The Ultimate Biography of Earth and the ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Maine

I didn't learn how to bake sourdough during the pandemic, but I was still productive! I was honored to have been asked two write several books in the past few years, the first two of which are out now.

The amazing folks at Workman asked me to write a complete history of the Earth aimed at middle school kids, and the result is The Ultimate Biography of Earth. I'm so proud of it. It's fun and funny, but also serious and complete. It's chock-full of incredible illustrations from UK artist Jason Ford, who I think perfectly captured the tone and style I hoped. It's a delightful book, and is getting good reviews from folks who review books like this.  

The second book is the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of Maine. An absolute honor to put this book together. To think that I've come from writing about the dumbest bird stuff imaginable to creating a field guide to the birds of my beloved home state is just a real dream come true. As with all the ABA guides, it's illustrated with incredible photographs from Brian Small. The book covers more than 260 species found in Maine, making it a great reference and a perfect gift.

I'm thrilled to have these two books finally coming out after working hard on them during 2020 and 2021, and am grateful to both my friends at Workman and at Scott & Nix for their trust in me. And stay tuned, I have two other books in various stages of done-ness, that will hopefully hit shelves in the next year or so. Excited to share them with you. Good birding!

Richard Crossley's Advertising Career

I'm sure you've seen the innovative new field guides from Richard Crossley.  They're great, and you should all go here to purchase them.

What you may have missed, though, is that Crossley's groundbreaking collage style did not begin with field guides.  Crossley worked out his stylistic kinks during his career in the advertising industry.  I've done some deep research and found some of Crossley's ads, all of which show his style in development.

Read more »

How Many Field Guides Do You Own?

I began birding when I pulled an old copy of Peterson's off a shelf at a used bookstore in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I flipped through the book and noticed that someone (whom I later deduced to be an old woman in Florida) had written the date and location of each sighting next to the bird's picture in the book.  "What a cool idea!"  I thought.  I bought the book, crossed off that old woman's chickenscratches and began watching the skies. 

Just a few years later, my collection of field guides has grown by leaps and bounds.  I purchase new ones every year to keep year lists in, and I try to obtain as many exotic ones as possible.  My bookshelf currently includes:

1 copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds  (This is the book I keep my life list in.  I mean, it's just the best.  Best pictures, most detail.)  

2 copies of The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America (Both given as gifts before I moved to Colorado)

2 copies of National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Where I kept my 2007 and my current 2008 year list.  I like the NG because it has a lot more rarities than Peterson or Sibley.  However, it lacks Sibley's detail.)

3 copies of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (My original copy is gone.  I kept my 2004, 2005 and 2006 year lists in this guide.  I like it, but some of the art is dark or tough to see.  I haven't looked much at the new, large edition.

1 copy of Peterson's A Field Guide to Western Birds 

1 copy of A Field Guide to the Birds of East and Central Africa (JG Williams, 1964 ed.) (old, worn copy given to me by Uncle Mike)

1 copy of The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali, 1979 ed.) (Another cool old guide given by Uncle Mike)

1 copy of Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Western Region (1996) (my only guide using photos.  Not a huge fan)

1 copy of Birds of Ecuador (Awesome book.  I bought it before my trip to Ecuador's west coast [which is probably the least birdy part of the whole country...].  I had an incredible time leafing through this book and scrambling to identify the birds I would see.)

1 copy of Peterson's Gulls of the Americas (My most recent purchase.  I really love the idea of a Gulls guide, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed in this book.  A lot of the photos are very old, there is no index at the beginning, the birds aren't separated clearly, and the inclusion of South American gulls is confusing.  I understand that it's not meant for use in the field, but it's still tough to use at home.  It's OK, but there is a lot of room for improvement in a Gulls guide.)

1 copy of The Shorebird Guide  (This is what the Peterson Gulls guide should be.  The Shorebird Guide is incredible: beautiful, easy to use, lots of rarities.)

1 copy of National Geographic's Water, Prey and Game Birds of North America and Song and Garden Birds of North America (1964) (A box set of two companion volumes given to me by my grandfather.  At the back of both books are birdsong recordings which can be played on a record player!)

Those are all the bird guides I've acquired so far.  I'm looking forward to being an old man with an entire bookcase dedicated to different bird guides from around the world and from different eras.  

How many do YOU have?