Customer Reviews

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is more a concise small-format encylopedia of North American trees than a field guide. It's amazingly comprehensive, containing information on native species and a lot of cultivated imports. For a single taxon, photographs of leaves (on a white background, for clarity), bark, flowers, and fruit, along with the text, are arranged on a single page so there's no jumping around. Line art is used only to help define terms or help navigating the keys. The text contains a major identification tip to look for in each species.

As a field guide I think the identification keys are its weakest point. They start, as all lay-oriented keys, with leaf arrangement and shape, and then quickly move to flower and fruit characters. For most of the year you don't have flowers and fruits, so I wish the keys concentrated more on leaf details (margins, venation, size). Experienced enthusiasts will spend more time in the index than the keys; the inexperienced will probably spend a lot of time paging through, looking at the excellent pictures, for a pattern match. Because the guide is so comprehensive, though, there are a LOT of pictures to page through. It's printed on thick, durable paper, though this makes it rather big and heavy for the pocket.

An ideal combination might by this guide paired with May T. Watts' "Tree Finder: A Manual for the Identification of Trees by Their Leaves," only $4.00 from Amazon & truly vest pocket-sized. It has excellent keys for the layperson who lives east of the Rockies.

The Amazon price for the NWF guide makes it a steal. You won't find this much information about trees in one small volume anywhere else.

I give it 5 stars for the information & 4 as an identification guide.

I have had and looked at dozens of ID books, and they all have ups and downs.This, as far as I can tell, has little to no downs. It has a wonderful layout with pictures and text together...no more flipping back and forth! It also is organized so that you can search by leaf type. Even if you don't know how to tell the difference...the info on how to tell the different leaf patterns is all at the front of the book.

This book rocks. It's by far the best tree guide out there. There are several things that make it really unique. First each tree has an ID tip to help distinguish that tree. The authors don't blindly identify each tree, but also make note of possible ID problems you might encounter (if a characteristic of one tree is similar to another). It also will show pictures of trees that best help you identify the tree (not just show the silhouette of the crown, or drawing/picture of a leave or bud). The guide is smart in that it shows you unique characteristics about that particular tree and has real, full color pictures. Aside from highlighting key features, it also still describes all the features (fruit/leaf/bud size, shape, color, etc) you'd expect. While the guide does provide some natural history with trees, it's mostly for identification. I've looked around a lot for a good tree ID book and this is the best one by far. The only down size is it's a little big (it covers all of North America), but I'll trade that for the content and quality any day.

I'm just a regular guy who has an unexplainable interest in trees. I've tried several books and attempted to navigate their various structures for reference. This book tops them all in ease of use. The set up is so easy to follow to find a tree you are trying to identify. The pictures are wonderful and accurate. It has a nice cover that is "waxy" for a damp situation. I have not attempted to identify a tree yet that I could not locate within this book. I looked at so many books trying to find one that is useful to the average guy, and i've finally found it.

I have written many reviews, in here, on tree field guides. I am a Certified Arborist who works in the field on a near-daily basis. I have been asked, in the "Comments" section after each review, what field guide I would recommend. I have always suggested Peterson and, I believe, Audubon. Now, I will add, and STRONGLY RECOMMEND, this guide. It simply is THE BEST guide out there, today. The photos are very clear, the descriptive passages informative. Measurements are given in inches and feet, unlike some inferior guides I've reviewed that only have metric data. I am not, by he way, trying to insinuate that metric makes those guides inferior. It's just that in the US, we have an easier time with SAE. This guide is a pleasure to use. It makes for interesting reading, by the way, on its own, even if you're not doing ID work. So, in closing, if you need a great field guide, or if you want to read up on the trees of N. America, THIS is the book!

I've been through many field-guides and I find that this one is more useful than any one of them. It's even more useful for my own state (Missouri), than two state-specific guides I've read. This is probably your best chance of using one field-guide to identify nearly every tree in the U.S.

Multiple books will get the job done better but, again, this is the best ONE BOOK solution.

It's a good book, plenty of pictures, water-proof cover, and my girlfriend, who knows something about trees, said it is very informative and has easy organization.

I looked at this book in person along with others at B and N and this one seemed the best so I bought it here on Amazon. The pictures are helpful and the layout is pretty easy to use. I don't use the book much but its nice and cheap to have on hand if you ever need to find a specific tree.

This book is amazing with so much information and pictures of trees. Even the cover is waterproof for use in the field. I bought this book so I could learn to identify trees that were good to burn in my wood stove and I've received much more information and interesting facts then I expected. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in knowledge. 5 STARS for this Book.

I have been identifying trees for years and own many tree identification books, but I consider this to be the best. The book has a lot of trees that are not in the other identification books. In addition, there is an identification tip for each tree which aids in identifying a tree. Finally, I like the feel of the unique book cover. I found this book in a book shop while traveling and was very happy to have found it.