Trees: a Guide to Familiar American Trees

by Herbert S. Zim, Alexander Campbell Martin, Sy Barlowe (Illustrator)

This Golden Guide describes and illustrates in full color more than 140 of our most common trees. Learn:How to recognize tree shapes, flowers, buds, leaves, and fruitsWhere each species growsThe parts of a tree and the various kinds of treesPerfect for nature lovers of all ages, this is an indispensable guide for everyone who wants to be able to recognize the different trees in North America.

Genres: Nature, Reference, Nonfiction, Science, Field Guides, Plants, Gardening

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Herbert Spencer Zim (July 12, 1909 – December 5, 1994) was a naturalist, author, editor and also known as the fonder and editor in chief of the Golden Guides series of nature books. He wrote or edited more than one hundred scientific books, and in a thirty-year career teaching in the public schools introduced laboratory instruction into elementary school science. He is best known as the founder in 1945, of the Golden Guides, pocket-size introductions for children to such subjects as fossils, zoology, microscopy, rocks and minerals, codes and secret writings, trees, wildflowers, dinosaurs, navigation and more. He was the sole or co-author for many of the books, which were valued for their clarity, accuracy and attractive presentation helped by the illustrations of James Gordon Irving. He continued to work on the Golden Guides series until Alzheimer's disease forced him to slow down in the 1990s. He died in 1994 at Plantation Key, Florida.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, a total tree novice who has always been ashamed of her ignorance, thought this would be a great guide to start with, despite my mature-ish age. My father, a forest man if ever there was one, knows his forests pretty well, so I bought him the much more sophisticated Sibley's guide for his birthday. He recently visited me in DC, and I asked him to bring along the Sibley's so we could check out the National Arboretum together and Identify Some Trees (obviously). I took along my little Golden Guide, as training wheels. Low and behold, I was actually able to home in on our two test trees (a sweetgum and and eastern redbud) WAY more quickly using my Golden Guide (even though his Sibley's had way more information once we ultimately knew what we were looking at). I'm pretty sold. And totally excited to recognize my "state" ("district"?) tree, the scarlet oak, everywhere I go now.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was good for the 2,000th thing i've marked as read on Goodreads.

a good book overall. i love these guides. i never really knew what an oak looked like, and now i'm seeing them EVERYWHERE. i'm excited to take this around campus and try to identify the particular kinds of maple trees and such

[Helen Pugsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proud of myself for sitting down to read this. I learned something new today. ^_^

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book more for nostalgic reasons than for its actual content. I found this little field guide as a young kid when I was digging through some dusty old boxes in the basement. I fell in love with it and enjoyed looking at the drawings and studying the little blurbs of information. Decades later, I'm happy I still have it with me.

[James Handrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book Trees written by Herbert S. Zim Ph.D. and Alexandra C. Martin Ph .D. is a book filled with beautiful illustrations by Dorothea and Sy Barlowe and very interesting facts about trees. This book talks about many different categories of trees such as Pines, Conifers, Oaks, Maples, and many other categories that you've probably had never heard about. This book doesn't just go over the different categories of trees, it also goes over a ton of different types of trees in these categories. Near the beginning of the book, it talks mainly about the general facts about trees such as the parts of a tree, the seasons they go through, the areas they live, how wood forms, and many other things.

I would recommend this book to anybody that likes nonfiction and learning new things about the things all around us. I had no idea trees were as complicated as it were before I read this book. Also, this book is filled with beautiful illustrations of the trees, so you like looking at beautiful pictures, you should read this book. Even though I personally disliked this book, I did learn many new things about trees. I'm sure there are many people out there that would enjoy this book much more than I did.

[Leah Markum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these kinds of guide books. Sure, they don't show all the species of a given area, but they have great illustrations that inspire a kid--heck, an adult--to learn the general category before embarking on the intimidating journey of identifying more specific regional specimens. In my case today, I find it encouraging for continuing to learning botanical illustration and have a few "cheat sheets" to study some of the most common species in the area I moved to, which is across the continent from where I used to live.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writer is well informed, and has quite useful pictures by which trees can be identified by fruit, shape, leaf, stems, and bark. It also describes what uses the trees woods may have as well as where the tree may be found. Overall great book.

[Brian Hutzell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Golden Guides helped me get through junior high science classes, and they are still fun to read today as an adult. I have a friend who keeps a few volumes in his car to aid in identifying plants and animals he spots on road trips.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love trees, like me, you will love this handy little book. The illustrations are easy to use when trying to identify a tree. This book is small enough to fit into a large pocket, so it is easy to carry around as you do your tree research.

[Joy Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational!! Great size for taking on trips!

[Sarah Ehinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations, but not terribly useful as a guide.

[Foxtower · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good little guide with nice illlustrations!

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first nature guide. I bought it to use to get a Brownie badge, and I still have my copy. With illustrations as bright as those in a children's book, Trees presents the various trees within its pages by leaf and branching pattern, shape of seed, and shape of the tree. At the bottom of the page, a colored map shows the regions where that particular tree grows. Along with the jam-packed tree description pages, there are sections on identifying different types of acorns, pinecones, magnolias, and other topics. The last two pages have rulers imprinted on the edges of the pages, so that the naturalist can measure leaves or other parts of the tree in an aid to identification. I have never bought another tree identification book, because I have never needed one. This book still works just fine.

[Susan Rainwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was obsessed with Herbert Zim's Golden Guides as a kid -- memorizing every tree and flower, gathering every leaf in the neighborhood for identification. I doubt today's over-scheduled kids have time for self-guided exploration of the natural world, or the freedom to wander the local forest on their own.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it - great introduction for the most common trees in the U.S. Recommended for anyone interested in identifying trees in your neighborhood and learning how they're useful. It's also the right size to stick in your pocket if you want to.

[Chawls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up these cute handy guide for $5! I take it on walks around the neighborhood and have learned so much about my community trees. Beautiful hand made illustrations provide a lot more detail than more modern books. Love it, will try to find more by this author/scientist

[Lafcadio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like all Golden Guides, it is way too small a volume for the geographic area covered. Useful as a way to accumulate random knowledge, not useful as a practical field guide.

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but informative guide to trees of North America. This was one of the first books I ever owned.

[Foxtower · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good little guide with nice illlustrations!

[Mom's Books]

two copies

[Sarah Ehinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent guide for common trees across the states. This is a decent guide for general identification of trees, but not a great guide for subspecies identification.

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was also good, but Trees are less interesting than animals...