Bob, ENTS,
I am in awe that in this day of internet resources and the incredible exposure ENTS has in cyberspace that the author of a book of such distinction would either not contact ENTS or simply ignore us and continue to spew forth the same old grind from old sources. I find it inexcusable and even without seeing the book give it a low grade on that alone. Will F. Blozan President, Eastern Native Tree Society President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. "No sympathy for apathy" _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 7:59 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ENTS] Sibley's new tree guide Barry, It just came out. Copyright 2009. All ENTS, I've been asked by Ryan McEwan (that's Dr. McEwan from Dayton University) to write a book review for the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society - a most honorable, prestigious society. The Society dates back to around around 1867, I think and is usually considered to be the oldest botanical society in America. It was created by John Torrey of Columbia University. I regard the invitation to write the review as a singular highest honor. Comments by the rest of you are most welcome. Ed, you are a veritable idea mill. Steve, you are a botanical encyclopedia. Lee, you are the chief scientist. Gary, you are a combination all the above. I'm presently planning to evaluate the book on two scales or levels: 1. relative to other tree guides, and 2. on its merits without reference to other guides - an absolute scale As a first first crack, I've composed the following evaluation matrix. Category Relative Grade Absolute Grade Physical size of book Organization General plant nomenclature Choice of species Species description Drawings Leaf Bark Tree profile Flowers and fruits Range maps Tree dimensional information All and all ideas/suggestions are welcome. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barry Caselli" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 7:01:29 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [ENTS] Sibley's new tree guide I've never heard of this book, actually. --- On Thu, 12/17/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [ENTS] Sibley's new tree guide To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 2:21 PM ENTS, I just got The Sibley Guide to Trees that everybody has been raving about. My initial impression is that parts of it are good and parts are definitely not. Here is my first grading pass. Species Coverage: Okay for my purposes. Others Ents like Steve Galehouse are much better judges of coverage. I give an A-. Leaf Drawings: So far, I think pretty good. I give an A-. Flowers and Fruits: Okay. I give a B. Trunk and Bark: Not so good. I give a C+ Tree Profiles: Not good. Erratic coverage. I give a D+ Range Maps: Thumbnail presentations: I give a C- Dimension Data: I didn't expect the tree dimension information to be good. Apparently Sibley didn't have a clue as to which sources of information are reliable and which ones aren't. I think he pulled most of his numbers from the National Register of Big Trees plus miscellaneous sources. He obviously didn't do much serious research, so on tree dimensions he earns an F. Organization and Layout: Attractive. I give a B+ Well that's it for now. I don't minimize the mountain of work required to produce such an identification guide. Has the guide raised any bars? No, not from what I'm looking at. Bob -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org <http://www.nativetreesociety.org/> Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
