Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides)

And I'm a professional entomologist. Better than Peterson or Golden Nature Guides for someone wanting to ID an insect in the yard or field. Very extensive--covers all of North America (US). Not too technical. Lots of photos. Could use more butterflies with their caterpillars and food plants, because everybody likes butterfies. Could also offer more on life history, behavior and habitat. I gave one to my daughter because she's always calling me up to ask "What is this?" Also gave her Kaufman's Field Guide to the Nature of New England, another nice book.

Bought this for class, it’s great! Pictures and descriptions are easy to understand.

This Field Guide sticks to the same tried and true format as the other Kaufman Field Guides (Birds, Butterflies, and Mammals). Every odd page is packed with digitally touched-up pictures of various insects and the even pages contain brief descriptions of the species/family, their habits, etc... Given the enormity of the insect fauna in North America north of Mexico (the region covered by this guide) it is obvious that a field guide such as this is not going to be able to cover but a fraction of what is out there. Additionally the target audience is not entomologists but rather more causal insect and nature lovers. As a result the selection of insects that are covered is limited. The authors in the introduction state that the guide focuses on "naked-eye entomology".There are a few pages in the beginning devoted to non-insect invertebrates (spiders, millipedes, ...). It would have been nice if this section was a bit more comprehensive, then again maybe this foreshadows a future Kaufman Spiders field guide!The pictures are all very nice and the book overall is very pleasing to the eye. The cover and binding seem like they will stand up to field use. Overall I am very pleased with this book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in insects.

This is a wonderful guide for the field and I was so relieved when I found it. The insects appear posed as you would see them in the field rather than other (usually older) field guides based on pinned specimens. It is a great sized and well organized with avoiding unnecessary/excessive information that other field guides do (which turns them into more of a daunting encyclopedia than a field guide). The species featured are also good representatives of their taxon. This guide is honest about advice on getting from family-level to genera and species and indicates the number of species within a general to help users understand how large and diverse some taxon are.

First off, realize that this book is about all there is for a comprehensive guide for the entire region. The basic idea of making ANY kind of a comprehensive listing much less guide to "the insects of N.A." is almost laughable but you have to start somewhere!It is a good reference and guide but does have several drawbacks in my opinion:First off, it is a great reference if you are looking at a picture and want to know/learn the Latin names of bugs (Entomological Etymology). It lists the bugs by family and genus first and then drills down to to individual bugs. In some cases not very many. If, however, you are looking just for a quick ID and want to know the common English name, it is not quite so user-friendly.One of my pet peaves is that ALL of the pictures are labeled in Latin ONLY. That makes the ID very exact but, to me, that is very inconvenient and indirect.Each right hand side page is a plate of photo/pictures and the left is a prose description. I say prose because it is a flowing description that, scientifically, make sense but from an easy to find a bug standpoint, is a bit too technically slanted.In order to ID a bug, you have to:* Find the picture (means looking through many pages as the plates are not all in the same section of the book.)* Look at your bug and read the Latin (only) name* Refer to the facing page* Scan down the "prose"* Read until you see your Latin name* Finally find the common name and description! Each species or even family is not listed separately as in virtually every other nature/bird guide I've ever encountered!Even bearing in mind the herculean task at hand, it is lacking in some basic insects with interesting results e.g. the Unicorn Mantis, which is a native mantid to N.A is not listed at all but several other non-native mantids are listed. Interesting.Very little is included about lifestyles and particular insect behavior or unique practices. Me, I want to know that the tarantula hawk (wasp) lays its eggs on tarantulas that it paralyzes and the babies eat the spider from within. Not much of that sort in this guide.It really is a good guide just not arranged to my comfort style of perusing and simply ID'ing.If you are into really learning the etymology and scientific details, it may be the perfect book for you!Hope this helps,Steve

A retired biologist moving to a different area of the state with some new questions regarding insects. This book made him very happy. It is beautiful and the turtle back cover, an excellent idea. Thank you.

Insects are such a large class that it is difficult to get a guide that shows everything. But this one can be used to get you in the right area. The first 4 pages show typical specimens of the various main groups, to point you in the right general direction. The pages of the book are color-coded so you can go to the right section immediately. And then I just start looking until I find something that looks about right. It doesn't have all the insects in, it can't in a guide of this size. But then I can go on the web and try to identify the insect more exactly. As a Master Gardener I have to answer questions from the public. There wasn't a copy of this guide in our local Extension Center so I bought them one, as I thought it would be useful. I prefer to look at a book rather than use a phone app, as it teaches better powers of observation. The apps give wrong answers and people don't know whether the app answer is correct or not.

I bought this book after someone told me it was one of their favorite day carries... and now I know why. I have never cared much for bugs, but now I find them fascinating. The photos and descriptions are very well laid out and makes identifying the hundreds of species of insects all around us a really cool endeavor. On camping trips, everyone is always pointing out bugs to me and wanting to look them up.The quality of the book is excellent. Has that waxy high-quality paper. I have a ton of books, and this one is like a hobby in your hand. Pick it up, look in a corner of your closet, and try and figure out what kind of tiny spider that is... super fun.

recomiendo si te gusta la entomología

Buenos díasNecesito que, por favor, cambien la dirección de la FACTURA por:Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo LeónCiudad UniversitariaAve. Universidad S/NSan Nicolás de los Garza, N.L.MéxicoCP 66455Gracias de antemanoCésar Cantú

Great field guide that simplifies insect identification for beginners (I'm an absolute beginner). It would have been nice to have more details on the different bugs, but then it would be too big to have in the field or would have to sacrifice some of the images which would not be a good tradeoff. You just have to remember the insects you identify and google them after.

Quite good. Makes it really easy to get the bug down to the family. Lots of photos.