[.ca] Tree Identification (ISBN 0688050395)

Not first choice:
Taking this book in hand I am inclined to see the negative first. The black and white photographs look rather depressing, in particular those of the bark don't look very useful. This is not a book which looks good on the bookshelf! Also its size and soft cover make it somewhat unhandy for carrying it about: it is far from field guide size. As a tree book I very much prefer John Laird Farrar's "Trees in Canada" / "Trees of the Northern United States and Canada" which is a handy size, is handsomely bound, has excellent color photographs of trunks, flowers and fruits and stunning line drawings of habit, leafs, leaf scars and flower details, not to mention distribution maps. Of course the two books have only a limited overlap in area treated and in species selection and the book by Symonds certainly has the subjects for the photographs carefully chosen. Perhaps I will yet come to apppreciate it?

easy to use!:
I use this book a lot. I find the black and white pictures are easy to use and the size of the book is just right. I wasn't looking for a pocket guide - (have some of those) I was looking for a guide that would really help me id the trees and this one does. I go for walks in our woods and carry this with me to id various things I see. Its great to have on hand

Student Tree ID:
The Ag Department at the high school that I work used this book. It's a good source for tree ID, but it could have stood to be a little bigger with more trees. But, the trees that it ID's, are thoughly ID'ed. I would have also liked to see it in color. I really liked the scale used for sizing the leaves, blooms and fruit. Very much worth the money spent.

J. H. Haddock:
While this could be a great manual for the identification of northeastern trees, the discription would do well to mention that no trees west of North Dakota are included. Since I live in Arizona, I doubt I'll use it much. Wanna buy a copy?

It Really Works:
I bought a house without knowing what the 5 trees in front of it were. Using this book I guessed Apple and Cherry. The next year my spouse was surprised to find out I was right! The book gave me enough information to figure it out! And I knew nothing about trees!