A Peterson Field Guide To Eastern Trees: Eastern United States and Canada, Including the Midwest (Peterson Field Guides)

What qualifies my review:-I have had this product for over a week/-I have used this product in and out each day since, (because I have a lot of free time on my hands).-I have identified more than 30-40 trees with this book (I live close to a forest).Bottom Line:BUY IT. But only If you want to identify trees on your own. Be weary that there is a learning curve with the book. The book is setuplike a process and it teaches you how to use the book itself, which is really nice, but you can't just open to a page and look forthe tree you'd like to identify. If you'd like, you can look up videos on "YouTube.com" for a simpler version of how to use the bookto proper identify trees. Otherwise, its a great book and I enjoy it great. Happy Identifying!My Review:---The Good News---First off, This Field guide is great. Even though it was published in the 1980's-1990's, the content STILL does a wonderful job at helping you identify trees various trees. No wonder they haven't made a updated new one, because this guide is pretty much at the top of the list of "Identifying Eastern Trees." Why is it the top?This guide provides great colored images, good charts that are understandable, scientific names for the tress, separate pages for each and every individual tree, glossary, index, you name it probably has it.---The Bad News---There are only two or three things I could really complain about for this product.1.) The size. It's not very big, which can be a plus, but it's a little smaller than I'd like it, personally. It's back-pocket sized2.) The learning curve that comes with the book. You really have to read and re-read to learn how the book is structured, alongwith what you, the identifier, needs to look for in a tree.3.) It's NOT weatherproof. If you plain on identifying trees, make sure its a nice sunny day and not snowing, sprinkling, raining, or has just rained. I went out with this product after it rained and some of the drops from the tress landed on the pages and they really soaks in the water. So just be careful. It's not a huge deal, but it would be a lot better if it was somewhat waterproof.---Bottom Line---BUY IT. But only If you want to identify trees on your own. Be weary that there is a learning curve with the book. The book is setuplike a process and it teaches you how to use the book itself, which is really nice, but you can't just open to a page and look forthe tree you'd like to identify. If you'd like, you can look up videos on "YouTube.com" for a simpler version of how to use the bookto proper identify trees. Otherwise, its a great book and I enjoy it great. Happy Identifying!

I am an outdoor enthusiast and was looking for a quality field guide to help with the identification of lesser known tree species, primarily in the spring, summer and early fall months. I have a very good grasp on the basic species in my area but needed help with a few species that look VERY much alike, as well as trees that fall into the rarer category.As usual, I did as much research ahead of time as possible and ended up with three top choices. As I went through the reviews I found a reoccurring theme. The theme was that NO ONE FIELD GUIDE WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS. Field guides are not textbooks and of necessity are not exhaustive because of size constraints. Each guide deals with this in its own fashion. Some are short on text and quality descriptions. Others are short on high quality pictures of leaf, bark, and general tree shape. Still others suffer from inadequate I.D. layout.After considering all the variables, the three that ended up on the top of the list were: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American trees (Eastern Region) (NAS), Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Trees (PFG) and National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America (NWF). I live in Indiana so all three fit my location. On the upside, of the three guides the PFG has the best, most complete descriptions about the leaf, bark, fruit, ect. It is also has a pretty compact size. Of the three books mentioned it falls in the middle in size. It has a very easy to understand tree I.D. structure. I believe its weakness lies in its poor graphics and pictures. While I would recommend this book as a PRIMARY identification guide because of its thorough handling of the information, I would also recommend purchasing something to help with the visual end of the identification process. I can't say that I am disappointed with it because I purposely purchased it with the intent that I would need other book(s)with better graphics and pictures.Out of the three books I purchased above I found the NWF to be the most useful and complete guide. I believe (IMHO) that it has the best combination and balance of all the areas I mentioned above. It is however the largest of the three and is not a POCKET field guide by any stretch of the imagination. It is even a little heavy for my taste to take on an extended hike in a backpack.If the PFG had better graphics and pictures I would have rated it at the top. It is an excellent resource, but I just could not get past the poor graphics and lack of realistic pictures that the other two books provide.

I was worried that this book wouldn’t be for “beginners,” however I was able to successfully identify numerous trees on my first day using.Big thing is READ THE BEGINNING SECTION AND TAKE YOUR TIME. This book is set up to use a pretty fool proof process. Take some time to learn the layout of the book and how to use the plates and guides. With no experience I was able to ID probably 8-10 trees in about an hour.What’s more, it was a load of fun using this book. You might want to supplement with YouTube tutorials as well.

I highly reccomend this book. I had to get it for a class but as a hiking enthusiast I suggest it to all my hiking buddies. Its a lot of fun figuring out what kind of beautiful tree you've happened upon

Used book in good condition. No major damage, no staining. Thumbs up

As a novice tree identifier in New York City, I wish the book's classifications were more easily located and included more variant names. There is at least one popular tree known variously as the Chinese Scholar Tree and the Japanese Pagoda Tree which does not appear, and, although Florida is filled with wonderful trees, I shall make every effort never to get to Florida to see them and I would have liked more space devoted to the rest of the East and less to Florida. I am certain many people love to identify winter trees by their buds, but I am not one. Although the illustrations are very exciting to look at and very vital, they would be better in a Disney film. I have a local guide which uses photographs and I wish the Peterson Guide used them as well. The most useful segment of the guide is the tree silhouette section.

A great reference book for the field. Easy and quick to use. Photos are ok. However a good painted key in the front makes it easy to find the correct specie.

For me in Ontario Canada, maybe a little too much emphasis with the Florida group. Invaluable handbook for my tree collecting forays to expand Carolinian forests in our area. I use it constantly when selecting trees to transplant. You can't identify everything with a phone app!

I purchased this guide after reading the reviews on Amazon. I was very happy with the purchase. The reviews were right about the clear colour drawings being much better than photos to help with identifying trees by leaves and branches. The text is very useful too in how it classifies trees into 4 categories based on leaf patterns which serves as a great tool for a beginner. My advice, spend some time reading the "how to use this book" section--it's well worth it.

Good info, useful info for identifying trees, could use more pictures, especially of bark. Was able to identify multiple species in my area. Requires a little bit of practice.

Difficult to navigate... almost too much information