I'm not a fan of the dummies books. I don't think I've ever gotten over the "dummies" moniker. Beekeeping for the ignorant might be a more appropriate title as ignorance is simply the lack of knowledge. Being dumb just doesn't seem to be a good thing to me.

As with all the dummies books, it is well laid out. Plenty of margin notes, pictures, etc. The chapters progress very logically for a beginning beekeeper, ending up with information on how to purchase equipment, including the authors own website, beecommerce.com. The chapter pictures are pretty funny to boot. Good color photographs in the center section. Being completely new to beekeeping, I went with the authors site and purchased a very nice complete setup. There were some issues with shipping which their helpful people bent over backwards to fix.

A complaint I have about this book is that it focused almost entirely on the Langstroth hive system, which honestly is the predominant system used today. However, after ordering my beekeeping gear, I found the top bar hive system on the web. For a hobbyist beekeeper who is more interested in a bit of honey and educating himself and his children, not production honey, the top bar seems much better suited. Since the author doesn't use or sell the top bar system, it seems that it gets no mention in his book. In a beginner book, I'd expect all known systems to be covered.

I ordered one of each kind of hive, and before the bees arrived, I already liked the top bar hive MUCH better. The Langstroth hive system took me a full weekend to assemble ( I have kids so I'm not 100% productive). Two large supers, 10 frames each, two small supers, 10 frames each, for a total of 40 frames. 5 minutes per frame minimum once you figure it out (figure 30 mins to figure it out), a base, queen excluder, a stand, bottom board, etc, almost all to be assembled. All could have been assembled for a price but being handy I elected to do it myself. None of it is hard but it takes lots of time, like a solid weekend.

In comparison, the top bar hive came in a box, ready to go. I built a stand (not required), put bees wax on the top bars and I was done. Total time, 20 minutes. Now that the bees are in, I again like the top bar hive. Mine has a clear glass on the side, accessable behind a removeable wood panel. My four year old son and I, in shorts and t-shirts, can look into the hive and see all the bees and what they are doing. The Langstroth hive requires a veil, long pants, a smoker, etc, etc. since you are opening the hive to see anything, which the bees don't take too well to.

I'm sure I won't get as much honey, but I'll do better with the top bar with my kids, which was my purpose.

Again, I think this is a major oversight in a beginner book to ignore this beekeeping method. Otherwise I think this book rates as high as any "dummies" book should.