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Trees
A visual guide to the natural science of trees as well as a field guide to the trees found in the United States and Canada
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 18, 2009
Lately, as I've taken some of our long driving trips, I have thought how nice it would be to ably identify the trees we were passing by. Then the thought struck me that I own a beginner's field guide to trees. So, this past weekend, which promised an hour and half drive through a well-wooded North Carolina, I, as a last minute packing item, grabbed the field guide and headed to the airport.
When I found myself stranded in the Kansas City airport for over four hours I pulled the book to familiarize myself with the contents before I was faced with the forests whizzing by me at 60 miles per hour. That I found myslef reading the book cover to cover was a complete surprise to me.
In the process I learned some key elements of tree anatomy and the variations thereof that help determine species. On top of that I familiarized myself with scads of details that are skattered amongst close to 300 variants of trees.
How much recall do I have after three days away from, not much. For one thing, having been through the book it hasn't had much application. Tree recognitions seems to happen on a more intimate level than driving down the highway. You have to be able to examine the bark and the leaves. Perhaps, after some experience doing that, you can tell from a distance what you are driving past. That fact that all our driving turned out to be after the dark didn't enrich the experience at all.
But I have a lot of new tidbits and factoids drifting around my brain that I didn't have before. Among those most likely to be remembered are that the sycamore bark is the one that is all patchy like camouflage material and that oak leaves are the ones that are narrow at the stem and are widest towards the point.
This head to head familiarization with the material will not go to waste if I start spending time around trees. I now have an idea of what to look for, and and with experience hope to become more knowledgeable about my environment.
When I found myself stranded in the Kansas City airport for over four hours I pulled the book to familiarize myself with the contents before I was faced with the forests whizzing by me at 60 miles per hour. That I found myslef reading the book cover to cover was a complete surprise to me.
In the process I learned some key elements of tree anatomy and the variations thereof that help determine species. On top of that I familiarized myself with scads of details that are skattered amongst close to 300 variants of trees.
How much recall do I have after three days away from, not much. For one thing, having been through the book it hasn't had much application. Tree recognitions seems to happen on a more intimate level than driving down the highway. You have to be able to examine the bark and the leaves. Perhaps, after some experience doing that, you can tell from a distance what you are driving past. That fact that all our driving turned out to be after the dark didn't enrich the experience at all.
But I have a lot of new tidbits and factoids drifting around my brain that I didn't have before. Among those most likely to be remembered are that the sycamore bark is the one that is all patchy like camouflage material and that oak leaves are the ones that are narrow at the stem and are widest towards the point.
This head to head familiarization with the material will not go to waste if I start spending time around trees. I now have an idea of what to look for, and and with experience hope to become more knowledgeable about my environment.
April 5, 2015
A very pretty-looking book, but saddled with a fair number of book-reportish sentences and an overall Romper-Room approach. Not to mention of course the ongoing forays into tree-hugging...learning to look at trees how a "naturalist" does, for example. (lol)
November 13, 2015
I use the field guide as a pictorial resource for my preschool students when we are studying trees (especially in the autumn). The photographs make the book accessible to pre-readers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews