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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Sibley Comparison.

While I was at the Saskatoon Public Library I was happy to find "The Sibley Guide To Birds Second Edition". I have the first edition and now having both in my hands I can do a comparison. The second edition has added 111 rare species  and more than 600 new paintings and illustrations. It illustrates the subspecies and races much better than in the first. It also separates the Cackling goose from the Canada goose. The font in the second edition is very light and that sure did not help it win the support on Amazon.com. "Knopf has laid an egg" says one reviewer as he begins to describes the second edition. Some paintings that were in the first edition were not changed such as the Ovenbird. I think in a new addition the author should make changes to at least one painting of each species to freshen things up a bit. Both editions in my mind are very reliable field guides. Well, I'll be asking for that for Christmas!

"Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John James Audubon's Birds of America was one . . . In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson produced Field Guide to the birds . . . Now comes The Sibley Guide to Birds"   - The New York Times 

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