Hi tree enthusiasts, I am a newcomer to the group, and have been very much enjoying the posts. I haven't seen the Sibley book, but wonder what you all think of my favorite of the id books, The Tree Identification Book by George W.D. Symonds. My paperback copy was published in 1958; I sometimes see it on remainder tables. Organizing the trees by their features (leaves, twigs, bark, thorns etc) photographed close-up, allows for easy comparisons. The bark photos are the least satisfactory in that not all the photos are as clear as they would be today. I also still carry Petrides around for comparison. Back to shoveling this lovely fluffy snow. Wishing everyone happy holidays. Pamela Hart
________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, December 20, 2009 10:29:59 AM Subject: Re: [ENTS] Sibley's new tree guide Steve, Great. It is a physically attractive guide. I'm laying out my many tree guides as I write this to do the relative comparison. Will's point about Sibley not contacting us and going with the usual sources that include extreme errors is curious. I'm sure others will weigh in with comments on this point. It isn't the least debatable that Sibley's data are drawn from sources that contain big errors. The question is how accountable should he be when most other tree guides do the same. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Galehouse" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:51:05 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [ENTS] Sibley's new tree guide Bob- I saw this book at Costco, about a month ago, for $29, and I wish I had purchased it then--out of stock now. Paging through the book for just a couple of minutes, I was impressed. The best price I've found online is $24.46 plus $3.99 shipping. The pre-printed price on the jacket is $39.95. I'll get a copy this week from somewhere to give it a better look. Steve On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 7:58 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: 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/ >>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] -- 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]
