Customer Reviews

Weeds (Golden Guide)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I never really appreciated "weeds" before I bought this little book. You see, I didn't really buy it for practical identification purposes. I bought it out of idle curiousity and a need to kill time. This was because I was working a job in an isolated and overgrown industrial park and identifying the plants that were overgrowing the complex seemed to be both distracting and contructive.

In a very short period of time I was able to identify every plant, flowering and nonflowering. The illustrations show the flowers, the leaves, the seeds, and often the form of the entire plant above ground. Plus, the concise text gives pertinent facts about the plants' properties, habits, history, and range. In fact, a small range map of the United States is included for every single species. Since the book contains only about 130 major species (all you will probably ever need) it is fast and easy to flip through for identification. There are two notable omissions in the text however- Kudzu and Cannabis....

One thing that really stuck with me after using this book is how many of our most common plants actually came from abroad- early Indians would have had no idea what they were!

I purchased this book as a companion to another field guide, Wildflowers. I've never been able to differentiate between weeds and wildflowers, but after perusing both works, I've determined that my yard has far more weeds than wildflowers.

This is a handy reference with good illustrations and text written for the non-botanist to understand.

This is an enjoyable book for kids and adults, with lively commentary and good descriptions of where you're likely to find these plants.

There are several downsides: a) I can't really identify much from this book; I don't find the illustrations helpful. Smartweeds, for example, are not shown with their common purple splotch. "Weeds of the Northeast" is far better for identification, especially when you are dealing with seedlings. b) Some common weeds like garlic mustard and yellow foxtail are not included. Maybe it's time for a revision, since the copyright reads 1987.

Once I ID a weed, though, it's always fun to pull out this book and read what they have to say about it. For this reason - and its reasonable cost - I recommmend it.

This is a "sweet" book that is ideal for beginners and kids. While the attitude of the author toward weeds is generally annoying (he often suggests herbicides to control plants that I take great pleasure in), the drawings of the plants are excellent (and very appealing), the descriptive text and maps (where it's found in the US) are good, and the choices of plants (131 are included) is quite good. In fact, many of the medicinal herbs that I am studying are included. But, to be honest, what I like best about this book is its size - 4"x6"x1/4". It fits in a back pocket perfectly, something that none of my other herb books can claim!

If you are interested in weeds, I think you should get this book. It tells you a brief summary about the weeds and it tells you where in the US are the weeds. I gave this book 3 stars because I thought this book would have more about the weeds and could have had more weed species but it is still a good book.

Price and size are what makes this guide so great. It provides a good overview of weeds in a very portable format, particularly for my young daughter to put in her pocket before hitting the trail.

The small size, however, means that the illustrations are not as large or detailed as we would prefer. It also limits the amount of specific information that can be included. We recently relocated to the Pacific Northwest and have found region-specific books (particularly from Lone Pine Publishers) to be superb.

I recommend this as a great resource at a very good price.

Very limited use. It seems to show weeds that basically look like flowers. If you're looking for common back yard pest weeds, this isn't the book.

As a spot check, I tried to look up several of the weeds in my yard. I couldn't find "creeping charlie" or "birdfoot trefoil", which are quite common around here. The "common plantain" in my yard looks nothing like the plantain illustration in the book.

The Golden Guide is just what I wanted. Not to small and not to large. Compact enough to carry in your back pocket as you go through your yard. Illustrations are life like and detailed. Easy to read even for the younger kids. Not alot of large words you don't understand. Seems some of my grass is actually weeds.

if you garden, if you garden at a multi million dollar estate, this book is a must to keep in the cab of your truck