Book Reviews
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
Roger Tory Peterson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008
Of all the great natural history books and teachings that have come down to us
through the years, the example that Roger Tory Peterson first laid out in 1934
with his Field Guide to birds stands out as among the most important and influential.
Peterson’s revolutionary idea to create a reference that naturalists could take
along with them in the field helped change the way people learned about, and
experienced, nature. His idea, the “Peterson System”, used schematic drawings of
each species with arrows pointing at the key distinguishing features, or field
marks. Organized taxonomically, with like species on the same plates, this
allowed for direct comparison and immediate reference for birds encountered in the
field. Thus, binoculars and field guides helped replace the shotgun as the favored
naturalist tools for field identification. Over the past seventy plus years,
the Peterson field guides have expanded to include many other aspects of nature
(reptiles, wildflowers, rocks, seashores, astronomy, etc.). These diverse
and comprehensive books have been wildly helpful in the teaching and
popularizing of natural history.
Peterson’s first field guide, published when he was but 26, focused on the birds
of North America east of the 90th meridian (roughly parallel to the Mississippi
River) and was intentionally sized to fit comfortably in a day-pack or back pocket.
He later completed a western guide, insuring that all of the bird species in
North America (north of Mexico) had full coverage by the two guides.
To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Peterson’s birth and 75 years of
Field Guides, Houghton Mifflin has just published a newly updated and combined
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America.
This new edition brings together all of the birds previously covered separately
in the Easter and Western guides, along with a few structural updates and visual
enhancements. Anyone familiar with past Peterson guides will immediately
recognize the larger size, new cover art, and the helpful inclusion of range maps
adjacent to each species description. A “one-page index” is provided on the first
page and the book comes with a web address where users can register for access to
a series of video podcasts. The podcasts contribute helpful tips, species
comparisons, and an audio/visual guide to selected species. All the other key
ingredients (topography of a bird, identification tips, silhouette plates) from
the previous Peterson bird guides are again included here.
Peterson was not only a world-class naturalist but also a truly gifted artist.
His beautiful and accurate paintings, combined with his scheme for pointing to
key field marks, have been helping naturalists and bird lovers for many decades.
If one is looking for a comprehensive bird guide, I believe only The Sibley Guide
to Birds offers as much coverage, depth, and helpful organization as this new book.
Peterson’s plates are as clear and detailed as any image one might find in the
birding guide literature, and his natural history information (maps, species notes,
etc.) will not only aid the beginning birder, but help add understanding to anyone
that flips through these pages. Peterson’s guide, fully updated and revised for
this anniversary addition, has been tested and loved for seventy-five years.
I found it a natural and rewarding addition to my recent birding explorations.
Reviewed By: Brian Angelo Scavone, Mono Basin, Californiale
How To Do Ecology - A Concise Handbook
Rick Karban and Mikaela Huntzinger, Princeton University Press, 2006.
This is perhaps the best value for dollar investment any aspiring or
beginning graduate student in fields even vaguely similar to ecology
could make. The book is "How To Do Ecology - A concise handbook"
By Rick Karban and Mikaela Huntzinger. It is well written, and it
answers questions like "how should I approach my first presentation?"
"How to get down to the nuts and bolts of a big-picture question" and
"where is the balance between experiment and natural history?",
while offering some well-thought out answers to more general
questions, like "why does it seem like I am not keeping up in graduate
school unless I am a complete fanatic about my research?" This book
will will save you hours of work and perhaps years of pain as you
begin your career as an ecologist, and it is at its core a positive
message. If you an advanced grad or professor - give it to your best
undergrads as they get going in their careers. It´s that good, and it
took me only about 4 of my son´s swim lessons to read.
Reviewer: Josh Tewksbury, University of Washington, Seattle
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