The Honey Trail: In Pursuit of Liquid Gold and Vanishing Bees

What a great way to do travel-writing; in pursuit of the various honeys of the world and conducting interviews about the plight of the mamy species of bees.I buy honey in every country I visit - without really knowing why - and this book was a thrill for me to read! It's chock full of great stories as well as important facts about our little 'busy bodies', the bees.

I have read too many books where the writer just wanders around somewhere off the beaten path looking for something interesting to happen or someone interesting to talk to. Not so with this book as the author, Grace Pundyk is a traveller with a purpose, and that purpose, bordering on obsession I might add is the persuit of 'liquid gold', aka Honey. It is this theme that gives the book an extra dimension sorely lacking in many other travel books. But I should add it is much more then just a travelogue as it is also covers the global Honey trade,from its gatherers and sellers as well as the bees that produce it in the first place. My favourite parts were when Grace visited the more traditional gatherers in places like Turkey and Yemen, as you have to wonder how much longer this traditional methods of beekeeping will continue. All in all a really enjoyable book.

My interest in this book came because I grew up working with honey and bees. Although I have a particular interest - we should all be concerned about the future of bees. Bees pollinate plants and that process is necessary to the continuation of agriculture as we know it.The author chose to travel to remote and not so remote parts of the world where beekeepers continue to work with bees, that make honey and pollinate crops. Who knew that there were so many strains of bees and so many kinds of honey in the world? She also deals with the economics, logistics and politics of producing and selling honey. And what would a good book be without some romance in it. I would recommend this book to people interested in bees as well as to people interested in the environment and to the active travellers as well as the armchair ones.

This book was like being on a quest to find the sweetest nectar, HONEY!A woman seeks out the places know to have the best tasting honey ever. Shevisit many places & runs into some rough & tough honey merchants. Eachhoney supplier has their own way of selling & dealing with honey buyers. A great book for lovers of the honey bee & their precious nectar, honey.

I was intrigued after hearing Grace interviewed by Diane Rehm on NPR, and though I'm an avid library user decided very quickly this was one book worth owning. Grace is a flowing, fun author and manages to keep you right at her elbow throughout her journey across the globe... All in search of honey and it's history. This book gives the reader much more though, a great travel guide and insights to places most of us will never get to visit, never mind in such an up close and intimate way. Grace is well networked from previous trips, it seems.Fascinating stuff, deals with current science, political ins and outs, global markets and best yet, the romance of exotic honeys we sadly cannot taste too! Her passion is catchy.... I am attending a local beekeepers' meeting next week. Honey lover or no, an enjoyable, exciting read.