The World of Bees - A Video About Honey Bees That is Charming, Educational, Entertaining and Fascinating

Bees are a part of my life in the summer when they arrive to take a look at my lavender plants outside my office window. I often go out there just to hear them buzzing around and to watch them busy at work. They are such fascinating and intelligent creatures that you can't help respecting them and wanting to learn more about how they live.This film is an absolute delight with plenty of lol humor. I found watching this "slide show" an old-fashioned enjoyment that has photos and poetic narration by Charles S. Hofmann (1908-2009) who lived just north of Janesville in Minnesota. After taking over his father's bee business in the 30s he spent time taking photos and learning all about bee behavior.What you will learn about is how bees pollinate important farming crops and how essential they are to food production in America. This film will give you a deeper appreciation for bees while also learning about the miracles of how they produce honey and beeswax. There is an especially beautiful photograph of pollen storage which is like a colorful mosaic. I guess I'd never thought about pollen being in all different colors.Some of the questions this film answers include:How long does a worker bee live?What happens when bees swarm?How do flowers keep bees coming back to pollinate them?What are some of the most popular honeys?What happens when more than one queen bee arrives on the scene?What does a hive look like inside with all the bees at work?Charles S. Hofmann's wonderful narration is beautifully enhanced with Tom Buckman's piano score. This whole production really is a work of art. It is just mindboggling how honey is made in such large quantities and you will just be amazed by the productivity of bees and their many talents.This would make a wonderful gift for anyone who is interested in bees or what is happening to bees currently. This film does not address the problems but rather explores why we should value bees much more in the future.~The Rebecca Review

This DVD is labeled as a "video" about honey bees.It's a collection of still images with no cinematic content at all.I did enjoy the narration, the images were pretty good.Gives one the feeling of watching a slide show with some storytelling along with the pertinent information.I think it's fine, and there is some very good beekeeping information here.Considering other videos that are currently on the market, I don't think I'd recommend investing in this one. It's a series of still photos only.

‘The World of Bees’ holds a message for all of us. I grew up on a Minnesota farm ten miles from Charlie Hofmann’s bee farm and bees were an inherent part of my world. Always there, always working. Never asking anything of me. For a time, a swarm of bees found a temporary home in the eaves of our house. For many years, we allowed a bee-keeper to put his hives on our farm, so his bees could feed on our clover. Aside from that, however, I took bees for granted – just as people still do. Although we valued their role in pollinating crops, we didn’t think about them. Until now, that is. Charlie Hofmann took his photos and made his recording at a time when the life of bees seemed secure. We know that is no longer true. There are many reasons to watch ‘The World of Bees’ because it goes to our world and what is or may not be on our plates. This story has many virtues – good information told simply – but it is free of rants, finger pointing, and blaming that attends so many earnest endeavors today. Charlie simply wanted you to understand what bees do. If we are lucky, we will understand this in time. If we don’t, we will live a line from Joni Mitchell’s famous Big Yellow Taxi – ‘you know what you’ve got till it’s gone.’ Thanks to Charlie Hofmann, we know what we had, still have, and can keep, if we try. This rates Five Stars.

After all the news coverage about bees being killed by pesticides, I decided to learn more about them and purchased The World of Bees video. I am not a beekeeper, and have only a superficial knowledge about them, but this video gave me a good basic understanding of these vital pollinators.The video features superb photographs by a beekeeper who was an educator his entire adult life; he also narrates the video. The narrative is engaging, sometimes humorous, and informative and gives a very good basic understanding of bees, their life cycle and what is involved in beekeeping. The video covers not only bees and their hives, but also a fair amount of botany and how the honey is produced.The video's underlying piano score adds a feeling of serene beauty to the production.I strongly recommend this video as a educational tool for anyone interested in learning more about bees, and I am convinced that children will find it interesting as well.

Loved this DVD. It had such an old school look to it. It felt like something you would watch on the Discovery Channel from the 50's.. The photography was spectacular. The colors of the plants, flowers and bees were something to behold. Also the pictures of the countryside made me homesick for my native Minnesota. Really, really informative. Especially now that the entire nation is suffering from a die off of honey bees that they can't explain. Well worth the money.

If you love bees - for any reason - you will learn good things from this video. It is NOT a film, it IS a compilation of many, many excellent photographs, narrated by Charles Hofmann the man who took the pictures, and a beekeeper himself.

Haven't watched it but we love bees

Interesting and educational video. Will probably pass it on to other interested beekeepers.