Customer Reviews

Walker's Mammals of the World (Vols 1-2)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

1. No reference to photos/figures in text. This sometimes makes it extremely difficult to find the relevant photo/figure (providing that there is one). Considering this is the sixth edition, it is inexcusable not to have included this addition. Photos should be somehow indicated in the index too.

2. Photos "still" in black and white, how much more would color cost? double? I doubt there would be any problem with sales. If the 7th edition was half b & w and half color most wouldn't complain especially if the editions were headed towards all color photos. It is amazing that after 6 editions no progress has been made. Have there been any attempts other then finding attractive cover jacket (color) photos? These photos are deceptive at best. For a colorless book, there should be b & w photos on the jacket.

3. In this edition (6th) the two volumes have more than the listed 1248 pages (closer to 1800, making two massive books).

4. Next edition will likely have to go back to the original 3 volume style. (It is starting to get too big for only 2 volumes.) The third volume would include: appendices, glossary, references, index, AND photo credits for use of color photos.

Obviously, this book would deserve more than 3 stars if one looks only at its informational content. But -as the previous reader rightly stressed- the b&w photos are a scandal. They are old, often confused, unreliable as even a broad identification tool (I mean in the classroom, not in the field). Do you -the publisher- absolutely need to save money on colour printing? OK, some fine line drawing are certainly better. Mammology (especially when this reference is compared with its ornithology counterparts) still wait for a well produced systematic companion.

Whilst agreeing with other reviewers that there is substantial scope for improving photographs (see below), I think it is important to accept that these two volumes represent a great bargin in terms of the quantity of information presented and the value of the bibliography. This should continue to be a book which students can afford.

As a child I used to pore over the original 3 volumes in the main reference library where I grew up. I dreamed of owning my own copies. Imagine my surprise when I picked up the 5th edition in a bookshop in London some 25 years later, long after my professional involvement with Mammal Biology had ceased.

Over the years Walker's has seen steady incremental improvement particularly moving from generic to specific accounts and extending its scope to cover all Recent Mammals. As I state above there should always be a place for a good value comprehensive survey, BUT....

The Handbook of the Birds of the World project demonstrates what is possible with good quality color printing. Surely the Mammals of the World deserve an equally high-quality approach. Perhaps John Hopkins Press could be persuaded to produce a 'de luxe' 7th edition eliminating the B&W 'photos (particularly of dead specimens), adding extensive colour 'photos, range maps (both 'original' and current), and so forth. There is also scope for a high quality electronic product if nature films illustrating individual species could be licensed. We can live in hope!

These two volumes provide scientifically accurate information about all the world's mammals, even the most obscure. There are black and white photographs of almost every species, although some of the images are not good quality. Generally the information on each animal covers where it is found, what it eats, social habits, information on mating and rearing young, and a detailed description of size, shape, weight, color, and other physical attributes. The writing is dry and uses a lot of scientific terms. There are extensive bibliographies of the scientific papers used to verify the accuracy of the information; this book is considered one of the best of its kind by scientists who study and work with mammals.

This is the most comprehensive mammalogy book in existance. it is thorough, interesting and up to date. it can, however be better. It should for instance include some phylogenetic trees and easy to use statistics about the different families and orders. better pictures (especially colour ones) will likewise be welcome.
The main complaint I have for this otherwise excellent book is that when dealing with non "sexy" multispecies genera it is not always clear from the text which species the data actually refers to. an even bigger, more detailed and species rather than genus oriented 7th edition will make this very good book actually excellent

I found this book very interesting and helpful in my amimal research. I recommend to anyone who loves animals.

To my knowledge this book is one of the best product on mammals. Is one of those items you must have if you deal with mammals, either if you are a professional or an amateur.

The only things that bother me about this issue is:

1. It used to be available together as a SET. But I found out this volume is only available seperately. Is the publisher getting stingy?

2. There is a picture of lions on the cover of volume 1, and volume 1 has NOTHING to do with panthers of any kind!

Other than those things, this is a good book, but I never bought this issue. My last purchased issues were from the 1991 volumes.

What's great about these books is you can learn about the full diversity of mammals. I like it as a reference so that if one reads about some obscure animal one can look it up and find out what it is, where it is, and how it is. Sadly, mostly, how they are, is endangered due to habitat loss.