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140 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, but not quite the definitive guide., 20 May 2001
By A Customer
Much attention and comment has been focused on this book since its original publication in hardback, and deservedly so. As stated in The Times review, it most probably is 'the richest and most comprehensive of the current guides'. Just holding the book and looking at the cover, you get the impression that the publishers had every confidence that this book would sweep away the competition, and wanted to display it that way. The front design is striking - jet black, with bold, shining, gold and white upper-case text - 'BIRD GUIDE' - the image of a barn owl on silent wings and the proclamation of 'the most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe' adding to the effect. The book seems to scowl 'Buy me, I'm brilliant and I'm the best!'. Clever, yet the appearance is strangely unwelcoming and almost intimidating.Does it live up to the hype? The earlier 'Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe' with Bertel Brunn is a landmark, a classic book that had everything right - perfect illustrations, clear and unambiguous descriptions. Has this continued in that vein? Well, yes and no. By-and-large, the contents are excellent. Extraordinary works of art show the appearance of each species, immaculate, stunning and intimate in their detail. This, coupled with perfectly clear and in-depth descriptions of form, plumage, song and flight, provides a wonderful guide to the identification of even the most easily confused species. For the size of the book, everything has had to be crammed in, and the visual 'feel' is of slight overcrowding - but this is unavoidable if you want a book this informative and descriptive for field use. The major fault is that for some species, some distribution maps contain inaccuracies. Examples - the cormorant breeds quite happily along most of the Irish coast and on lakes in the midlands, yet the relevant map wrongly indicates it is only a winter visitor to most of the coast, and a resident only in pockets. The map for the yellow wagtail shows it as absent from Ireland and Wales, though it is not. Also, the nightjar breeds in parts of the Algarve, yet is only shown as a passage visitor to the region. I have spotted several more examples relating to Ireland, Portugal and Italy which makes me wonder if other maps are unreliable for other countries. This is a real dissapointment for what otherwise is a very fine book, and could cause confusion for learners and those hoping to use this book while travelling - defeating the purpose of a field guide. If these errors could be corrected, this book would be the definitve guide to Europe's birds.
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