As mentioned in a recent post, I’ve been looking forward to finally seeing this book. So I was excited when it showed up on the doorstep yesterday. I’m planning on doing a full review eventually, but in the meantime I wanted to share some initial thoughts.
- My very first thought was amazement at how large and heavy the box from Amazon was.
- I was pleasantly surprised at the packing. I’m extremely anal about the condition of my books, and sometimes they can get dinged up in the mail. I was hoping that it would be shrink-wrapped, but the publisher did one better. Princeton is shipping these out in their own secure cardboard box, as befits a book of this quality (and price).
- This book is huge! Here are a couple of comparison shots…
And now on to the contents.
Art
Some of the sample artwork from this book had me concerned. While this monograph’s main purpose is to be a knowledge reference to this family, for many, the artwork is the main draw (pun not intended, at least until I caught it!). The art doesn’t absolutely blow me away, but I do like it. There are a few images that I don’t particularly care for, but there are also some really good ones.
Text
I haven’t had time to read much of it. And even when I do, I’m not an expert on this group of birds. But I will at least compare the family overview and species accounts with those from the Handbook of the Birds of the World.
This is a gorgeous, well-produced book. The only thing even slightly unattractive about it is the copious amount of white space. I know it’s not a simple either/or, but I would rather this large book with large art and a lot of white space than a smaller book with smaller art and less space.
At over $100, I can’t say that this book, no matter how nice, would be worth it for everyone. But I can say that it was for me.
Posted by Grant McCreary on August 15th, 2009.
Although the book looks lovely, the price was a shocker and too dear for me. The Handbook of the Birds of the World looks intriguing though. Is it like The Birders Handbook?
The Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) is a series of 16 volumes (of which 13 have been published thus far) that will cover every species of bird in the world. These are easily the best bird books that I have ever seen. They give an overview of each family, profusely illustrated with photos. And then they have individual species accounts with painted plates.
However, if you think the trogon book’s price was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet! Each volume retails for $265! And that’s if you get them from Buteo Books. They’re even more from the publisher, due to the currency conversion (they’re published out of Spain). I was lucky enough to find some on ebay for a relatively good price. I really want to get all the volumes, but that may take a long while.
For more information, check out the HBW page of the publisher.