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Your most anticipated futures books (4 Viewers)

jurek said:
I received my copy of 'All the birds of the world'.
Overall a nice book. It is easy to spend half an hour or more browsing.
Low points are:
- Many pages are printed too dark, e.g. Common Kingfisher. Others are low quality, eg. Neotropical Cormorant has black feet merging with the black plumage. Sometimes the thin paper is see-through.
- Some illustrations are painfully too small, for example whistling ducks and scaups are barely 2,5 cm long, about three times smaller than the Song Sparrows. It would be much better to save space by avoiding the completely useless world's geographical maps at the end, and print the academical treatise about taxonomic names (often simply about the spelling) in smaller font.
- Religious discussions of the most recent taxonomy are a bit pointless, given that it is still evolving field, and also increasingly subjective, so the situation will change within months and years.
- The book is filled with ads, especially rather unsightly QR codes pointing to the Cornell internet library. There are also numerous logos etc., a bit like a dress of a pro sportsman.
Click to expand...

I think a number of the points raised here regarding 'All the Birds of the World' are simply the price you pay for squeezing so much into a single volume. The QR codes may be 'unsightly' to some but they're also very useful. I find the comment that it's 'filled with ads' a huge exaggeration. Personally, I find the dreadful index by far the biggest disappointment since it follows previous Lynx books by alphabetically listing species by the first word in the name rather than by family/group. I can only assume this is a money-saving exercise. It's annoying too that English and scientific names are in the same index rather than being segregated. This, in my view, makes the index far less functional.
 
John Cantelo said:
Personally, I find the dreadful index by far the biggest disappointment since it follows previous Lynx books by alphabetically listing species by the first word in the name rather than by family/group. I can only assume this is a money-saving exercise. It's annoying too that English and scientific names are in the same index rather than being segregated. This, in my view, makes the index far less functional.
Click to expand...

I agree regarding the advertisements. And I also concur regarding the dreadful index. Such a dismal treatment of a very important asset in any such book is simply inexcusable, not even with the economic argument.

However, I usually am just as happy with a mixed index as is found here. All too often do I otherwise have to start twice with my search.
 
John Cantelo said:
I think a number of the points raised here regarding 'All the Birds of the World' are simply the price you pay for squeezing so much into a single volume. The QR codes may be 'unsightly' to some but they're also very useful. I find the comment that it's 'filled with ads' a huge exaggeration. Personally, I find the dreadful index by far the biggest disappointment since it follows previous Lynx books by alphabetically listing species by the first word in the name rather than by family/group. I can only assume this is a money-saving exercise. It's annoying too that English and scientific names are in the same index rather than being segregated. This, in my view, makes the index far less functional.
Click to expand...

The really annoying thing about this, is that you can't search for a bird that you think, you can ID to family, say Flycatcher, because you have to search for a specific name and you might not know what you think that is!

This is the kind of thing that should be fed back to Lynx.
 
I find this very difficult and it stops me buying new books. As still a fairly new birder I cannot use a book if it has this sort of index as if I know the first word in the name there is no point in me looking it up in the index - if I know it is a Green sandpiper the the index is irrelevant. What I usually need is which type of sandpiper!
 
andyadcock said:
The really annoying thing about this, is that you can't search for a bird that you think, you can ID to family, say Flycatcher, because you have to search for a specific name and you might not know what you think that is!

.............
Click to expand...

They have the illustrations on the inside covers that may help a bit. But emphasis is on the scientific names of the groups. The common names are there, but printed in a hard to read and very small font. Definitely not for a quick scanning for something like "Flycatcher".
 
Long promised & now with a publication date - WILDguides 'European' version of Britain's Birds - Europe's Birds: An Identification Guide - Rob Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash & Hugh Harrop
May 2021. Covers all 914 species ever recorded in Europe, including established introductions illustrated with over 3,800 photographs & 540 maps. I hope Chris Batty has been retained as a consultant .... (NB there's a separate thread posted on this book but thought I'd note it here too).
See
http://www.wildsounds.com/products/6...on-Guide.shtml
 
John Cantelo said:
Long promised & now with a publication date - WILDguides 'European' version of Britain's Birds - Europe's Birds: An Identification Guide - Rob Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash & Hugh Harrop
May 2021. Covers all 914 species ever recorded in Europe, including established introductions illustrated with over 3,800 photographs & 540 maps. I hope Chris Batty has been retained as a consultant .... (NB there's a separate thread posted on this book but thought I'd note it here too).
See
http://www.wildsounds.com/products/6...on-Guide.shtml
Click to expand...

Bit late with that-it was posted below a couple of days ago!;)
 
Argentina

I was informed today by my usual book seller, that the second part of the forthcoming Argentina guide which looked to have been dropped, will appear or should, next year.

It had been due for release as a two part set.
 
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andyadcock said:
I was informed today by my usual book seller, that the second part of the forthcoming Argentina guide which looked to have been dropped, will appear or should, next year.

It had been due for release as a two part set.
Click to expand...

So what is the content of that second part? I do not remember ...

Niels
 
Is there any news of Peter Harrison's "Seabirds: The New Identification Guide"? Back in March 2020, in an interview Harrison commented that he hoped "... to have this on the bookshelves by December at the latest. And the official launch will be in January of 2021". However, in a quick check online I couldn't find any announcements of its forthcoming appearance (nor of who the publisher might be).
 
John Cantelo said:
Is there any news of Peter Harrison's "Seabirds: The New Identification Guide"? Back in March 2020, in an interview Harrison commented that he hoped "... to have this on the bookshelves by December at the latest. And the official launch will be in January of 2021". However, in a quick check online I couldn't find any announcements of its forthcoming appearance (nor of who the publisher might be).
Click to expand...

It was supposed to have been available for sale on the proposed cruise to Marion Island with PH himself, being aboard but no mention here

https://www.birdlife.org.za/flock-to-marion-2022/
 
John Cantelo said:
Thanks. I'd have thought that if it remains unlisted by any publisher, which still seems to be the case, then it must be several months away at best (unless privately published which would be unusual)
Click to expand...

Don't know if you've seen this?

https://www.apex-expeditions.com/blog/peter-harrison-seabirds-new-identification-guide/

'Q: When will Seabirds: The New Identification Guide be published?

Peter — As we say in the business, the book is in press. In other words, it is being put together as we speak. We print a few more pages each day. But, with over 600 pages, 239 of which are full color plates with over 3,500 illustrations, this takes some time to put together. We hope to have this on the bookshelves by December at the latest. And the official launch will be in January of 2021.'

This ties in with what I read, the launch was due to be on the cruise I think.
 
Third print run for "All the Birds ..."

John Cantelo said:
I pre-ordered mine and am still waiting - apparently, it's being reprinted.
Click to expand...
(post #512)

Info from Lynx: They expect the third print run for this book to become available by Dec 4th. So they either have a real "blockbuster" or else they did not dare doing a large enough second run. :-O
 
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