So for everyone not fortunate enough to be in bee class, I have an alternative: Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen.

The book is basically a condensed version of the class. Jacobsen does a great job covering bees in every aspect--he discusses biology of the honey bee and the insect's importance in the agricultural world. Fruitless Fall almost has the suspense of a mystery novel, the juiciness of a romance novel, and the facts of a textbook. Jacobsen gives a historical view of colony collapse disorder and comments on the status of the disorder and current bee research.

Jacobsen uses analogies to write in language that anyone can understand (even if you haven't been taught by Jesalyn!!!) without seeming like he's presenting dumbed-down science which is truly the worst. Here's an example which talks about the evolution of flowers to attract pollinators:

"Once you start a giveaway, it's hard to stop. Today, most flowers offer nectar, and nectar is the main draw for most pollinators. It's a good deal for the flowers, because carbohydrates are cheap to manufacture, while protein is expensive. Stuff your diners with unlimited bread rolls, then skimp on the steak.
But with so many different pollinators looking for the same stuff, and so many flowers offering it, problems arose. The whole point had been to mail a package directly from one individual to another of the same species. But if everybody is using the same postal service, and packages are unloaded at random at each stop, then very few packages are being delivered to the right address.
What would you do in such a situation? Well, you'd get a private courier service [...]"

If that doesn't make you want to pee your pants (in a good way), I honestly don't know what will. Reading Fruitless Fall is basically a less-fun version of being in bee class, and though that may sound like an insult to the book, it's not because nothing can compare to bee class. So read the book. You can get it from the UNC biology/chemistry library (once I return it).