Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

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justinm
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Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by justinm »

Ok this is not a Field Guide first and foremost. Why? Because it's a big ass tome of a book. I knew Georgia was cool, but it's epic cool. That's what the book "Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia" by Jensen, Camp, Gibbons, and Elliot has taught me. I'm going there on Wednesday, first time herping Georgia. I am more excited now than ever. The book includes 500 color photographs, with species accounts written by regional experts. It is an excellent reference guide, and has county dot maps for range of each species. This is how a herp book should be done. Highly recommended to anyone in the region or who is herping it. With 170 species of herp to find, Georgia is pretty much amazing.

Also cool thing to note, you'll recognize the names credited with the photos as many members of this site. Great work to the folks who contributed to this one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082033 ... UTF8&psc=1


Justin
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The Real Snake Man
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Re: Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by The Real Snake Man »

Looks good, but how fluid is it? I ask because as a general rule I steer clear of books listed as "edited by"; I prefer to have a single or even a few authors of the entire book, that way it's less like a bunch of articles and more like a labor of love for the few people that wanted to see the project through. That's just me being picky, though. It's probably a stinkin' good book.

-Gene
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gbin
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Re: Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by gbin »

Huh. On the contrary, I tend to think of edited books as the literary equivalent of baseball's All-Star Games. On a broadly ranging subject (e.g. a taxonomically diverse group such as the herps of a region), no single author could ever know as much as do several authors each of whom was presumably selected by the editor(s) for his/her particular expertise in one or another aspect of the subject. (And having contributed to such books in the past, myself, I can tell you personally that my chapters have indeed always been a labor of love. ;) ) I agree that there is sometimes more variability among an edited book's chapters in terms of readability, thoroughness of treatment, etc. than is desirable, but that doesn't seem a bad trade-off at all to me.

I'm not trying to argue with you, Gene, and you're certainly as entitled to your view as I am to mine. Your view just surprised me a bit, is all, so I wanted to offer mine.

Best of luck in GA, Justin!

Gerry
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The Real Snake Man
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Re: Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by The Real Snake Man »

Those are all fair points, to be sure. But then, those few authors could simply have authored the book themselves instead of editing the work of ten or twenty others. Usually, I find that the "edited by" books, when not discussing the herpetofauna of a particular region (as in species accounts), are typically catering towards those who are very, very interested in the science. I love herpetology, but there is a limit to my depth of interest with the intricacies. Books like Biology of the Pitvipers and The Biology of Rattlesnakes are just not of much value to me for that reason. Again, to me at least, they just look like a collection of articles, not a book that you sit down and read (which is great for a herpetologist, but maybe not for even a life-long obsessed amateur). Plus, not to appear shallow, but I like some pictures and maps to look at too :) . Not disagreeing with you at all, just expanding on why, so as to lessen your surprise :) .

-Gene
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Re: Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by cherper »

One thing is for sure, Justin...Georgia is awesome for herps! Where are you headed?

Cary
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justinm
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Re: Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia

Post by justinm »

cherper wrote:One thing is for sure, Justin...Georgia is awesome for herps! Where are you headed?

Cary

Cary,

I'm back, a few of us a did a lightning quick trip to Georgia working with the Orianne Society. Even scored a county record Pseudacris ornata, in Wilcox I think it was.

The book came in more handy than I realized. I'm not sure what the preference in book layout is but there were 6 of us looking at it and everyone was pretty much amazed at the quality of the book. It's cheap in regard to what you're getting, which is a lot. The maps were very good, and it has multiple pictures of each species. Juveniles are well represented. I can't recommend it enough for people living in or visiting Georgia.

Justin Michels
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