The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians

Rating:
Summary: Excellent field guide! Mostly USA species, light on Canadian
Review: An excellent field guide (particularly in plastic cover-softback). Covers many USA species, but very light on Canadian species. Better than many I've seen though. Excellent color plates for accurate identification of species.

Rating:
Summary: A must for Herp Enthusiasts!
Review: An excellent guide with plenty of illustrations for identification of reptiles and amphibians you may run across. Using it takes a little getting use to but contains lots of helpful info.

Rating:
Summary: A must for Herp Enthusiasts!
Review: An excellent guide with plenty of illustrations for identification of reptiles and amphibians you may run across. Using it takes a little getting use to but contains lots of helpful info.

Rating:
Summary: WORTH 10X THE PRICE
Review: I bought this book for my 7 year old son last Christmas and it has been by his side ever since (he even sleeps with it). The great pictures for each reptile and amphibian listed help him determine which one he has caught in our back yard. The neighborhood kids consider my son "the expert" on reptiles and amphibians and seek him out whenever they catch one. The biographies are very good and have US maps shaded in telling where the animal can be found. A definate purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I have had this book for about 5 years and it has been great!

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Summary: If only it were updated...
Review: I have read this book cover to cover and while it has been a very useful resource, there are certain aspects of it that leave something to be desired. Since the taxonomy in this book has not really been updated since it was written, the classification in this book doesn't necessarily match up to the current thinking on many of the species listed. I would say that it is sufficent(if not great) for someone who simply wants to know what kind of frog or snake they've seen (the photographs are very useful), but if you want a more scientifically correct book, I would tend towards the peterson guide.

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Summary: Most popular book on the block....
Review: Let's just say that when any of the neighborhood kids finds a turtle, they come to our house to ID it. And we don't have any kids. (They know my husband is really a kid at heart, where amphibians are concerned) and now that we have this book we have identified many of their little "finds," and more than a few snakes on my mom and dad's property. Very easy to use, great pictures and habit information, and ***especially useful for the info on what a particuar critter might be confused with.***

Rating:
Summary: This is the book for anyone from children to professionals.
Review: My son became fascinated with reptiles and amphibians at around age 4. This book has helped us both tremendously to understand and identify creatures all around us. We have devoured books of all types at our local library and we keep coming back to this one. The pictures are fabulous and easy enough for a child to use. The text is informative and well presented. My son will be thrilled to find this book under the Christmas tree this year!

Rating:
Summary: Edition needs refining.
Review: The contemporary edition of the Audubon Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians is decades old. Though it covers many species of snakes, salamanders, newts, etc., it is underrated because of the lack of updating. Some species names are known to be out of date, or invalid. However, even this cannot override the true quality of all the Audubon guides, including this book. Even though a newly revised and updated edition is way overdue, it still presents spectacular photographs of various species. The system is the same, with the description in the back of the book. The Audubon Guide to Weather has been revised and updated over the years and hopefully, this one will be also.

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive, well organized field guide.
Review: The photos which illustrate this book are organized in such a way that one does not have to be familiar with reptiles and amphibians to make resonably accurate field identifications. For instance, the photographs of striped snakes are grouped together so that you can easily check for that matches the animal you have found.

The text and range map section gives much valuable information as to habitat and behavior as well as breeding and the size of neonates as well as adults.