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Bees: The 'hippie wasps' we all need

It seems there’s a "how things work" theme on Speakers Forum recently. Last week it was tides, this week, bees.

Our guide is Thor Hanson, an uber-biologist who seems to really love what he does. He’s also a fine and animated storyteller. His new book is “Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees.”

In this talk, he explains why he wrote a book about bees. It has something to do with misinformation he heard one day on the radio. But at heart, the reason is his fascination with and curiosity about bees.

It includes facts such as there are “more kinds of bees in the world than all of the birds and the mammals put together, and then some.” Look forward to an enjoyably informative presentation on the world of bees.

Hanson is a Northwesterner with a graduate degree in biology. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda and a Guggenheim Fellow. His previous books include “The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History,” “Feathers,” and “Bartholomew Quill: A Crow's Quest to Know Who's Who.”

Hanson spoke at the Elliott Bay Book Company on July 14. KUOW’s Sonya Harris recorded his talk.

Listen to the full version of his talk below: 

Year started with KUOW: 2006