I came into this book with some interest in learning to identify birds around the yard to a greater extent. This is the first book that I've seen to go beyond the basics of shape and color. It's actually a virtual biology lesson on birds with fine details about feathers, and molting among other topics. Very detailed materials that help the reader understand how to see the parts of the bird beyond quick impressions in order to make identifications. But I also gained a new insight into an animal that I took for granted just seeing every day. Sibley is an incredible artist and liberally demonstrates his concepts with sketches and drawings of a wide variety of birds. The combination of beautiful art, and clear, educational writing makes one of the best introductions I've ever seen to birds, and how to know and appreciate them. Highly recommended for the casual as well as serious bird enthusiast.

Perfect for the aspiring or beginning birder, veterans will wonder how they got started without it. Sibley begins with the simplest, logical advice - equipment, where to go to find birds (did you know Central Park, NY, rates with Cape May and the Monterey Peninsula for sighting migrating birds - it's the largest patch of green for miles), keeping records and avoiding mistakes. The bulk of this slim book is devoted to identifying, from behavior and voice to body configuration, feather arrangements, color patterns, structure of tail and wings, molt and more. Clear color illustrations provide plentiful examples throughout. Sibley teaches how to see and what to look for, depending on time of year, weather and habitat, and provides lots of useful information about common and unusual birds by way of illustrative examples.

I was fortunate enough to attend a talk by David Allen Sibley at the Princeton University Bookstore a couple of weeks ago. He's a shy person, but once he starts talking about his favorite subject (birds, of course), he's as talkative as the most garrulous of people. Even in person, then, his knowledge of all minutiae of the avian world is staggering. That doesn't mean he doesn't understand the common pitfalls of the struggling, novice birder who wants so much to identify that giant bird with the colors of a goldfinch or the raptor as small as a songbird. He told us a couple of amusing stories about bird misidentification, one of which involved a mistake he made years ago... which just goes to show that if Mr. Sibley can make a birding mistake, there's hope for the rest of us.

Anyway, "Sibley's Birding Basics" does, indeed, serve as the introduction to his bestselling field guide that he'd originally hoped to include in the field guide. He covers all the essential bird identification topics in a clearly, if scholarly, written manner, from the importance, structure and groupings of feathers; to the bird's outer anatomy; to birdsong; to clues to bird identification (behavior, molt patterns, feather wear-and-tear) that aren't covered at all in other field guides. And the illustrations, a talent for which Mr. Sibley is justifiably famous, are the most meticulous you'll find anywhere, whether the drawing shows a comparison between a summer tanager and a northern cardinal or simply of feather types.

Finally, "Birding Basics" includes a brief but to-the-point admonition to birders who might venture too close or too noisily to the objects of their fascination. For example, you read about the usefulness of "pishing" in other books and hear about it from other expert birders, but Mr. Sibley believes this technique is overused and has the potential to harm many birds' ability to go about their difficult daily existence.

In conclusion, run, don't walk, to the nearest computer and order this book from amazon.com!

There are now two editions of Boyle, the older version with an orange cover and the Barred Owl, and a newer version with a photo of a Hooded Warbler on the front. You'll want to make sure you get the latter, since many things have changed over the years.

It is one of the milder species of blasphemy, I suppose, to call any book one's "bible"; but since its appearance 17 years ago (!), Bill Boyle's NJBFG has served thousands of the birding faithful as ritual object and authoritative companion alike. My own copy of the first printing, with its ugly laminated binding in shreds and the bookblock bulging from tipped-in notes, photocopies, and clippings, is probably the single most used volume in my birding library: field guides come and go, but for nearly two decades now, Boyle has come and gone wherever I have.
Just how intensive my use of the book has been came clear to me with the arrival--"long-awaited," in the reviewer's cliche--of the second edition. As I read through the new treatments of areas long familiar to me, I discovered that (like many NJ birders) I'd actually memorized verbatim great chunks of the first edition, and that I noticed every new word and every new turn of phrase in the revised accounts. If it is true that every obsession is at its base religious, then this book truly is the birder's bible.
The birder's bible: divine in inspiration, certainly, but here and there the mortal nature of its human author peeks through. As anyone who has ever written anything knows, it is even more difficult to revise than to write, and this revised edition has some flaws that were not apparent in the first. There are far more copy-editing errors this time around, and the index--more important than ever, given the new book's rather breathless layout--is not an infallible help (just try to find the main entry for Merrill Creek!). Compared to the enjoyably expansive style of the first edition, the new entries strike me as occasionally a bit too concise, a problem that might have been eased by simply eliminating even more of the old sections treating sites that, like the Institute Woods, now offer (in Boyle's words) "the mere shadow" of their former glory; valuable space is also sacrificed to a number of new full-page illustrations.
These things having been said, the book is still an outstanding example of the bird-finding guide. The maps seem to be largely up to date and accurate (Sussex County birders: are Rockport and Blackdirt marshes really the same place?), the annotated species list is even more useful than in the first edition, and the binding isn't likely to crackle and peel. It will take only weeks, I am sure, for New Jersey birders to start quoting this new Boyle, chapter and verse.

This book is just as useful for seasoned birders as it is for the beginner, or the person new to New Jersey. Beginners will appreciate its review of New Jersey's best birding destinations; seasoned pros will enjoy the depth of the information and the amount of detail on nesting species and accounts of rarities.

For us locals, "Bird Finding" is great for those days when you want to hop in the car and travel to somewhere a little different, or if you want to explore a familiar destination a little more closely. The book offers detailed directions (although some of the exit numbers and streets have changed since its publication date), including which trail to follow, which tree to investigate, etc. Its accuracy is remarkable. It's clear Bill Boyle knows each location intimately and visits them often.

This is a must-have for any birder living in the state (and there are lots), and any vacationer planning to spend more than a weekend in New Jersey.

Swords for Hire" is a humorous and exciting medieval adventure. Inspired by "The Princess Bride", the style is similar enough that anyone who enjoyed that book should enjoy this one. Although it is written for the juvenile market (age 9 or so and older) it is still a delightful read for anyone. For a younger person the first thirty pages are somewhat slow but required in order to lay the foundation for the rest of the book. On the other hand, once you get to the section on "The Oddball" it picks up speed, the two primary characters become well developed and the book takes off. After that it is hard to put the book down and you may find yourself sitting up to finish it. "Swords for Hire" is a highly recommended and enjoyable read.

Sam Hatcher lived on a farm until he turned sixteen. Then he became an apprentice to Rigby Skeet, Sword For Hire. A smuggled message landed in their hands to reveal that the "deceased king" was not really dead. Instead, King Olive was caged in a far away dungeon and guarded by "the Boneman". The two set out to rescue their true king from the evil guards.

I found this story to be an absolute delight! All through the book I chuckled and often I found myself laughing out loud. The author expressed even the most common things in the most unusual and humorous ways. For example: "Imagine a dark, sinister-looking castle, then multiply by two and you'd have the castle of the Boneman."

The author also added some strange personalities that kids of all ages cannot help but find amusing, such as the false king who enjoyed nothing more than putting worms on top of his head. It is things such as these that will make young readers WANT to read. Each chapter is short, which is recommended for younger readers as well. And of course, there must be (and is) a beautiful damsel in distress that needs to be rescued. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Sam Hatcher is a normal, if a bit cynical, farm boy who is clearly not destined to become a farmer. His father recognizes this and sends him off to join the Royal Guard on his sixteenth birthday. Thus begins an adventure that teams him up with Rigby Skeet, a mentor who is slightly deranged, on a quest to rescue the true King from the dungeon in which his slimy, worm-loving brother has imprisoned him.

The story is fast and fun and often surprising, taking a classic adventure story and saturating it with humor and irony, smashing through clichés as quickly as the protagonists smash through obstacles.

Sam is no starry-eyed apprentice and his mentor is no all-knowing master, and this lack of established adventure story roles leaves room for so much more.

This story was loved by every kid with whom it was shared, from age seven to age fifteen, and the adults who read it loved it even more.

My 22 month old daughter wants me to read this book to her every night! If your child is a Sesame Street fan then this little book will be a big hit.

My 17 month old usually has a hard time settling down at bedtime. She adores the Sesame Street characters, especially Elmo, and we read this book just before tucking her in and turning out the light. Elmo and Big Bird and their friends are getting ready for bed, and showing them all sleeping helps my little girl to accept bedtime a little more readily, since anything Elmo does is automatically cool!

My daughter and I have read this book over 100 times, at naptime and bedtime. She seems to never get tired of it, and is now reading it to me! It's a great book that seems to be perfect for a 2 to 2-1/2 year old attention span.

I am not a bird expert; I am a homeschooling mother who is interested enough in birds to feed them and provide nesting boxes in our yard. I enjoy watching birds and this has lead to a curiosity about what they are doing and why.

This hardback version is wonderful and will grace our family library shelves for years. The paper stock is heavy and fine. There are beautiful and detailed watercolor illustrations and very detailed explanations of bird life and behavior. This book picks up where the bird identification books leave off and is more comprehensive than other books I have read about bird identification and behavior.

The index is easy to use for quick referencing about specific birds. There is loads of information here, probably everything you'd want to know about birds. Amazon has over 50 sample pages for you to view, including the detailed table of contents, so I won't repeat that information inside of my review. The information is detailed but not intimidating for amateurs such as myself.

As a homeschooling mother this has already come in handy for discussions about the activities of our chimney swifts and Eastern Bluebirds that have taken up residence in our yard and home.

Even if you are an amateur birdwatcher, I encourage you to buy a bird identification book and then this book, rather than others on the market. Once you see this hefty volume and all the information it contains you will see the price is worth it! This is a reference volume that will be used for years.

This is the content that was lacking from the Sibley Field guide. Want to know if that little brown bird with a slightly red head was an American Sparrow or a finch? Well was it in a field, your back yard, was it eating seeds or bugs. These sort of questions are answered by this book so if you missed the red or black eye stripe you can make a better guess as to the species of bird.

I bought THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRD LIFE AND BEHAVIOR for myself for Christmas. I wanted Sibley's Guide because I am an avid birdwatcher, interested in books, articles, films, etc. about birds. I had read glowing reviews about this book (here and elsewhere) and thought it must be the best bird book ever. Also, several reviewers noted that like JJ Audubon, Mr. Sibley was a gifted artist who depicted birds rather beautifully.

Sibley's Guide is a beautiful book bird watchers will want to add to their collection (hardcover, please). Those who already know the difference between Bewick's Wren and a Carolina Wren may appreciate Sibley's Guide more than those who can't tell a White Throated Sparrow from a pigeon. However, sooner or later every bird enthusiast needs to understand the ecology of birds, and this is the strength of the Sibley Guide.

I've been a bird lover since I was a child, and lucky enough to have parents and grandparents who were bird fanciers (my dad was an ecologist, my grandmother raised tamed birds). As a result, I know a great deal about birds and their environments. Sibley's book appeals to me because its central message is that all living things are connected and that the environment matters. One should never take the continuing presence of birds in the back yard as a given as their habitats are threatened.

The Sibley Guide is not as well suited for fieldwork as the Smithsonian's Handbook, BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA (regional versions), or THE AUDUBON BACK YARD BIRDWATCHER. For example, on p. 440, the Sibley guide has an illustration titled "Troglodytid diversity" which shows the very small Winter Wren and the very large Cactus Wren. The Smithsonian handbook contains separate entries for each of these birds (and many other wrens) and each entry has a separate map showing the individual bird's range. You will immediately know from the Smithsonian Guide that the Winter Wren has an Eastern and Northern range while the Cactus Wren is more likely to be found along the Southwest border and in Northern Mexico.

In contrast, Sibley's book contains a paragraph on "habitats" in the "wren" section and it says Winter Wrens can be found in the Pacific Northwest old-growth forests and the Cactus Wrens can be found in the Chihuahuan Desert. In an earlier part of the guide Sibley has described these areas with lovely maps. You can figure out the approximate ranges of each bird with a bit of page flipping, but you may not quickly deduce that the Winter Wren is also found on the East Coast.

The Sibley Guide is nifty because it groups birds based on DNA results and discusses them as well as their general ranges, habitats, food and foraging behavior, and various aspects of breeding. The Sibley Guide promotes a deeper understanding of the ecology of birds. You will not want to take the Sibley Guide to the field for birdwatching, however.

The experiences and explanations provided are primarily devoted to total hip replacement. Interesting combination of viewpoints - orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist and patient - makes book more helpful to those facing the daunting prospect of a total hip replacement. Helps somewhat to decrease anxiety about the surgery and recovery. Information is generally accurate.

When I first picked up this book I thought that its utility would be limited to "living with arthritis" but my hip arthritis progressed quickly and within two years I was planning for total hip replacement. Ron Allen's perpective has helped buoy my spirits and has helped me find the determination to make it through what will be a tough few months.

I'm 43 and was pretty surprised and scared when I was told I needed hip replacement surgery- although I was in a lot of pain and having difficulty walking. This book goes through, step by step, making the decision to have surgery and what takes place during and after. I've read several books, but this is easy to read and from the patients perspective.

The Title of this story is Blackberry's in the Dark. The authors name is Mavis Jukes, and the pictures were done by Tomas B. Allen. There's a little boy named Austin. He goes to his grandparent's house every summer. He's not so happy this time, his grandfather past away not so long ago and so this time it's just his grandmother and him. He goes to pick some blakberries by the riuer. His grandmother comes up later with some fishing gear. His grandfather was going to teach him to fly fish that year, but now the grandmother is going to try to teach him even though she doesn't know how, she was thinking maybe her and her grandson could try to figure it out together. Here's a phrase to help you see how they talk in this book. "I didn't Know" began Austin. His grandmother drew him near to her. "Nobody knew, Austin." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nobody knew that would be the last summer we'd all have together." She pressed Austin's cheek against her sweater and they stood there for a few minutes, roking back and forth. After a while she asked..." I would recommend this book to some people. I liked it because in a way it was touching but in a way it was fun. I woudn't recommend this book to someone that just really doesn't like calm books, they mostly like action books. I haven't read any other books like this one yet. It's good!

Mavis Jukes' Blackberries In The Dark tells of a family tradition of blackberry picking summers challenged by a grandfather's death. Grandma is alone and Austin feels his summer has lost its special magic - it's up to them both to make new traditions in this warm story of death and change, with black and white drawings by Thomas Allen.

Probably the best young children's book on the subject of a death in the family.

Very beautifully written, tears will almost definitely flow from the adult reading it. One might then ask, why bother with this book if it's about death, a heavy subject my kid hasn't been exposed to? Well, actually, it is a very uplifting story about life itself. No psychobabble or religious references, just a simple story of family, bonds, and tradition. Jukes' writing is beautifully crafted, making this simple story very meaningful. Death itself is dealt with matter-of-factly, and there is nothing scary in the book.

Though tinged with sadness, it is truly wonderful, and there are even a couple of good laughs. (Like life itself, no?)

Highly recommended.

This book - Building Mental Muscle - is chock-a-block full of puzzles, games and other conundrums which you can share with your family and friends. It provides wonderfully clever ways to giving insights into the thinking process while entertaining with a variety of challenges and tests. Mensa would be's will be intrigued!

I had one main motivation for getting your book. To recapture my learning power! My second motivation was to understand why it needed to be recaptured.

Not only did I want to gain back my "Mental Muscle", but I wanted to understand why and how my learning capacity diminished in a few short years. I also wanted to understand preventative measures. And I wanted this information backed by research. So you see, your book was a perfect match.

The book is more entertaining than I anticipated! That has been the biggest surprise- it's fun. The mix of puzzles, exercises, research studies and explanations is like a song with an interesting and varied melody. It never stays in one place long enough to tire of it. Also, the information on how the brain functions (how it can become more/less powerful) was exactly what I wanted to know. Things like how the Hippocampus routes and retrieves data, how stress interferes with memory and how exercise helps the retention of mental function not only enlighten, but serve as positive motivation that the brain can be made strong again. Probably my favorite parts are those that explain the underlying logic needed to work through and solve the exercises. Like in the "Familial Dilemma" exercises.

As you can tell, I feel you have written a fine book and I am excited to see how my learning will be impacted. (bangonrecords.com -Music Production for film and television)

What a great book. I really enjoyed reading "Building Mental Muscle." When I decided that I wanted to study whole brain thinking, I spent over $1,300 on books and yours was exaclty what I was looking for-among the very best. Congratulations!

For those who love Key West, this book will confirm that affection. It will also offer insight into what it's like for those who arrive, fall in love with Key West, and decide to stay. The twenty delicious stories include one called "Leaf Woman," by Margit Bisztray, a revealing oblique peep into the interior life of a woman who typifies one of the many young people who swarm to Key West to find the only work available is low-end drone jobs. The cover with the Key West row house with the rooster perched on the railing of the porch is quintessential Key West.

I have read this book , and once again the authors from key west have brought me back to the Island that I long to call home. Especially Bruce Weiss's piece " Chicken Wars " was fabulous In my opinion Bruce is one of the best new authors of our time , and I can't wait to see what his next novel to read. Also David Kauflet piece was also excellent. Once again proving that he still has a great depth of talent to pull from. Definitely a book worth reading.

The third and latest short-story collection by a diverse and dedicated group of Key West resident-writers continues to keep a finger on the pulse of this tiny, delightfully deranged island. Their latest offering is whimsical, entertaining and right on target.

I bought this calendar through Amazon and, while I can't say I'm disappointed in the calendar or that there is anything wrong with it, it is not what I expected. I expected a picture of one bird, or possibly two, each month. That's the way the listing described it. Instead, each month features six to eight smaller pictures, of one bird or of two closely related birds. The pictures do not show the birds in natural settings, as I had hoped, but are like illustrations from a birding guide (which they are, and maybe I should have expected that).

The calendar is highly informative and detailed. I'm sure that birding enthusiasts will love it. I'm not sure about the rest of us. I'll probably get used to it; it just is not what I had expected.

I bought The Sibley Calendar 2002 ed. for my husband at Christmas, 2001. For the past six months, I have enjoyed reading and looking at the featured birds. The size of the calendar offers a poster type view with exquisite renderings; making markings easy to identify, and lacking shadows as is common with photographs. The best feature is having 29 to 31 days to study the birds of the month! I will be watching for the 2003 edition.
...don't pass this up- This is such an awesome reference guide. ... I highly recommend it.

This is the item that may finally give me the courage to be a real birder rather than a well-meaning but uneducated spectator.
The detail, the beauty, and the sheer volume of information, all in a calendar, defies description.

I recommend this calendar to anyone who enjoys birds, and to those whose children enjoy them as well. What a perfect family gift--an easy way for every member, young and old, to increase their enjoyment of the birds in their garden. My son and I are already digging out the binoculars!