
I'm starting a new thread as the old one deals with several books for the country.
OK, I finally got my copy of this fine FG, and I wonder what knowledgeable people think about it. I must say that I have somewhat mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I very much like its contents, as far as I can tell from a brief first inspection. Overall, very fine illustrations, and the book has the classic layout with the text AND range maps both being opposite the plates.
So why my mixed feelings? Well, this is a FG, and it is unnecessarily large. For one, there is a broad (21 mm wide) grey band at the top that I consider basically superfluous. The page and plate numbers could have been fitted without that band. Overall, I think a full inch or 25 mm could have been lopped off in the book's height. And at least one cm could have been taken off in its width as well. That would have resulted in a book that would be much more compact. As it is now, many plates look like there is an awful lot of white space all around the illustrations. And if the publishers had chosen a print with just slightly less space between the lines, the book could have been made even more compact.
Somehow, I can't avoid the suspicion that there will be a more compact version in the future, after everbody has bought the large one. Doesn't this look like a business strategy we already know from other field guides? It may make economic sense, but it does not further the goodwill of the buyers. I have now made it my policy that I only get the more compact version if I really visit the area. So far, I have thus not bought several books in the past years. Alternatively, one might also opt for not buying this book now, waiting for the more compact version, if one has no plans to visit the area in the near future.
OK, I finally got my copy of this fine FG, and I wonder what knowledgeable people think about it. I must say that I have somewhat mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I very much like its contents, as far as I can tell from a brief first inspection. Overall, very fine illustrations, and the book has the classic layout with the text AND range maps both being opposite the plates.
So why my mixed feelings? Well, this is a FG, and it is unnecessarily large. For one, there is a broad (21 mm wide) grey band at the top that I consider basically superfluous. The page and plate numbers could have been fitted without that band. Overall, I think a full inch or 25 mm could have been lopped off in the book's height. And at least one cm could have been taken off in its width as well. That would have resulted in a book that would be much more compact. As it is now, many plates look like there is an awful lot of white space all around the illustrations. And if the publishers had chosen a print with just slightly less space between the lines, the book could have been made even more compact.
Somehow, I can't avoid the suspicion that there will be a more compact version in the future, after everbody has bought the large one. Doesn't this look like a business strategy we already know from other field guides? It may make economic sense, but it does not further the goodwill of the buyers. I have now made it my policy that I only get the more compact version if I really visit the area. So far, I have thus not bought several books in the past years. Alternatively, one might also opt for not buying this book now, waiting for the more compact version, if one has no plans to visit the area in the near future.
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