The bees in your backyard A guide to North America's bees

Taken together, the title and subtitle of this book are confusing. Bees in Your Backyard might lead the reader to believe this is a nontechnical, cursory treatment, while A Guide to North America's Bees seems to indicate more depth. So which is it? This reviewer votes, mostly, for the latter. Bee experts Wilson (biology, Utah State) and Carril (PhD, plant biology) begin with a lengthy and rather nontechnical introduction. They present a broad view of bees, including general life history, sociality, enemies, and a fairly detailed account of morphology, as well as hints on identification. The well-illustrated key to the book's "chapters" (families and subfamilies) in this section is also nontechnical, but the characters used are not, and probably most lay readers will not use it regularly as the lack of adequate magnification will prove problematic. Gardeners will appreciate chapter 2, "Promoting Bees in Your Neighborhood." The remaining chapters consider individual families. The authors introduce subfamilies and genera, paying special attention to identification. Included are photographs of each genus, and these are certainly a major attraction. The biological notes and text boxes scattered throughout are very well done. This is the best general guide to bees this reviewer has seen. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Paul K. Lago, University of Mississippi