National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals: (Revised and Expanded) (National Audubon Society Field Guides)

All of the National audubon society books are very informative and handy everyday reference guides.

I don't know why the individuals who gave 5 stars, did so. The most beautiful, striking part of this book is the photographs. They're great!! hands down. However the narration on each animal just follows 8 basic formatted questions, Range, Size, offspring, Etc.; definitely necessary info but it's very shallow to stop there. Besides a few scattered phrases there is very minimal specific,unique info regarding an individual mammal that any animal lover would've expected to find even some basic stuff! The narration is definitely overly general and vague. THEY created a template and just filled it in. I expected alot more. I see that there are other books that have much more info but pictures? "fahgetta- battit" (these are hard to beat!) I guess you need both. It was definitely an improvement over past Audubon books. I wouldn't buy another Audubon guide online but rather in store & see for myself. I know there's only so much space in 1 book but ITS VERY SHALLOW!

As with all the Audubon Field Guides, so too with this one - it is well made, with good binding and a durable leatherette cover; the index is well organized with links to the color plates; and the color photos are the best of any of the field guides.

The descriptions, albeit way too brief, are concise and straight forward. There are 390 mammal species covered - range and habitat, behavior patterns, and track illustrations round out the textual information.

This edition was updated in 1996, so it's not as dated as some of the other Audubon guides. Although the #1 deficiency of these guides is the inadequate summaries (the details really need to be fleshed out), these guides are on the whole better than the Peterson and Stokes guides. This volume has its place in any serious naturalist's library.


Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

The Cloud Reckoner

I love these field guides! The photographs are fantastic, and are easy to navigate for quick identification. We enjoy looking at these books even when we aren't out scouting for new things to identify.

If you have seen any of the other Audobon Society Books, you know how good they are. They provide the necessary information on kinds of animals I've never even heard of. I like that the book includes color photographs as well.