Seniors of Nevada

The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada (California Academy of Sciences) (California Academy of Sciences)

Description

With more than 2,800 original watercolor illustrations, John Muir Laws has masterfully catalogued over 1,700 species of Sierra trees, wildflowers, ferns, fungi, lichens, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, insects, and other small animals. The guide is designed for quick and easy use in the field. Color tabs and a unique system of keys and organization assist in the quick identification of the living things encountered along the trail, while Laws s illustrations capture the feeling of plants and animals with detail critical for their classification.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-25
Summary: "Excellent General Field Guide for the Sierra Nevada"

This is a great field guide for the Sierra Nevada.
It's quite comprehensive, including wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, insect, butterflies, birds, fish, amphibians, mammals, and even charts of the evening sky. As a general guide, it doesn't go in depth in some areas, but that's the price you pay for having everything in a single book. The wildflower section is particularly good (taking more than 1/3 of the book) and so it's the insect section (I never paid attention to bugs before buying this guide). The guide is based on gorgeous color drawings (rather than photographs), which allows the author to emphasize the characteristics of the subject.
The guide is nicely printed on water resistant paper, but as a result is quite heavy. If you are a minimalist backpacker or hiker, I don't think you want to bring it to the field.
All and all, this is the best general field guide I've found for the Sierra Nevada.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-21
Summary: "Amazing!"

This is the most amazing field guide I've ever come across! Beautifully illustrated, it covers everything from lichens to cloud formations bringing an authority to each subject at nearly a level that Sibley brings to birds. Usually when a field guide tries to cram together birds with fish with trees and more it fails miserably. Not here. Laws worked closely with dozens of scientists and naturalists to recognize the most important elements of the Sierra ecosystem and the diagnostic features essential to their identification. Many lifetimes of experience are felt throughout this book. Laws has set a new standard for comprehensive field guides across the planet. My backpack will forever be lighter! (Suggestion: purchase at your neighborhood independent book seller) PS - Heyday Books rocks!

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-10
Summary: "fantastic"

I don't give a lot of 5-star reviews, but this book is fantastic. Laws' line art is much clearer than the color photos you'll see in more cheaply produced books. This book is clearly a labor of love by someone who has spent a lifetime in the Sierra; who else will tell you that the leaves of western Labrador tea "smell like toilet bowl cleaner?" I particularly like the way Laws has organized the key to the flowering plants; it's much more usable than keys written for professional botanists, but doesn't dumb things down so much as to be useless.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-10
Summary: "Informative and user friendly field guide"

At first I thought I didn't need this field guide, but quickly realized it's worth. My husband and I were cutting wood and stacking it behind the barn when we lifted a tarp and saw a large brown and light yellow snake. We didn't know what kind it was so I got the Sierra Nevada field quide and was able to quickly find a picture of the non-threatening California Kingsnake. Since we have rattle snakes in our area, we were happy to see the Kingsnake in our yard. The book is very user friendly, it uses color codes and pictures to help you go to the right page and find your information.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-12-07
Summary: "Might very well be the best field guide available"

Seems like it covers absolutley everything possible in the Sierra Nevada. We live in Sonora, which is in the foothills and we now can look up all he critters and plants that we've been wondering about for years. This book so far has not missed anything. I highly reccommend it.