A Field Guide to Insects of America North of Mexico

I'd never think to actually review a field manual until this week. I found a random bug in my yard and had a burning desire to identify it before by turtle ate it. I immediatly pulled this book off the shelf and in less than an hour, had it identified (it was a click beetle). While not the friendliest of books (and one I despised back in Entomology), it is useful and is the standard.

Used this book a lot for a summer entomology course and often when hiking. Then grandsons 'came along' and wanted morning breakfast pancakes in the shapes of insects.... book was lots of use for making the shapes correctly

Of the three insect books I have, this one is by far the most likely to properly identify a bug, provided I already know roughly what general type bug it is. Ideally for me, one of the other insect guides with lots of pictures would get me close, then this book would pin down an identification.

There seems to me to be a bare minimum of illustrations, nearly all in black and white and they are meant to guide you to what part of the anatomy to check for the identity.

This book is worth having to compliment the more pictoral field guides of insects.

Originally published in 1970.
Peterson Field Guides are the best. I purchased this one used a few years back, maybe around 2015, but I'm not too happy with this it. This is a hardback library discard. I prefer paperbacks with these types of books. Oh, well!

There are a lot of colored photos and drawings, but strangely there are more black and white photos. I haven't really used it extensively to try and identify any insects with it....cause I forgot I had it. We've got plenty of bugs here in Southeast Texas to bring this little book on a test run. I guess I'll update this review later on. As far as looks goes, with quality photos, this one gets about an average 3-stars for now.

A reasonable attempt to cover a huge group of insect families. Obviously limited for those who are trying to identify or "key-out" every critter found in the net.

When I worked as a health inspector, this was a useful book.

A good reference book, easy to use.