Trees of North America: A Field Guide to the Major Native and Introduced Species North of Mexico (A Golden Field Guide) [Paperback]

As a college graduate in Botany, I have seen many field guides. I probably own of 30 in different categories, and this one is one of my favorites. It was the only one I carried on a trip to California to identify trees in the Bay area. The color illustrations make a huge difference as they are very accurate and easy to use a field guides. It does require you to have a little more than a basic knowledge of trees, as it does not start out with a dicotomous key.

I am a garden writer, horticulturist and botanist and I think Golden Books' Trees of North America is a darn good book. It is small enough to shove in a pocket and take along on hikes...it is easy to use, full of good information, and makes tree ID easy in most cases.
I recommend this book as a present for anyone interested in trees, in Nature, in gardening. Although it is a Golden Book and is easy to use and understand, it is by no means a book just for kids. This is an excellent book, as was the older Golden Books Trees of North America, a book I have taken along with me on many a trip. Worth every penny of the price and then some!

This is really a review of three books simultaneously, because I bought them all at the same time. I couldn't figure out which one to get, since they all had good reviews, but they have very different features.

1. Tree Finder: A Manual for the Identification of Trees by Their Leaves (Nature Study Guides)
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Pros:
* 4"x6" 62 page pamphlet easily fits in a pocket.
* It is organized like a choose-your-own-adventure book, so it will ask you questions, and show you some small drawings explaining the question. The drawings next to the questions is probably the best part of the book, since it can be confusing if you don't know what it means for a leaf to be lobed.
* This is the only one that a 10 or 11 year old child might enjoy using to identify trees, although it can still be difficult.
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Cons:
* Once you identify the tree, all you get is the name. The book doesn't tell you anything about its flowers, fruit, lifespan, etc.
* It only contains 161 species. This seems like a lot, but I have run into interesting varieties in my neighborhood such as the Chinaberry, Chinese tallow tree, Chinese parasol tree, or Shumard Oak. In fact, it only has 21 oak varieties, whereas the "Illustrated Book of Trees" has 38.
* Drawings are only in one shade of green and black.
* It only helps you identify trees if their leaves have not fallen.
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Summary:
I gave up on this book pretty quickly, when I failed to identify some trees exactly.

2. Trees of North America: A Guide to Field Identification, Revised and Updated (Golden Field Guide from St. Martin's Press)
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Pros:
* Very nice multicolor drawings. This is especially helpful for understanding the different parts of a bud, or for identifying fruits or flowers.
* Provides a good size paragraph of description of most species.
* 730 species covered, although this number seems misleading. For example, it has 40 species of Oak compared with the "Illustrated Book of Trees", which has 38 species of Oak but only 250 species total. It does include some odd items like the Saguaro cactus, so it might have a lot of items that aren't typically thought of as trees.
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Cons:
* It won't help you identify a tree quickly. You would have to read the whole book until you found the one that matched.
* The index listed the Chinese tallowtree, but when you go to that page you just see the Chinaberry.
* The description of each species is helpful, but could be bigger.
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Summary:
Since I am mainly interested in identifying trees, I haven't used this book much at all. If I want to see a pretty picture of a tree for which I know the name, I'll just google it.

3. The Illustrated Book of Trees: The Comprehensive Field Guide to More Than 250 Trees of Eastern North America
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Pros:
* It includes a tree identification guide for both summer and winter characteristics. (I have not tried to identify a tree without its leaves, though.)
* It includes a half page to a 1.5 page description of most species. That is approximately 250-750 words compared to the approximate 100 words per description in "Trees of North America".
* It contains over 250 species, which has been quite useful.
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Cons:
* This is the hardest book to read. I was constantly be looking up words like glabrous, lanceolate, falcate, and root suckering. Fortunately, it has a glossary.
* The drawings are in black and white. This isn't that bad for leaves, but it is very hard to understand the representation of twigs and their leaf scars.
* The tree identification guide is not always as helpful for large family or genus. For example, it will tell you that the tree is an oak, and then you have to look through 38 descriptions of different oaks.
* I was not able to use it to identify a tree as a willow oak. I was surprised that the "Tree Finder" was able to identify willow oak, although I didn't actually try that until after I had identified the tree, since I had given up on the "Tree Finder".
* I think most children would prefer the pretty pictures in "Trees of North America" over the content in this book.
* The only sycamores it describes are the American and the London plane tree. The "Trees of North America" includes the California, Arizona, and Oriental sycamores.
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Summary:
This book is more usefull than the other two combined, although it can be frustrating nonetheless.

All three books leave out useful information such as how fast a tree grows or how acidic or alkaline the soil can be.