Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
All the blank space on the description pages seems wasted and looks odd whilst the maps with the illustrations look overcrowded IMHO?
Andy
Andy
Sample pages are now on the Lynx website and Facebook page: http://www.lynxeds.com/product/birds-indonesian-archipelago
All the blank space on the description pages seems wasted and looks odd whilst the maps with the illustrations look overcrowded IMHO?
Andy
Pre-order done
Pre-order done
The book is listed as available now, and the Lynx website offers a look at a number of pages: http://www.lynxeds.com/product/birds-indonesian-archipelago
The book is listed as "hardback." Makes me wonder if I should wait until a lighter paperback is available? James E. or others know if there is likely to be a lighter version?
There is only one size of range map, unlike the solution chosen for the Illustrated Checklist. Thus, some maps look rather empty, yet they all take up lots of space on the illustration page. As a result, some bird illustrations come as rather minute ones, like on the dove page illustrated.
The book measures 23.7 x 16.7 x 3.0 centimeters. (With soft cover it would be about 23.0 x 16.0 x 2.6 cm.) The weight is 1204 grams, thus it is a rather hefty tome. That comes as no surprise with the area and species number covered.
Covering such a large, bird rich area and in the intended, desired and much needed detail was never going to make for a lightweight book. Perhaps there's a market here for e.g a standalone Sulawesi guide and other traditional groups the same as they did with e.g North American Sibleys?
Was somewhat surprised they decided to cover Borneo, which already has more than one good field guide. Though excluding it would not have reduced the number of species much. Narrower regional guides would be nice, but considering how long it's taken to get any modern guide that covers many of these areas, I wouldn't hold my breath.
The groundwork is done though surely, can it be a huge job to section the book up in to regions, I think it would be a popular decision?
Re Borneo, I suppose they had to include it as it was marketed as being the whole of Indonesia.
Andy
As for being the whole of Indonesia, it's not--the guide already expressly excludes the Indonesian half of New Guinea.