Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Some books are handsome, others easy to use, and still others, interesting to read. This is all three and more. More than 1,600 pieces of artwork produced by "some of the world's leading bird artists" appear in color plates that accompany two-page accounts describing each family or group of families. The plates show several species in each family, along with their common and scientific names, body lengths, and geographic distribution. Author Beletsky, an ornithologist, imparts information about general size, body build, colors, and special physical features of the group in each essay. Characteristic behaviors, such as the treecreeper's habit of spiraling around branches and trunks in search of ants, are described. The essay for each family starts with an introductory section that sets the scene for learning a bit about the group and then provides information on classification, diversity, distribution, morphology, ecology, behavior, breeding, and conservation status. Margin notes list distribution, number of living species, how many species are vulnerable and endangered, and how many species of this group have become extinct since 1600. Following the accounts is a lengthy chapter on avian diversity and biogeography. The bibliography lists 100 of the most important scholarly bird books and several field guides. The volume concludes with a general index and an index of species. This is a browser's book as well as a quick reference book. The content is well organized, the text is highly readable, and the illustrations clearly show each species' defining characteristics. Although the illustrations are "of the kind used in field guides," the volume is not a field guide, nor an encyclopedia, but rather an introduction designed for birders who want to go further afield than their own lists and locations. The author also hopes to stimulate general readers to take more interest in birds. A high-value book for a moderate price that can find a place in most reference collection, shelved next to National Geographic Complete Birds of North America (2005). --Linda Loos Scarth Copyright 2007 Booklist

Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

Any global compendium of birds enters a crowded field, with many similar standard reference and coffee-table books available. Independent scholar Beletsky, however, has chosen to forego the usual comprehensive compendium. He aims instead at those relatively new to the world of birding--birders who are starting to gain familiarity with their local species and becoming curious about what lies beyond their own backyards. The book is arranged in standard taxonomic order. The numerous artists who supplied the plates have done a first-rate job. Each taxon is prefaced by a full-page plate with common or representative species; larger families merit two additional plates. Plates are accompanied by a two- to three-page summary of the major characteristics of the group, including general information about classification, morphology, behavior, and conservation. A brief bibliography, separate species and subject indexes, and an essay on avian diversity and biogeography round out the work. This well-written, concise, informative volume is very accessible to novice birders. It is an excellent introduction to the biodiversity and biogeography of birds, and will be very useful for professors and graduate students as an ancillary reference. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. B. E. Fleury Tulane University