Customer Reviews

Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés (Organisms and Environments)

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First, let me say that I have known Lee Grismer for many years and I know the passion he has for the Baja Peninsula and its natural wonders. I have been waiting a long, long time for this book. When I received it, I scanned the book and planned to read it cover to cover when I had the time. In the last weeks, I made the time and have nearly finished this tome.
Dr. Grismer has put his heart and soul into making this book the best herpetological reference on Baja California, bar none. Baja is a mysterious place with many influences flowing into it from the Pacific, the Colorado Desert and mainland México. In this book, Dr. Grismer takes great pains to delineate the geological influences which have helped to shape this strange land and the effects on the herpetology of this 1,000 km long peninsula.
I marvel at the time he has put in studying the many organisms extant on the peninsula and his obviously meticulous note taking. I am in awe of the relationships he has built up with local ranchers and fishermen over the last quarter century. Local people are a great source of information and Lee has used their knowledge and consciousness to build a reference source the likes of which has never before been devoted to a similar chunk of land.
I would love to write more but I feel that the book will speak for itself. It is a great read and not nearly as tedious as other scientific works I have read. Just for its reference value, this book deserves to be on the shelf of any serious student of herpetology.
Now, all we need is Field Guide!

Excellent! Grismer not only has a lengthy description of each animal, he includes and section on the animal's status in the wild and local beliefs, which in all cases are very interesting. The style of of photograpy for title pages is very creative, with the animal in a bottom corner, and the Baja scenery in the background. (He does have macro photographs where the animal is centered for species documentaion.) I highly recommend it for it's wonderful photography and interesting text.

If you're in to herp's at all, you will love this book. I personally have a passion for Rosy Boas (Lichanura trivirgata), so having data and photo's of obscure locality specimens is very exciting for me. I also contacted Lee via email, and he was very diligent with replies and candid details about rosys. This book took 25 years of his life to put together, and it shows. The level of detail and representation of every specie and subspecies indigenous to the peninsula is awesome. The quality of the photographs and the portrait that each paint is outstanding. There are even photos of the variable habitats that occur on the peninsula too. I have never seen the natural habitat that my captive born Baja rosys come from, but this book has inspired me to do so. I highly recommend this book. It will make you want to discover Baja in person.

Jerry Hartley
Northern Nevada

When I bought this book, I was worried about whether I would be getting my money's worth, considering the high price, but as a herp enthusiast who likes to collect books about various regions that are rich in unusual herpetofauna, I decided, with some trepidation, to go for it. I must say that I was totally awestruck by the sheer size of the book, the thoroughness of the accounts, covering every known species, spectacular color photos, beautiful maps, and easy readability. All sorts of interesting tidbits are thrown in from local folklore. This book is a masterpiece in terms of its content, as well as being an absolutely beautiful coffee table book. A must-have for all herp enthusiasts!

If you want to have a complete picture of Baja California's interesting herpetological communicty; this is a splendid book. Written by someone who has spend years in this area studying these animals and therefor knows what he is writing about with a lot of personal information. No one else could have written this standard piece of work for this area. Excellent photographs make this book a must have and makes me want to go bakc there every time I take it off the shelf.