider the rise and fall of human societies, why some groups thrive and others die off. I continue to be influenced by all forms of social living — and their secrets to success.

Tom Eisner, a world renown entomologist from Cornell University, is one of my favorites! I have a fond memory of reading this book on the beach throughout the summer, being transported into the incredible world beneath our feet, above our heads and in between sand grains. Eisner's work on venoms is particularly fascinating and memorable. Did you know daddy long legs's venom is among the most potent of all insects? The hidden benefits of these mysterious creatures are endlessly fascinating and wondrous.