A Field Guide to Insects: America North of Mexico Review

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(More customer reviews)Most amateur naturalists tend to expect page after page of photographs or drawings when they purchase a field guide. That is not what you will get in this book.
The authors, Borrer and White, have developed a sort of mini-entomology book for use in the field. The first part of the book contains helpful hints and instructions on how to collect and preserve insects. That section is followed by about 15 pages on the biology and taxonomy of this huge group. Understanding this information is essential if one is put together a useful insect collection. It also helps the insect watcher better understand what they are seeing in the ecology and body plans of these animals. Those sections are followed by over 300 pages of information that will help the determined insect watcher/collecter figure out the kind of animal they are looking at.
You should be advised that this book will NOT help you identify insects to the level of genus and species. The taxonomic information in this book targets primarily the family level (the level above the genus level).
Some reviewers have commented that the lack of color illustrations renders this book nearly useless. You need to understand that, for the serious collector, there are characteristics much more important in figuring out what they are looking at than color. The book is loaded with the kinds of information used by professional entomologists to identify the animals they study.
You should also be reminded that there are thousands of insect species, and many regional variations of those species, so no single field guide could ever hope to provide a comprehensive treatment of the group.
If you want/need a bounty of color photos to supplement your study, I recommend that you use this book along with a field guide like those available from the Audubon Society (E.g., The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders, which has over 700 photos of these animals).
The Peterson guide relies on illustrations rather than photos (illustrations are, I believe, far superior to photographs for identification work). There are both color and B/W illustrations in the book. There are also many helpful line drawings of body parts important to helping you ID insects.
I give this book 4 stars only because it tends to be a bit tougher for the casual amateur to use, but recommend it highly for the advanced amateur, as well as for general reference for the professional.
Well worth the price -- but not a child's book.
Good luck!
Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College

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Detailed descriptions of insect orders, families, and many individual species are illustrated with 1,300 drawings and 142 superb color paintings.Illustrations - which use the unique Peterson Identification System to distinguish one insect from another - include size lines to show the actual length of each insect.A helpful glossary explains the technical terms of insect anatomy.

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Insects of the Pacific Northwest (Timber Press Field Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all, I should acknowledge that there are hundreds of thousands of species of insects, and you can't expect a single book to cover all of them, even for a small area of the globe. That said, this book is still woefully lacking any sense of completeness. It seems to have gone overboard in covering "cute" insects (ten full pages of ladybird beetles, about half the book devoted to butterflies and moths), while leaving some things out completely. Earwigs and silverfish, for example, are entirely absent, as are the various aquatic bugs (water striders, backswimmers) that you find swimming on or under the water in most ponds. And while the book claims to cover some non-insect invertebrates, there's no mention whatsoever of pill bugs or even centipedes.
The organization could use some work, too; it's odd that all the families of Lepidoptera are sorted alphabetically, instead of at least divided first into butterflies vs. moths.
On the bright side, the photographs are excellent.

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The only comprehensive guide to insects of the Pacific Northwest, this handy reference is perfect for hikers, fishers, and naturalists. With coverage from southwestern British Columbia to northern California, from the coast to the high desert, it describes more than 450 species of common, easily visible insects and some noninsect invertebrates, including beetles, butterflies and moths, dragonflies, grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, flies, bees, wasps, ants, spiders, millipedes, snails, and slugs. The more than 600 superb color photographs, helpful visual keys, and clear color-coded layout will make this field guide an invaluable resource for nature lovers throughout the region.

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Butterflies (Peterson Field Guide Color-In Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)Beautiful color pictures on the front cover and a chance to read about and color the butterflies on the inside. You should buy a set of colored penciles for this color book. Your child can identify the butterflies by the picture on the cover and learn more about them in the book. A real nature guide, not your run of the mill coloring book. Buy the series and you can sneak in an education on nature while your child is having fun.

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From the black-and-white stripes of a Zebra Swallowtail to the pale jade of a Malachite, coloring your own field guide is the most enjoyable way to learn about butterflies. Each drawing is accompanied by a brief description that educates as it entertains. Place the new color stickers next to the drawings for a visual reference while coloring. Coloring the drawings helps reinforce the color, image, and shape of each butterfly, improving your memory and perception while offering a pleasant and easy way to learn. Fun for adults as well as children, beginning and experienced naturalists alike.

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Field Guide To Insects Of Southern Africa (Field Guide Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Featuring full-color photography of over 1,200 insect species, Field Guide To Insects Of South Africa is a comprehensive guide to insect fauna of South Africa, now in an updated 2004 edition. Senior Zoology Lecturer Mike Picker, Associate Zoology Professor Charles Griffiths, and retired entomologist Alan Weaving combine their knowledge and expertise in this guide that offers extensive identification details, maps of regional habitats, and basic biology information allowing for quick and simple field identification of insect species. An index of scientific names, and an introduction to insect hunting and classification round out this easy-to-use guide for amateur nature lovers and professional zoologists alike.


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This new guide will be of great value to entomologists, both amateur and professional, as well as to students, nature conservation officers, game rangers, gardeners, farmers, tourists and anyone with an interest in natural history. An introductory chapter discusses the insect body, life history, classification and distribution patterns and relatives of southern African insects. It also touches on collecting, displaying and curating insects and explains 'How to use this book'.

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