Customer Reviews

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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After reading this guide through three times I rate it as a decent insect guide, but not my first reccomendation. I have been studying and collecting insects for 18 years now, and usually collect a speciman to identify even if I just to release it after a good observation. This guide does a decent job with photographs and does provide good data on the species covered. Since I live in Indiana I prefer guides that focus on the Eastern United States. This guide covers sporadicly over the whole continental US and I think that causes any guide on insects to severly truncate included species. This book did provide many specific species names to insects I was never able to identify past genus.

Each species has a color photo with range, size and some special marks listed. Included some chapters on other arthropods which was quite nice. Arranged by insect order so it makes refinding a species easier. The dragonfly section I also found very helpful, but don't have a dragonfly book yet.

I still rank Peterson's Guide as superior. It has a much more in-depth data as to what really seperates one order from another.

A frequent question is why another popular guide on arthropods. There is no doubt that there are a number of excellent examples on the market, but there are so many fascinating species to explore, and when a new guide like Arthur Evans' appears, it is just too good to resist. In fact, I purchased four copies (at Amazon's great price of $13.57 each, and of course shipping was free), just to give as gifts to budding and experienced entomologist friends. I have several books on insects by Arthur Evans, and have learned to acquire anything this scientist publishes. He has mastered the art of natural-history interpretation for lay people.

About 940 species of arthropods are described (names, classification, measurements, field marks, habitat, and many other life-history facts), backed by 1600 high-quality color photographs. The introductory and supplementary chapters, and order synopses are the best I have seen, and I cannot think of any topic that has been left out.

I took this guide on a recent 15-state, arthropod-collecting trip (from Manitoba to Texas, Mississippi to Minnesota) and many of the hundreds of species we captured were readily identified at some level by using this field guide. The author, photographers, National Wildlife Federation, Chanticleer Press, and Sterling Publishers have produced a wonderful guide which will fuel the enthusiasm of a generation of naturalists fascinated by insects and other small creatures of land and water. I only wish there were guides like this one when I was a child. Dr. Robert Wrigley

After you get past the eye catching photo on the waterproof plastic front cover this book presents a wealth of information in an easy to use format. Each entry includes one or more color pictures and a write-up beside the picture in a consistent format. Insects of the same order are grouped together to make it easier to compare similar insects. Over 940 species are represented with 1,600 color photos. In the butterfly section each entry includes a color picture of the open wings as well as a side picture of the underside of the wings and a picture of the caterpillar. In addition to the expected background information about each group there are "How To" sections on starting an insect collection, keeping insects in captivity, planting a garden to attract insects, and macro photography of insects.

The book starts with a fold out flap that includes a ruler printed on the edge and "parts of a bug" diagram for easy reference. The inside back cover has a map of North America. The book is divided into 4 major sections (Entognaths, Insects, Arachnids and Other (Centipedes, Millipedes, tadpoles, crayfish and a few others). Within each section items are group by common name like Silverfish, Dragonflies, Mantids, Stick Insects, etc. Each of these groups is ordered by order. At the end of the book are a glossary, pronunciation guide, list of anthropod orders, list of endangered insects, list of insect zoos, a bibliography, a detailed index and a quick index.

The Peterson Field Guide is still more detailed and precise but much harder for an amateur like me to use to identify things. I now reach for this new guide first to identify my find and once I know the scientific name I can move to the Peterson guide for more details and to confirm the identification.

Hopefully there will be more guides forthcoming in this series.

This is my favorite field guide (I also have Peterson's and Audobon's). The pictures are good and the range/size/habitat information is listed on the same page. I very much apprecciate not having to flip to alternate pages to get the information that I am looking for. If you are looking for a book that is not in the field I would recommend Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephen Marshall, but to travel this is my favorite.

I work at a nursery with many greenhouses and am continually happening upon insects and spiders that i want to identify. To date this is the most helpful book i've purchased. I carry it in my car, the photos are clear, the descriptions are on the mark. I would have liked a larger spider section, but all in all i'm extremely pleased with this book, i reference it often.

This book is a great for outdoor people that want to be able to identify north american Insects. I was ablr to find a butterfly I had photographed in Colorado. I found out it's name and learned abot butterflies and htier habits. The book went opn to explain the type of plants to grow to draw butterflies to your garden and the best time of day to photograph them
If anyone is interested in insects and spiders I highly recomend this book.

I actually have my students put together insect collections. I used to use the National Audubon Society version, but this book has quite a few more insects, better pictures, and a lot of extra information that is useful in class instruction and identifying insects. It is the best guide I've seen so far which students can easily use.

Art Evans' NWF Insect and Spider Field Guide is the best book of its type I have ever seen. It is the one book I take to the field with confidence. I know I will be able to promptly and correctly identify the insects I encounter in various natural environments. The book came lickety split and is like new. Thanks!!!

This is a complete, informative, and handy field guide to insects and spiders of N. America. Beautiful photography and plenty of it. My only con is the small text.
into bugs

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who does pest control or is interested in the bugs in their area. This book helped to identify uncommon bugs and answered the questions of the people who see them!