Customer Reviews

Illinois Insects and Spiders

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Superb. Ms. Macnamara's illustrations of small, complex and beautiful creatures are wonderful. She teaches drawing and painting at the Field Museum. Her teaching style is rare: individualized and comprehensive. No secret techniques. A rich study of materials. Also co-author of a book on wildlife painting. A highly skilled person who pays exquisite attention.

Peggy McNamara and the people at the Division of Insects at the Field Museum have produced a wonderful book on the insects and spiders of Illinois. The paintings are beautiful and the text informative. The book gives the reader an appreciation of the little forms of life that inhabit the state of Illinois. Perhaps this book will keep people from stepping on or spraying an insect or spider when they know more about it.

Maggie Daley wrote the introduction but I don't think she should be listed as first author of the book.

I bought this book as a gift for my daughter who studied with the author. Peggy Macnamara is the resident artist at the Field Museum in Chicago. Her drawings are amazing.

I tend to like this old fashioned way of displaying natural objects, with each illustrated plate having the look of an odd collection of curiosities one might find in an old museum display. BUT... the dimensions of the book -- and the type font size -- are about half as big as they should be. Two demerits for that. After all, it is to some degree an art book.

Also, this book is not to be confused with a nature identification guide. Some of the illustrations are very accurate, some okay, and a few others not so accurate. It's a smattering of arthropods somewhat organized into appropriate scientific groups, and occasionally stuck together more for the creativity of it. This is a suitable nature-book-o-phile's book, but there are better places to put your money if you're into studying creepy crawlie critters.