# Michael Bush's Book



## Roger Pell (Apr 29, 2010)

I just purchased Michael Bush's book, 'The Practical Beekeeper' in hardcover. Even though a lot of what it contains can be found here and on his website, I find it to be really enjoyable. I carry it with me on my excursions around the region and read it whenever I have free time. One of the really nice things about it is it is printed in LARGE TYPE which means I don't have to worry about forgetting my glasses. And best of all, it is just chock full of good advice. Really very enjoyable and well worth the money.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I find it to be really enjoyable.

I'm glad you like it.

>One of the really nice things about it is it is printed in LARGE TYPE

Actually it's only 12 pt, which is on the large end of normal (normal for a book is 10 to 12 pt), but I picked a typeface that is very readable and looks more like it's 14 or 16 pt. I get hundreds of emails thanking me for the large type, yet I get bad reviews for it on Amazon (well not bad exactly, but complaints and one less star)... I guess you can't please everyone, but I really think I found the perfect compromise of a reasonable size so the book isn't too big and a readable face so it appears to be large type even though it isn't really.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Aww come on, it's not _that _bad Mike. You have two four-star reviews out of *39.* 

And one of them has bad grammar.

Plus 20 out of 20 people found my review helpful.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Plus 20 out of 20 people found my review helpful.

You wrote a lot more detail than most.  Yes, I'm not really complaining, but getting dinged for something that a large number of people write me to thank me for seems odd to me.  I never dreamed anyone would complain that the type in a book was too readable...


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## bwdenen (Feb 3, 2012)

Some people just have to find something to complain about. The type was fine for me. It was easy to read and no tired eyes after reading late into the night. 

I read it cover to cover, and refer back to different sections constantly. It's a great resource and I'm setting up a couple of top entrance hives next week. 

Thanks for the great book Mike!!


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## monrovi (Jan 22, 2012)

Yes its a great book and great resource. I know you can read it online but there is nothing like holding a hard copy


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I really enjoyed the book. Its loaned out to a friend now, who intends to buy her own copy for reference.


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## Roger Pell (Apr 29, 2010)

Well, I appreciate you thinking of the reader's eyes. There are so many books I put down too often because the font is uncomfortable.


Michael Bush said:


> >I find it to be really enjoyable.
> 
> I'm glad you like it.
> 
> ...


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## MoisesFromL.A (Jun 13, 2011)

It's an awesome book. A must have for any new beekeeper like myself and to top things off, he's always online and very helpful on this forum. Big thumbs up to Michael Bush :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## lakebilly (Aug 3, 2009)

Michael some people would complain if you drowned them in a clean tub of water.....or hung them with a brand new rope. 

I am believing that your contributions are generally recieved with much appreciation. (here DEFINETLY!!)


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## WXBEE (Feb 10, 2012)

Makes a great gift! Bought one for a fellow beek trying to turn away from the dark side!


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

I'm going over to Amazon and writing a review that says I've never read the book, but I heard the type-size is too big. Right after that, I'm going over to review the three wolves howling t-shirt.


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## BPApiaries (Jan 30, 2012)

I have been considering buying it for awhile, but I am kind of waiting for it to be available for order on my Kindle (which I do all my reading on now). I see it is available in pdf and mobi (both which the kindle supports) but is there any word on when it will be available in the AZW format?


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## DeeAnna (Nov 5, 2010)

azw format is just Amazon's drm-protected version of mobi. I prefer mobi -- if I want to read the book on my computer OR on my Kindle, I can. With azw, I'm limited to reading a book only on the device the book is registered to. If you prefer to have Amazon impose its policy on what you can and cannot do with their e-books, stick with azw. Otherwise, mobi is the way to go.


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## beecrazy101 (Jul 6, 2010)

I got my local library to by the book. I was surprised to see the large print, but love it. Makes me feel like I am reading faster considering I am a little bit slower at reading. It is a good tool for future reference.


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## HiveAtYourHome (Aug 16, 2011)

beecrazy101 said:


> I got my local library to by the book. I was surprised to see the large print, but love it. Makes me feel like I am reading faster considering I am a little bit slower at reading. It is a good tool for future reference.


Although convinced my local library to get it recently, and I bought the book when it came out; I think that one should just use his great website and send him a check. Save on paper. Not sure why someone wants the Kindle or other electric version as the website is great (actually I would think superior to paying for an electronic version of the book as I like the website layout better than the book, the book has repeated sections, along with grammar, structure and spelling issues that you don't notice on a website but distract in book form, only if you must have the feel of paper would i think one would skip the great resource he has provided for free.

This is one of the finest collections of recent bee advice put in one place and although glad being in print will get that advice into even more hands think that instead of recommending the book to people I'd definitely say check out the website and read it all at your leisure. (In fact I do recommend the website to people VERY often, and yes here is the blasphemy I advise people not to buy the book.)

And the BIG print is fine; what do people want more words for their dollar? I'm rather glad he stuck to being concise in a book that big already then he droned on to bulk up. In fact if I had more time I would have written less in this post.

Oh, and thanks Michael for making this great bee advice/knowledge/perspective/philosophy available.


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## BPApiaries (Jan 30, 2012)

HiveAtYourHome said:


> Not sure why someone wants the Kindle or other electric version as the website is great (actually I would think superior to paying for an electronic version of the book as I like the website layout better than the book, the book has repeated sections, along with grammar, structure and spelling issues that you don't notice on a website but distract in book form, only if you must have the feel of paper would i think one would skip the great resource he has provided for free.


For me there are two reasons to want it on my Kindle. The first is that the reason I have a kindle is to read books on it. True, I can view his website with my kindle if I have a 3g connection but I rather have an actual copy of it for my collection. Which leads me to my second reason - supporting the author. I would like to buy one of his books to show my gratitude for his site which helped me get started into bee keeping.

As for azw format being exclusive to the Kindle, you can read azw format books in the Kindle cloud reader on your computer (google chrome even has a plugin to let you read them in chrome). Amazon has done alright by me and I like to support it above the other ebook companies.


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## beecrazy101 (Jul 6, 2010)

well I think it is a great collection for the library when people like me are looking into maybe getting into beekeeping. I went to the library and started my research and then to the internet. But a lot of people dont have internet even in these days, and still do the old fashion library search. They had a few good books but this one is probly the most up to date for someone to get ahold of. Even I dont have a kindle.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>but is there any word on when it will be available in the AZW format? 

As already mentioned, .mobi is the unprotected format for the Kindle. To do AZW I would have to do DRM protection on it and that would limit the usefulness.

As far as why you might want the electronic version it is very easy to search an electronic book for words or phrases, although you can search a site through google.


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## beecrazy101 (Jul 6, 2010)

Almost made it through your book. Great info. Didn't have to read all of it because lot of what was in there I have read many times over. Like your Q and A at the end of the topics. Good book. Like the context.


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## Ray4852 (May 27, 2011)

Great book. If I had to buy it again. I would purchased volume 1 2 and 3 separately. One book with 3 volumes in it make it a little difficult to find what I need. For the money its worth every penny.


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## mrobinson (Jan 20, 2012)

lakebilly said:


> Michael some people would complain if you drowned them in a clean tub of water.....or hung them with a brand new rope.


_Geez...!_ Some corpses will complain about anything! 

It's a fine piece of work. An adjunct to the website. And, well, "I'm an _on-paper_ man, myself."


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## WXBEE (Feb 10, 2012)

For those of us with "seasoned" eyes, the big print is nice!


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