cheap books on Natural History

Its a really good book (and the NHBS price is very good!), I've used a copy and had a good look through it, although I haven't bought it yet (I will). It probably is too heavy for a field guide, but if it was the only bird book you had while travelling in Australia and the only book you would carry when walking then it would be fine. One thing that may take me a little while to get used to is the species order, which is not taxonomic. Instead, the book has marine, coastal/wetland and terrestrial sections (roughly) which is supposed to be because the taxonomy of birds is changing a lot at the moment (at higher levels) and to make it easier to find birds in the book depending on where you are in the field. I think species are still grouped within orders, but I'll have to check that.

 

It's the same size as Pizzey and Knight's field guide to the birds of Australia, but is about 30 pages shorter. Pizzey & Knight weighs a little over 1.2kg.



Hix

 

I'm not exactly sure on dimensions, but according to one website:
Dimensions (cm): 24.5 x 17.0
Weight (kg): 1.4
The Australian Bird Guide

Wing-length replaces body-length, but only in that it is reported for each species, whereas the height/width of the birds can be determined from the pictures, which are to scale and accompanied by a scale bar. Not as easy, but I guess this was done to allow the two measurements to be included, with wing-length likely to be useful especially for birds in flight.

Maps in the book appear to be about 2.7 cm wide, based on measurements of online images of the book (from Google image search, and ABG. The Australian Bird Guide by Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke on Andrew Isles Natural History Books) and assuming dimensions above are correct. There are some maps that are accompanied by insets to show distribution more clearly. Both the Pizzey & Knight and Morecombe guides have maps that are 2.7 cm wide, based on direct measurements, so no real difference to existing standards (I don't know size of Slater's maps).

 

Hey everyone! So I've got a few hundred dollars saved up, and I'm looking to buy a few different books.

At the moment, I'm looking to buy at least two books, one on primates and the other on hoofed mammals, and posssssibly one on carnivores or marine mammals if I've got enough left over. I'm definitely eyeing a volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World, but they're just soooo expensive. I know the more I spend on one book, the fewer books I'll be able to buy, but I want to make sure I can get a nice blend of quality and quantity here.

Recently I've become particularly more fascinated with primates, and I would like a book that has both breadth and depth, has lots of text but many illustrations and figures that complement the text, and isn't too pricey. I've bookmarked a couple online but don't know which would be my best bet, especially considering the reviews for some either contradict one another, are very sparse, or absent entirely. Is there a book out there that covers all species (I know the number of officially recognized species is still being debated and is always changing, but I'm sure you know what I mean) and has accounts for each that are relatively detailed but not too technical?

I ask because I recently bought The Living Elephants by Raman Sukumar, which I heard was the authoritative piece of literature on elephants. I can't really say anything bad about it, because the information it provides on proboscidean evolution, elephants' social life and conservation of elephants is astounding! But since I am still essentially a biology novice, there is quite a bit of information - such as that on genetics, mathematical functions/statistics, and the chemistry behind certain bodily functions, etc. - that I cannot yet appreciate, let alone understand.

So I am looking for something that is a bit more than just a field guide - something that provides me with more than just help identifying species, and a good amount of new and exciting information - but something that I don't have to be a complete expert to understand. As an aspiring biologist, I of course would someday like to understand the more complex topics I currently shy away from reading about, but obviously I'm not going to spend all of my money on books I can barely read right now, you know?

As far as the hoofed animal book goes, hoofed animals are my favorites, and Volume 2 of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World is definitely at the top of my list. But I know a number of you have purchased HBW or HMW volumes in the past, so I'd love to know what you guys think of the books and whether they match the description of what I'm looking for. If so, I've got no problem spending the $180 or so needed to buy one. I just want to know if that's my best option. The same goes for the carnivore and marine mammal books, too.

The bottom line is that I would like to get the most informative books out there without venturing into expert territory, if that makes any sense.

I'm also thinking of buying a single, more specialized book and just getting several more general ones, but I'm obviously still undecided. Any help with this dilemma would be greatly appreciated, haha.

 

One more thing - sorry!

Some of the books I'm considering buying are definitely "old," especially if you're one who agrees "a book is outdated before it's even finished printing." That being said, I'm not really a fan of these Internet databases. They're phenomenal, don't get me wrong - I even bought membership to the Handbook of the Birds of the World: Alive database earlier this month. I love how easily accessible things are, like pictures, videos, and all of the external links to the cited sources. If there was an online database for the HMW, I'd probably sign up for it too.

But personally, nothing beats physically flipping through pages and carrying around massive books, literally feeling the weight of all the information readily available at your fingertips .

 

Can anyone recommend a good, cheap, waterfowl book? I don't want to quite have an identification guide, I like to read about the quirks about each species as well. However, I'd like it to be fairly comprehensive as well, and while I know it's a big demand I would prefer it to be under $50.

 

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, though I wanted a bit more focus on non-native species I can't afford to complain too much. Thanks again!

 

@AnaheimZoo - if you can afford it, get HMW. They have excellent photos and plenty of behavioural information on the families and different species, which should keep you happy.

But there's another reason to buy now if you can. Those of us buying HBW in a slow fashion now have to content ourselves with having an incomplete collection as Volume 11 is now out of print and unavailable (who knew Flycatchers and Warblers were so popular?). So I'm getting each HMW volume as they're printed to ensure that doesn't happen again.



Hix

 

This guide is interesting, but the taxonomy used is quite worthless, but as it is the most complete thing available, you might want to settle for it if on a budget. The HMW book is very good, except the taxonomy used in the bovid chapter (again...), though you can nitpick in the whole HMW series about bad editing....

Much more in depth would be Kingdon's Mammals of Africa, Part 6, which has the most in-depth information on all African ungulates and though it lacks pictures, the information is as complete as possible.

 

In addition to the book recommended by TLD, it might be worth looking on-line for secondhand copies of the following book:-

• A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World (Peter Scott; Wildfowl Trust).

There were several copies of this book for sale very cheaply last time I looked. It is basically an identification guide but it has the advantage of covering the whole world.

 

Thanks @TeaLovingDave and @Hix! So it seems that all the signs are pointing to me buying at least one volume of HMW. Any recommendations which? So @Hix, I assume you currently own Volumes I-IV of HMW? Which do you like best?

When it comes to ungulates, I'm not too worried about the taxonomy or how they're organized at the moment - I'm simply wanting to learn more about behavior, ecology, etc. - but I'll admit that the fact that HMW has something like 12 species of klipspringer recorded but fails to recognize more than one species of giraffe is a bit of an annoyance.

That being said, I'm thinking I may go with the Princeton field guide for carnivores, and the Handbook for hoofed animals. I would have been fine with the Princeton guide to bovids, as I really like the look of it and the layout (I thought all of the skull illustrations were wonderful, too), but I would love to have the perissodactyls, cervids, etc. on hand as well.

Any recommendations for primates? I was looking at:
- Pictoral Guide to the Living Primates (https://www.amazon.com/Pictorial-Gu...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1BWY3JS99V6EFEWDG39R), something a little more simplistic

or

- All the World's Primates (All The Worlds Primates – Purchase All the Worlds Primates), something much more up-to-date. But I reckon if I'm paying that much for it, I might as well go with the HMW's Volume on Primates since it's the crème de la crème.

 

Actually, I own Volumes I-VI of HMW. And as I like Carnivores and Primates, and Vol. V is Monotremes and Marsupials (and I'm from Australia), I guess those are the three I like best.



Hix

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've settled on A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World as well as Ducks of the World. Thanks again!

 

Try Delacour's 'Waterfowl of the World', only available second hand, last updated 1978, but everything is in its four volumes. Might cost more than your fifty dollars, but you won't regret the purchase.