[wisb] Re: Field Guides...
- From: "Wayne & Susie" <wsrohde@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Mike Duchek" <mikeduchek@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:10:29 -0500
I concur with your assessment, Mike.
The back cover advertises the new Stokes guide as "the ultimate field guide
for today's birder - the biggest, most colorful, most USEFUL [italicized in
the book] identification guide to birds ever published."
That's quite a claim. It is colorful, to be sure (it does has very good
photos). As for biggest, it's big ... but Sibley (and Crossley) certainly
take the cake - size-wise and weight-wise. More importantly, the claim to
be the most useful ID guide ever published made me wonder if the words
("most"/"ever") would be backed-up by the text...
The preface contains these words about one of the goals of this guide: "...
to produce the most USEFUL [italicized] guide to identifying the birds of
North America ever published..." Later, in the "how to section," with
respect to the perennial debate between advocates of photos and advocates of
drawings, the following appears: "Excellent, well-chosen photographs are
ALWAYS [italicized] more detailed and more accurate than a drawing."
Really?
One thing's for sure: the authors certainly have a high regard for their
field guide!
I do like this Stokes better (much better) than the first one. But for
quite a variety of reasons (as you mentioned: all the space devoted to rare
species, subspecies, etc. - even hybrids!) plus the corresponding lack of
other and more significant and detailed and (yes) useful information, at
least on on a consistent basis (e.g., more specifics re: habitat,
differentiation from similar species, etc.), I'm led to the conclusion that
this guide does have a prominent position among photos guides ... but NOT
among ID guides as a whole.
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the new Stokes guide doesn't come
close to displacing (dare I say?) the real ID guides like Geo and Sibley.
I'll have it on my shelf; maybe even in my van. But I won't lug it into the
field while birding.
That's my two cents!
Wayne Rohde
Walworth/Walworth/Walworth, WI
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