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| Author: NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
Brand: Liberty Mountain
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $5.00
as of 11/23/2009 15:45 CST details
You Save: $14.95 (75%)
New (41) Used (49) from $5.00
Seller: teamgreen32
Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 6119
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Imitation Leather
Edition: Chanticleer Press Ed
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Pages: 716
Number Of Items: 1
Size: Trees-Eastern
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0394507606
Dewey Decimal Number: 582.16097
EAN: 9780394507606
ASIN: 0394507606
Publication Date: May 12, 1980
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: with jacket, has some light water stains on couple of first and last pages, does not obstruct text or pictures
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 62
 Absolutely first rate--no complaints at all December 1, 2008
Enderby scout (Stanford, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I picked this out without quite knowing what I was looking for, but just hoped for the best and got this one. I've been using it for about six months. It now seems ideal to me in every way. I would say it has everything, but that would be to suggest that it is too long, whereas its really just the right size, with ample, well-organized materials, but no real fat. I was worried when I picked it up about the really thick section of color plates, but these have proven very useful (particularly the 12 plates of the night sky for each month). The write-ups are great, with a nice mix of ancient history (including an awareness of traditions outside Greece and Rome), Renaissance astronomy, and simple astronomical points of interest (did you know that the "head of the demon," Algol in Perseus, seems to wink? Do you know the mystery about Sirius--that every ancient source records it as being red?)
Well, you can't write an incredibly laudatory review without some exception striking you, and what occurs to me as I type this is how much I'd like a plate showing what the constellations supposedly depict--lord knows it's tricky trying to see a water-bearer in Aquarius, or a ram in the paltry three stars that make up Aries!
 Not bad, but flawed October 16, 2008
Edward Onny (New Jersey)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
All photos, no drawing a plus - photos of bark, leaves (both summer and fall colors), fruit. It has a rare tree the "Franklinias" not seen in the wild since 1803 and it doesn't have the Japanese maple, one of the most common trees here in the Northeast. Otherwise a good guide.
Well-thought out Book July 18, 2008
WoodRat (SF Bay Area, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Once you get used to the format of the Audubon Field Guides, they are very easy to use. I especially like the thumb tab approach to locating an entry. Like all the Audubon series, this guide is compact, well-written, precise, comprehensive, informative, brilliant color plates, tough outer cover - what's not to like? Highly recommended.
A few comments July 12, 2008
magellan (Santa Clara, CA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is the companion volume to the western trees edition. Having been able to spend some time on the east coast for the first time since I was a boy, I found I could only identify a handful of species, so I bought this book to see what I could identify, being familiar mostly with the west coast.
The Audubon books main strengths are in combining excellent photos of the main parts of the tree, the flowers or cones, branches, and bark, to aid in identifying the tree. Curiously, the book doesn't include photos of the entire tree, but in the text section there are drawings next to the description. This is okay too, and an expert dendrologist can often simply ID a tree from its "stature type." With a little experience with the trees in your area, you'll soon be doing the same.
I've found the Audubon books on plant identification very helpful, but I have to say I have some formal training in botany, mainly in plant taxonomy, which is a big help. The only real sure way to ID a plant is by using the formal key, but in an area where the species are limited, which is usually the case with trees in temperate zones, a picture type book can often do the trick. Just be aware that there are many pitfalls in not using the actual botanical key. (If this were the Amazon rainforest, there can be 400 species of trees in a few acres, so this approach wouldn't work).
This book uses a leaf classification key mainly, and has 10 pages devoted to flowering plants and conifers at the beginning of the book to point to the the relevant section. From there you basically leaf through that section to ID the tree. For the flowering trees, color information is provided too.
The text descriptions are brief but well done, and includes information on range, ecology, height and diameter, size of cones, leaves, and flowers, color, and uses. Overall, it's another useful and informative guide from Audobon done in the style which many people are familiar with for naturalist use, or just your casual cursiosity seeker who wants to learn more about these important plants.
By the way, for some excellent and brief key books for the west coast, look for Glen Keator's little books, which are available at bookstores and also at the Strybing Auboretum in Golden Gate Park. Glen had a Ph.D. in taxonomic botany and was the trainer for the docents in the park, also, if I remember right, and I have fond memories of spending many hours hiking while using his books, which became an invaluable aid in my undergraduate and graduate botanical education.
Lot's of pictures July 10, 2008
AJRK (Knoxville, TN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lot's of pictures in the book. Not super user friendly, but still really good and informative.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 62
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