Rating: 
Summary: Extremely useful!
Review: First of all, I can't believe that there are color pictures of every tree, plant, bird, reptile, insect and animal listed in this book. That is SO helpful. There is information on geography, geology, tides, National Parks, weather patterns, patterns of the stars in the night sky for every season, and so on and so on. How could they fit all this info in this tiny book??? It is bound wonderfully and doesn't exactly fit into a jean's back pocket (comes close though!). Unfortunatley there are just too many birds in nature that look the same, so I can't tell by the book's brief descriptions and photos which bird I see. But generally I can narrow it down to at least 3. I LOVE the ink/shadow drawings of the different trees "skeletons"! Obviously it is hard to see a tree's outline in the summer with all the leaves, but all winter I would match up the bare trees to their corresponding drawings in the book! I am becoming quite an expert now. This book is TOPS in my ever expanding library. I bring it with me everywhere I travel in New England...because you just never know when you may need it for reference. If you live in New England, you NEED to buy this!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, BUT missing something...
Review: I am pleased that the NAS published this comprehensive guide to my native area. It contains a great deal of information that any nature lover can relatively easily stick in their pocket. However, my complaint is that nowhere is there any reference to our two poisonous spiders... the famed Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. WE have them in abundance and the guide does not address these creatures. SHAME! These are very important arachnids in our environment and I am disappointed that the NAS omitted them.
Rating:
Summary: National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England
Review: I have waited all my life for a nature handbook such as this! So many questions I've had were answered in this book. (ie. what DOES poison sumac really look like? Or, is that REALLY just a milk snake -- or could it be poisonous?)Beautiful pictures, and clearly written, informative sections provide excellent information for nature lovers of every age. This book would be a welcome addition to every New Englander's home library and is small enough to be easily portable for hiking etc. I found myself wanting to give one to everyone I know, from grandchildren to grandparents!
Rating:
Summary: National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England
Review: I have waited all my life for a nature handbook such as this! So many questions I've had were answered in this book. (ie. what DOES poison sumac really look like? Or, is that REALLY just a milk snake -- or could it be poisonous?)Beautiful pictures, and clearly written, informative sections provide excellent information for nature lovers of every age. This book would be a welcome addition to every New Englander's home library and is small enough to be easily portable for hiking etc. I found myself wanting to give one to everyone I know, from grandchildren to grandparents!
Rating:
Summary: Maine Native
Review: I'm an avid outdoorsman and have been looking for just this sort of guide to take with me into the field. The Maine Sportsman highly recommended it, so I ran out and bought it. The guide includes just about every aspect of nature you can think of and it fits easily into a pocket or backpack. I especially like the section about plants, wildflowers, mushrooms, and fungi, as I find those the hardest to identify.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent concise and compact field guide to New England.
Review: I've been searching for a book like this for the past two years. It contains information on the different types of habitats, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees, lichen, wildflowers, mammals (...the list goes on) found in the New England area. It even has a collection of star maps for people who are also interested in the New England night sky. The information is well laid out and easy to read and is accompanied by detailed color diagrams and photos. What I like best about this book though is I no longer have to carry around 5 different field guides when I go out hiking now. I only need to carry this one.
Rating:
Summary: great introduction to the natural world for everyone
Review: Imagine my delight in carrying this little book into the woods with my children and being able to share information about so many living things with them. I recommend this book to anyone fascinated by the often overlooked and unappreciated treasures of New England. The photography is great and the comprehensiveness is impressive.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a field guide
Review: My wife and I both really enjoy the descriptions of New England habitats, geology and other natural phenomena, and the information about parks at the end. We take many drives to different parts of New England, and go exploring. Often we see something and wonder what it is. Now we keep this book in the car. It has greatly increased our knowledge and appreciation of our new England home. Since reading this one, we have bought others of the series on the strength of the habitat and other "natural history" information. The authors' writing is clear and engaging and makes the material accessible to the tenderest of tenderfeet.
Rating:
Summary: If it's out there, it's in here!
Review: Simply an AMAZING book! there's a little bit about a lot of things! Weather, geology, flora and fauna, star charts, sea shells! While you'll need a more specific field guide for your particular interest, this is the one book to have from the beach to the mountains.
Probably an adequate bird guide for hikers, and an adequate hiking guide for birders.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Guide Series Offers Detailed Tour of the Natural World
Review: The Boston Globe (5/24/98) -- While the concept of a regional field guide is not new, what Peter Alden has done is different. He is systematically covering the country with regional guides. Each guide uses color photos as the centerpiece to tight, pithy species descriptions. Alden calls the flagship New England guide the "social register of 1,000 successful plant and animal species commonly seen in New England, selected from a list of 10,000 or more." Along with the New England guide comes guides to Florida, California, and the Pacific Northwest. A second release of guides to the Southeast, mid-Atlantic, Southwest, and Rocky Mountain regions is slated for spring of 1999. Eventually, the series will cover 16 North American regions. The series of guides appears at an opportune time. Many birders who once focused narrowly on feathered species have now cast wider nets. Eclectic interests have expanded to butterflies, dragonflies, flowering plants -- practically any non-microscopic lifeform. While many people who once ventured out to exclusively bird have in turn become experts in identifying other creatures, Alden hopes his books will appeal to the beginning naturalist. "This guide could be like a textbook that goes with you through life. I want people to use permanent black pen to record dates and places of their sightings." A small area of blank space around each depicted species allows for such notes. "I'm a catalyst, an organizer of information, but I'm at the beginning stages of this. I'm at the same place my readers are," he said. Perhaps. But don't underestimate Alden's acuity in the natural world. He's led bird tours to more than 100 countries over 35 years. His brain seems to operate a few twitches faster than most. The guide series will appeal to all ages. Concise writing, liberal use of sharp, colorful photographs, drawings, and maps, and logical inclusions of representative species, weather, and habitats found in the region make the guides real hori! zon expanders -- particularly for visitors to a new part of the country. For some this might be the patch of woods behind their house. For others, it might be their first visit to the Everglades. These guides could very well expand the base of people who are interested in and knowledgeable about the natural world. Alden hopes newcomers to natural history will use the guides as a bridge to more complete field guides as well as a link to conservation groups such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, New England Wild Flower Society, and Nature Conservancy. "These books will hopefully be the first word for tens of millions of people -- an entry-level vehicle," said Alden.
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