Natl Geo's "Complete Birds of NA" (1 Viewer)

What's the buzz on this book, anybody know? I just got a mailer from NG about its availability, which also says it's only available (for now, anyway) via mail order. 950 species covered in 704 pages, hardbound, intended as a companion reference to the field guide. Edited by Jonathan Alderfer, it comes in two different editions, one with a padded cover ("deluxe") that costs $15 more than the "regular exclusive edition", which is going for $40. Would love to know if anyone's bought this yet or heard anything about how good it is. :t:

I have the NG Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America, the mailer made it look a great deal like it. However, I think it's much newer. I also have the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior and I use it much more along with The Birders Handbook (this one I like a great deal) which I think it must have a lot of the same info as well. Another book with similar (aimed more at ID's) is Kenn Kaufman's Advanced Birding. I decided to pass it up, I don't need it as a coffee table book. If you have or get additional info and decide to get it, I would appreciate a comparison and your opinion.


Jaeger near Chicago

New Nat Geo

I haven't seen it, but am eagerly awaiting my copy: it promises to be the book of the year, with detailed species accounts by North America's best birders. As I understand it, it promises to be something between Beaman and Madge and the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior.
By no means a coffee table book--and it is available (or will be) from the usual sources, not just by mail-order from NGS.
Rick Wright
Tucson

Thanks Rick and Jaeger. I notice that the NGS version is 60 pages longer than those being offered (via pre-order) from, e.g., Amazon. Wonder what the difference is? BTW, I've ordered the NGS edition, but not with the padded covers. It'll get too much use for that.

Hope people don't mind if I revive this thread.

Katy, did you get the book? What do you think? My local bookstore has several copies, so I looked through one of them. Obviously it was for only a few minutes so I can hardly offer an "in-depth" review, but frankly I was disappointed with what I saw. There didn't seem to be much more than in a standard field guide: identification, similar species, distribution, presumably with a bit more detail than usual. I wish there were more on habits and life history. Long descriptions of plumages are pretty deadly to read, I find. This is a general complaint I have about bird guides; they're not as enjoyable to read as they could be. I grew up with the Golden Guide, which I feel is an exception: the text, while concise, is very readable. I learned a lot about birds just thumbing through that guide in my home.

I'll probably still get the new National Geographic guide, since I'm a sucker for bird books, but my initial impression was one of disappointment.

NatGeo Complete

For those who keep up with such things, it is worth noting that the new NatGeo Complete is now THE up-to-date reference for vagrancy throughout North America. I have been impressed to find records from spring and summer 2005 listed in the species accounts.
Rick Wright
Tucson.

Thanks for this, Rick, as it reminded me I never did receive it and now I'm wondering if it got lost in the mail! Hmmmmm, off to investigate......

Katy Penland said:

What's the buzz on this book, anybody know? I just got a mailer from NG about its availability, which also says it's only available (for now, anyway) via mail order. 950 species covered in 704 pages, hardbound, intended as a companion reference to the field guide. Edited by Jonathan Alderfer, it comes in two different editions, one with a padded cover ("deluxe") that costs $15 more than the "regular exclusive edition", which is going for $40. Would love to know if anyone's bought this yet or heard anything about how good it is. :t:

Click to expand...

I also got this mailer ... seemed like a good deal. Sent it in, ordering the cheaper version(higher in Canada than the U.S.)... notice said it would take about 3-4 weeks to deliver ... that was about two months ago.

jim

In spite of what I said when I replied to Katy's initial message, I found it on buy.com for $20 and change on a day when they had free shipping, I ordered it, 3 days later it came in via UPS. It's a really nice oversized field guide with more text, bigger pix, some extra information. I still like the reference guide better plus Birders Handbook is all I mentioned in my original post. I'm not sorry I bought it because one of my vices is buying every guide book and reference that comes off the press. I don't think National Geographic's web site is the place to order it though. I just ordered a laminated World Map for one of my sons Christmas present and without even trying, they screwed the order up.

Jaeger near Chicago