zoltannemeth
Well-known member
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Handboek Europese vogels (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter zoltannemeth
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The photographs don't seem very sharp, a bit muffled with little resolution? Hope it's a scanning thing and the book offers sharper pictures.
I think it's a poor scan on the bol.com website. If you look at the "inkijkexemplaar" on the KNNV website it's much better. See here
zoltannemeth
Well-known member
Please let us know if you get it tomorrow.
Sure, will do!
Yeah, I noticed that too, and would be weird to get such quality as on bol.com. I'm optimistically looking forward the actual pictures and the books themselves. No mention to me yet of them being shipped out but they've most likely been flooded by orders.
I had pre-registered for it by KNNV and got an email Thursday that it was available, so I ordered it straight away. Delivery was estimated at 2 days, but as of today, Saturday, it's still not arrived. Realistically I'm not expecting to get it until sometime next week. Yes I agree, they are probably very busy!
Same here but I saw this morning KNNV site says on the release page it's being shipped out at the end of the coming week... So a bit conflicting info on one webpage, we'll see what happens. They're always a trustworthy bunch with high quality books ánd service so it'll be fine.
Ok, yes I see that now as well. That would then be more in line with the date Bol.com have of it being available - they say from off the 24th May.
My copy arrived this morning courtesy of Post.nl. Initial impressions are very favourable, good images, very detailed description for each bird, and sections devoted to describing the difference between similar species (yellow wagtails for example). No distribution maps but a short note on the range for each bird. I need to sit down and really go through it but so far I think it will be a great addition to my bird book collection!
I'm leafing through it now. The fact it doesn't have distribution maps is explained as the books are mainly being ID handbooks, not atlases... Well, small maps could've been nice.
These are great ID books; pictures are sharp with clear highlighted features around it and accompanying clarifying text. The photographs are smartly set against soft blue/grey/green-ish backgrounds which bring the pictures and text out perfectly.
Bird groups are introduced when deemed useful with general characteristics and pointers.
The amount of pictures of different ages, seasons and in flight is fantastic.
The more I'm leafing through it, the more enthusiastic I become; this is Van Duivendijk's Bird ID Handbook come to life!
These are great ID books; pictures are sharp with clear highlighted features around it and accompanying clarifying text. The photographs are smartly set against soft blue/grey/green-ish backgrounds which bring the pictures and text out perfectly.
Bird groups are introduced when deemed useful with general characteristics and pointers.
The amount of pictures of different ages, seasons and in flight is fantastic.
The more I'm leafing through it, the more enthusiastic I become; this is Van Duivendijk's Bird ID Handbook come to life!
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Totally agree! The more you dive into it the more you realize just how good it is and how much work has been put into it - no wonder it was 6 years in the making! I hope they do an English language version of it so that it reaches the wider audience it deserves.
Received my copy too yesterday and this book really is something else. There is an insane amount of (advanced) knowledge in this book, but with a smart lay-out that makes the ID features easy to understand. It really is a pity that it is too bulky to take into the field.
I too miss the maps, especially with subspecies distributions, which when described in text only are just not very clear. That maps were excluded because birds can turn up anywhere is a lazy excuse for me...
What I also miss are (established) introduced species. At least a few ruddy duck are presented when discussing white-headed duck, but with such an epos, why not include those 30-40 exotic species fully, instead of showing the few most common species on 4 pages at the end of the book, to make the work complete... I would also have liked to see more discussion of hybrids (a few are there like Pleskes tit and caudatus x aegithalos long-tailed tit), but hybrid geese/ducks are missing, though they are a much more frequent sight than great blue herons, which is a species covered in detail.
I too miss the maps, especially with subspecies distributions, which when described in text only are just not very clear. That maps were excluded because birds can turn up anywhere is a lazy excuse for me...
What I also miss are (established) introduced species. At least a few ruddy duck are presented when discussing white-headed duck, but with such an epos, why not include those 30-40 exotic species fully, instead of showing the few most common species on 4 pages at the end of the book, to make the work complete... I would also have liked to see more discussion of hybrids (a few are there like Pleskes tit and caudatus x aegithalos long-tailed tit), but hybrid geese/ducks are missing, though they are a much more frequent sight than great blue herons, which is a species covered in detail.
So they might already be in the process of that.
Jon.Bryant
Well-known member
Must admit that I like physical books better than ebook and am looking forward to the English edition.
A bit off track but ....
To me authors and publishers in general are missing a trick. Rather than physical or eBooks, they should be thinking how information and training is delivered in the electronic age - not just PDF's but new interactive formats with graphics, talk-throughs/demonstrations, videos, sound recordings and perhaps even interactive quizzes to test comprehension, plus species accounts prioritized for time of year and location.
If I was a publisher I would be thinking about subscription services, with different formats for phone, computer etc, and to sign-up specialists to contribute articles and create a growing resource. Rather like Spotify, particular articles could be accessed through a mobile signal or 'temporarily downloaded' and held on a device.
Just imagine having text that was always up to date, with text on age and sex prioritized depending on the season, having brief 'focus your attention' advice for tricky groups (to help you nail that flyby frigatebirds, when time if of the essence), having talk through master classes on species like gulls for when you have a few hours to sit down a study a group of birds (with the class starting on species and plumages most likely to be encountered at that locality and time of year), or provision of depth training on species like autumn peeps with an quiz at the end, so you can do a bit of prep work and test your skills prior to that American holiday. I read somewhere that Hadoram Shirihai wanted to publish twice as many photos on Steppe Buzzards when he wrote the article for Birding World, but was page limited by the publisher - well not with an electronic service!
Any takers? Anyone got the phone details of a publisher/software house? - This time next year we’ll be millionaires, Rodney!
Cheers
Jon Bryant
A bit off track but ....
To me authors and publishers in general are missing a trick. Rather than physical or eBooks, they should be thinking how information and training is delivered in the electronic age - not just PDF's but new interactive formats with graphics, talk-throughs/demonstrations, videos, sound recordings and perhaps even interactive quizzes to test comprehension, plus species accounts prioritized for time of year and location.
If I was a publisher I would be thinking about subscription services, with different formats for phone, computer etc, and to sign-up specialists to contribute articles and create a growing resource. Rather like Spotify, particular articles could be accessed through a mobile signal or 'temporarily downloaded' and held on a device.
Just imagine having text that was always up to date, with text on age and sex prioritized depending on the season, having brief 'focus your attention' advice for tricky groups (to help you nail that flyby frigatebirds, when time if of the essence), having talk through master classes on species like gulls for when you have a few hours to sit down a study a group of birds (with the class starting on species and plumages most likely to be encountered at that locality and time of year), or provision of depth training on species like autumn peeps with an quiz at the end, so you can do a bit of prep work and test your skills prior to that American holiday. I read somewhere that Hadoram Shirihai wanted to publish twice as many photos on Steppe Buzzards when he wrote the article for Birding World, but was page limited by the publisher - well not with an electronic service!
Any takers? Anyone got the phone details of a publisher/software house? - This time next year we’ll be millionaires, Rodney!
Cheers
Jon Bryant
You've seen the most common are mentioned on the pages of each "parent" duck with one picture and paragraph? It's true that it's not very elaborate on hybrids and introduced species.
zoltannemeth
Well-known member
Sounds promising
kuzeycem
Medicinal Birding
Seems very good but pity about the introduced species/hybrids, as well as the weird coverage - eastern boundary just cutting through Ukraine and Turkey. Considering the ID challenges in E Turkey, Middle East, North Africa etc which might've benefitted from this book, seems like a great loss. The previous ID handbooks covered all WP IIRC.
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