...by the way, Petrides is my fallback, too. Paul
On Dec 20, 9:58 am, Pamela Hart <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org/ > >>Send email to [email protected] > >>Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > >>To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > >> -- > >Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org > >Send email to [email protected] > >Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > >To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > > >-- > >Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org > >Send email to [email protected] > >Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > >To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > -- > Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group athttp://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]
