Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides) 1st Edition

by Eric R. Eaton (Author), Kenn Kaufman (Author)

350 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0618153107

ISBN-10: 0618153101

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Many insects are difficult even for the experts to identify. In the new Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, readers will find a wealth of information on the amazing observable behaviors of insects and their fascinating life histories. Naturalists Kenn Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton use a broad ecological approach rather than overly technical terms, making the book accessible and understandable for everyone. The lively and engaging text emphasizes the insects that are most likely to catch our attention but includes information on all groups that can be recognized. The guide is lavishly illustrated, with more than 2,350 digitally enhanced photographs representing every major group of insects found in North America north of Mexico. Comprehensive yet compact, authoritative yet easy to understand, this is the perfect guide for anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating and diverse insects of North America.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ERIC EATON is a writer and naturalist who has studied insects for most of his life.

Kenn Kaufman is a legend among birders. At sixteen he hitchhiked back and forth across North America, traveling eighty thousand miles in a year, simply to see as many birds as he could; he came back to tell the story in KINGBIRD HIGHWAY. A field editor for AUDUBON and a regular contributor to every major birding magazine, he is the youngest person ever to receive the Ludlow Griscom Award, the highest honor of the American Birding Association. His natural history pursuits have taken him to all seven continents, but he has made a special study of North American birds. His books include LIVES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO ADVANCED BIRDING, and the FOCUS GUIDE TO BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. He resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; 1st edition (February 28, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Turtleback ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618153101
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618153107
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.29 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1 x 5 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #43,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3 in Zoology (Books)
- #9 in Entomology (Books)
- #17 in Biology of Insects & Spiders

Customer Reviews:
350 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		82%
4 star		10%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Amazon Customer

But there are many more or less systematic learning paths that can lead to an intelligent overview of the insect world -- the one through ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

I'm from the Bohrer and White generation; and their (reasonably) rigorous key was important for my learning process. But there are many more or less systematic learning paths that can lead to an intelligent overview of the insect world -- the one through Grimaldi and Engel, to mention the colossus. The Kaufman affords one such path, a sensible and pleasant one, if keying out every last beasty isn't your first priority. And, of course, peering microscopically at fly genitalia isn't everyone's idea of a fun Saturday evening.
So, for the serious, but not manic, naturalists with the more normal curiosity about the insect world around them (the ecology; the economic roles, etc.) the Kaufman is a very nice book. There are some quirks of information presentation to get used to, but they're manageable, and, in the end, useful; and the pictures are very nice, and in most cases well chosen. I'm very glad I bought a copy.

22 people found this helpful

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Cher

DIfficult to use

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

It's sometimes hard to find the insect I'm looking for. For instance, I was looking for assassin bug and it's not in the index or pictorial table of contents. It was under zelus longipes or typical true bugs. Didn't know that it was in either of those categories. I wish there were more common names in the index.

10 people found this helpful

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Eric Y

Excellent field ID guide

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

I like this guide more than others. Unless you want a specific order guide (for Coleoptera, Diptera, etc) this is a great general guide.
It lists many species with colored photos and gives nice lengthy descriptions for most of them.
I prefer this over the Audubon Society insect guide, which in my opinion has less description and species but offers ranges and size specifics.
It also has a nice little section for other invertebrates which are not insects.
For its amount of descriptive information and photos, it is a great size. I can fit it into my satchel along with my specimen jars and gear when I go on a trek.
5/5 would recommend.

11 people found this helpful

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Adam

Great! Insects shown as would be seen in the field and a good explanations

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful guide for the field and I was so relieved when I found it. The insects appear posed as you would see them in the field rather than other (usually older) field guides based on pinned specimens. It is a great sized and well organized with avoiding unnecessary/excessive information that other field guides do (which turns them into more of a daunting encyclopedia than a field guide). The species featured are also good representatives of their taxon. This guide is honest about advice on getting from family-level to genera and species and indicates the number of species within a general to help users understand how large and diverse some taxon are.

One person found this helpful

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Nordic

Not impressed

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

This guide includes an impressive list of North American insects, but does a poor job of describing differences, and has an appalling lack of morphological sex differences. The photos are often small so do a poor in helping identification of closely related species with subtle differences. The descriptions are extremely brief and unhelpful. You are better off purchasing the different guides for insect groups.

4 people found this helpful

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Stephen Norris

Good guide but ....

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2012

Verified Purchase

First off, realize that this book is about all there is for a comprehensive guide for the entire region. The basic idea of making ANY kind of a comprehensive listing much less guide to "the insects of N.A." is almost laughable but you have to start somewhere!
It is a good reference and guide but does have several drawbacks in my opinion:

First off, it is a great reference if you are looking at a picture and want to know/learn the Latin names of bugs (Entomological Etymology). It lists the bugs by family and genus first and then drills down to to individual bugs. In some cases not very many. If, however, you are looking just for a quick ID and want to know the common English name, it is not quite so user-friendly.

One of my pet peaves is that ALL of the pictures are labeled in Latin ONLY. That makes the ID very exact but, to me, that is very inconvenient and indirect.

Each right hand side page is a plate of photo/pictures and the left is a prose description. I say prose because it is a flowing description that, scientifically, make sense but from an easy to find a bug standpoint, is a bit too technically slanted.

In order to ID a bug, you have to:
* Find the picture (means looking through many pages as the plates are not all in the same section of the book.)
* Look at your bug and read the Latin (only) name
* Refer to the facing page
* Scan down the "prose"
* Read until you see your Latin name
* Finally find the common name and description!

Each species or even family is not listed separately as in virtually every other nature/bird guide I've ever encountered!

Even bearing in mind the herculean task at hand, it is lacking in some basic insects with interesting results e.g. the Unicorn Mantis, which is a native mantid to N.A is not listed at all but several other non-native mantids are listed. Interesting.

Very little is included about lifestyles and particular insect behavior or unique practices. Me, I want to know that the tarantula hawk (wasp) lays its eggs on tarantulas that it paralyzes and the babies eat the spider from within. Not much of that sort in this guide.

It really is a good guide just not arranged to my comfort style of perusing and simply ID'ing.

If you are into really learning the etymology and scientific details, it may be the perfect book for you!

Hope this helps,
Steve

21 people found this helpful

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Chiefspecial

Our family loves this book

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

We used to borrow this book from the library every time we’d camp, but one time someone else had checked it out and we were bummed so we decided to buy the book. It’s a great one that has most of the insects we find. Of course it can’t have all of them and still be as compact as this one. We like the sturdiness of the cover of this paperback.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Jan H

Easy to Use

Reviewed in Canada on August 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

Great field guide that simplifies insect identification for beginners (I'm an absolute beginner). It would have been nice to have more details on the different bugs, but then it would be too big to have in the field or would have to sacrifice some of the images which would not be a good tradeoff. You just have to remember the insects you identify and google them after.

Cliente de Amazon

Necesito que cambien la dirección de la factura pero no tiene una opción de contacto

Reviewed in Mexico on October 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

Buenos días

Necesito que, por favor, cambien la dirección de la FACTURA por:

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Ciudad Universitaria
Ave. Universidad S/N
San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L.
México
CP 66455

Gracias de antemano

César Cantú

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peter mil

ok.

Reviewed in Canada on November 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

should have looked closer before buying as this book is about insects, and only minimal info on arachnids, ticks or milli/centipedes etc. also, some of the photos are too small, dark or not cropped well enough from the background photo to identify it clearly.

Ray

A little disappointed

Reviewed in Canada on October 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

Quite disappointed in this field book. Great pictures, but not enough details for my liking. I was hoping to find key features that could be used to separate species.