Mammals of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coast to the High Cascades

Rating:
Summary: Obscure black/white photos only; Oregon focus; informative
Review: As do many books with subjects attempting to cover the entire "Pacific Northwest," this book focuses primarily on a certain area of the PNW. In this book's case, it's Oregon (no offense at all to this wonderful state). The photos are all small, black-and-white, and obscure. There are MANY photos of feces in this book. While it's helpful to know feces identification, it's more important to identify mammals by species identification. Perhaps I'm lucky, because I get to see more actual animals in the wild, rather than only their droppings. Some mammals in the book are not even pictured at all. Some of my friends have never even seen a nutria (coypus) or a marten in the wild, so pictures of them (and other animals) would have been helpful and more aesthetically pleasing to them. I've seen wolves in eastern Washington and a brown stage black bear in western Washington which the book does not address. On the other hand, the bat and shrew sections were extensive and thorough. Overall, the book is interesting and is scientifically well-organized. Included is ample, specific information on habitat, behavior, and breeding.

Rating:
Summary: More than a creature identification book
Review: If you live in the Pacific Northwest and want to identify the wild mammals you see, this book is very helpful. However, there is a lot more to the book than just good descriptions of mammals. Stories about each creature bring to life the animals you may never encounter. Chris Maser is clearly fond of his subjects and tries hard to help the reader get a feel for their lives. It is fun to just open this book at random and read a few pages about vole or bat you never knew existed. I have several mammal identification books. This is the best one.