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Kaufman Field Guides
Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America
Many insects are difficult even for the experts to identify. In the new Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, readers will find a wealth of information on the amazing observable behaviors of insects and their fascinating life histories. Naturalists Kenn Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton use a broad ecological approach rather than overly technical terms, making the book accessible and understandable for everyone. The lively and engaging text emphasizes the insects that are most likely to catch our attention but includes information on all groups that can be recognized. The guide is lavishly illustrated, with more than 2,350 digitally enhanced photographs representing every major group of insects found in North America north of Mexico. Comprehensive yet compact, authoritative yet easy to understand, this is the perfect guide for anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating and diverse insects of North America.
392 pages, Turtleback
First published February 28, 2007
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315 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 19, 2020
When my son was little, he developed a curiosity about bugs. He'd ask me what a particular one was, but most of the time I didn't know. We'd then try to look them up on the internet (BugGuide.net is a good source). So one Christmas, his mom got us this book.
It's a great introduction to the world of insects (and select arthropods often misidentified as "bugs"). It's broken down by class and order with color photos and relative sizes of select species that are either common or of notable interest. After a general introduction about the particular group on a page, there's often another paragraph about a sub-group followed by a sentence or two about featured species or genera, typically the pictured individuals.
And so this has fueled our continuous drive to identify every insect we observe in our yard.
Who's that butterfly that keeps landing on Alex? Red Admiral
Do I need to worry about this beetle? No, it only eats decaying wood.
Is this bee going to sting me? No, it's just a yellowjacket that smelled the sugar in your drink. Don't kill it because it eats the bugs that eat our crops.
These ladybugs have different spots. That's because they're different species.
Dragonflies, damselflies, katydids, fireflies, soldier beetles, paper wasps, weevils, stink bugs, owlet moths, robber flies, ants, butterflies, and bumble bees. On and on.
One of the most useful features of the book is learning who's a pest and who's an ally. The pest identification part is obviously important, but even more so the ally. While I knew that ladybugs were awesome, they didn't have any biting or stinging parts to worry about. And they're cute. Insects that we were taught in our childhood to fear for their nasty stingers are actually our allies (wasps, hornets), too. I even let some paper wasps build a nest under my deck one year because of what I learned here. Spoiler alert: No one got stung.
Even at just shy of 400 pages, there are limits to what this book can cover as there are nearly a hundred thousand species of insects in North America alone (11,000 moths; 16,000 flies; 24,000 beetles, and so on). As such, sometimes we were left wanting more information on either a bug we'd found or clarity on a particular type of beetle. But I guess that's where the internet comes in handy.
Definitely recommended for those wanting to get to know more about whom they share their yard with.
It's a great introduction to the world of insects (and select arthropods often misidentified as "bugs"). It's broken down by class and order with color photos and relative sizes of select species that are either common or of notable interest. After a general introduction about the particular group on a page, there's often another paragraph about a sub-group followed by a sentence or two about featured species or genera, typically the pictured individuals.
And so this has fueled our continuous drive to identify every insect we observe in our yard.
Who's that butterfly that keeps landing on Alex? Red Admiral
Do I need to worry about this beetle? No, it only eats decaying wood.
Is this bee going to sting me? No, it's just a yellowjacket that smelled the sugar in your drink. Don't kill it because it eats the bugs that eat our crops.
These ladybugs have different spots. That's because they're different species.
Dragonflies, damselflies, katydids, fireflies, soldier beetles, paper wasps, weevils, stink bugs, owlet moths, robber flies, ants, butterflies, and bumble bees. On and on.
One of the most useful features of the book is learning who's a pest and who's an ally. The pest identification part is obviously important, but even more so the ally. While I knew that ladybugs were awesome, they didn't have any biting or stinging parts to worry about. And they're cute. Insects that we were taught in our childhood to fear for their nasty stingers are actually our allies (wasps, hornets), too. I even let some paper wasps build a nest under my deck one year because of what I learned here. Spoiler alert: No one got stung.
Even at just shy of 400 pages, there are limits to what this book can cover as there are nearly a hundred thousand species of insects in North America alone (11,000 moths; 16,000 flies; 24,000 beetles, and so on). As such, sometimes we were left wanting more information on either a bug we'd found or clarity on a particular type of beetle. But I guess that's where the internet comes in handy.
Definitely recommended for those wanting to get to know more about whom they share their yard with.
August 9, 2016
An excellent field guide for the aspiring entomologist or insect hobbyist. Eaton is accurate and vivid in his discretions and the pictures in the guide are stunning and helpful.
August 18, 2018
Highly recommended for anyone interested in IDing bugs that they see. It’s way more user friendly than online guides because you just flip through.
March 19, 2022
does what I need it to do— namely, narrow something down to genus or family in a short period of time while on the go. no, it’s not an encyclopedia of insects, don’t really get the complaints that it doesn’t have all 73k+ species. the color photos are good and give you a quick reference to do deeper research if needed. also appreciate the well-written blurbs about the species in question. portable for a hiking backpack, color coded for photo comparison. only gripe is that larval stages of lepidoptera are mostly absent, just a few caterpillars featured.
July 1, 2017
This is the best and most thorough insect identifier I have used yet. Accurate pictures with more identifying power with the addition of pictures of different life stages: nymph, larva, and for butterflies/moths: even the caterpillar/cocoon is shown with it, and actual size guides. It's the only book I grab now!
November 12, 2018
This book is such a great tool to help me figure out what bug I found. Sometimes I have no clue where to start, but I can flip through the book and see it pictured! Almost every time I've used the book in this way, I've found exactly what I was looking for. Very well organized for a book that covers so many different types of insects! A MUST for any hobby entomologist or naturalist.
July 15, 2018
I love the setup of the Kaufman field guide series so when I wanted a guide to insects to help my kids understand the bugs in our neighborhood this is the first book I sought out. I was not disappointed. Pictures are clear with good descriptions. We have loved putting names with our insect friends.
October 25, 2018
A beautiful book about arthropods in the North America. It has from Rhaphidophoridae family(cave crickets) to the family of lucanidae(stag beetles). I've learned a lot from this book. I recommend it to anyone who is willing to dive deep into basic entomology!
August 4, 2023
Intriguing, in-depth, and very informative with lots and lots of pictures (maybe too many …). I really enjoyed this and it was helpful in my quest to identify all the critters I’ve come across.
May 15, 2025
I have owned this book for years and continually go back to it to refresh myself on the diversity of insects in North America. The photo collages cover a wide variety of species, and also include many larval images (not for all groups, but for more than just butterflies and moths).
February 6, 2021
Excellent illustrations and clear descriptions of insects. Recommended by naturalists, especially for a garden.
August 16, 2021
Ok. there are so many there's not much room in a little book.... so not really many bugs and I can only kinda get close to the broader category by browsing the photos. No key to follow.
March 4, 2024
Best drawing reference book ever. Could use more in the arachnids section but that more of a personal preference than anything.
October 24, 2014
My first and favourite insect field guide. It's so beautiful and the picture are absolutely perfect (I don't know what the heck is wrong with these folks and their review, the photos are brilliant and the design is OH so easy to navigate, it's like breathing.
But they are true on one thing: they definitely compromise a nice design/many photographs and compactness/portability for details. Not much details at all and if there is detail, it's probably not the detail you'll want :(
BUT then again, we can just come back to the internet and google that ish up, because I mean this is just a field guide, so I still think it's perfect, especially as the guide for beginners to intermediates :D
Also, come on it's so recent and updated! That's unheard of in this area of study, nobody cares about entomology any more :(
--
Edit:
I have since gotten and adapted to two other insect guide books: National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of NA and Peterson Field Guide to Insects and I now pretty much use only those two. Sometimes I pull up Kaufman's because I'm accustomed to it and for more examples of the species and the beautiful pictures, but other than that I don't have much use for it anymore. I'm not going to change my star rating because it's still wonderful for what it is, but here's my new and improved opinion (similar reviews are on each book's page):
Kaufman is good for its many pictures mostly consistent in being clear and dorsal view, often differentiation between male and female, and extra white space around the images to annotate if you so wish. It has vague, encompassing descriptions of nearly ever family and order, which is very, very good, but often not as detailed as I hope it to be.
Peterson is an illustrated guide (no pictures- it was first published 40+ years ago) which is perfect identifying and general information about the particular order or family. The illustrations are very pretty but are definitely perfunctory rather than ornate, so don't worry about that. Peterson is your dry-cut guide: no prose, you are given the identifying characteristics, size, origin, and perhaps habitats or habits. Helpful features: arrows on the illustration pointing to every mentioned defining characteristic, a ruler on the inside of the back cover, a couple dichotomous keys, and very pretty and clear diagrams of many things.
Wildlife Federation is my overall favourite :) It's very dense with information and pictures, a good balance. There's a big useful blurb in the introduction, summarizing each of the orders as well as general anatomical and behavioural characteristics of insecta. There's also a good bit about arachnids and other arthropods. There's a healthy 1-2 page blurb about each order, but no blurb about the families! This has to be my biggest bone to pick with Federation, otherwise it would be close to perfect. I'd really like to have more general information about the habits etc of a family as a whole, but this guide does not do that even once. But yeah, otherwise this book is the most comprehensive I'm glad it has three dashes of Arachinda and a pinch each of Entognatha, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Branchiopoda, Malacostraca; because I don't need to know that much, but being able to vaguely identify it is still loads helpful :)
But yeah, each have their own faults and mistakes as well- consult the internet and double check your sources for controversial taxonomy! I've been confused more than once.
Yup I'm still a scrub, but I'm working on it!
But they are true on one thing: they definitely compromise a nice design/many photographs and compactness/portability for details. Not much details at all and if there is detail, it's probably not the detail you'll want :(
BUT then again, we can just come back to the internet and google that ish up, because I mean this is just a field guide, so I still think it's perfect, especially as the guide for beginners to intermediates :D
Also, come on it's so recent and updated! That's unheard of in this area of study, nobody cares about entomology any more :(
--
Edit:
I have since gotten and adapted to two other insect guide books: National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of NA and Peterson Field Guide to Insects and I now pretty much use only those two. Sometimes I pull up Kaufman's because I'm accustomed to it and for more examples of the species and the beautiful pictures, but other than that I don't have much use for it anymore. I'm not going to change my star rating because it's still wonderful for what it is, but here's my new and improved opinion (similar reviews are on each book's page):
Kaufman is good for its many pictures mostly consistent in being clear and dorsal view, often differentiation between male and female, and extra white space around the images to annotate if you so wish. It has vague, encompassing descriptions of nearly ever family and order, which is very, very good, but often not as detailed as I hope it to be.
Peterson is an illustrated guide (no pictures- it was first published 40+ years ago) which is perfect identifying and general information about the particular order or family. The illustrations are very pretty but are definitely perfunctory rather than ornate, so don't worry about that. Peterson is your dry-cut guide: no prose, you are given the identifying characteristics, size, origin, and perhaps habitats or habits. Helpful features: arrows on the illustration pointing to every mentioned defining characteristic, a ruler on the inside of the back cover, a couple dichotomous keys, and very pretty and clear diagrams of many things.
Wildlife Federation is my overall favourite :) It's very dense with information and pictures, a good balance. There's a big useful blurb in the introduction, summarizing each of the orders as well as general anatomical and behavioural characteristics of insecta. There's also a good bit about arachnids and other arthropods. There's a healthy 1-2 page blurb about each order, but no blurb about the families! This has to be my biggest bone to pick with Federation, otherwise it would be close to perfect. I'd really like to have more general information about the habits etc of a family as a whole, but this guide does not do that even once. But yeah, otherwise this book is the most comprehensive I'm glad it has three dashes of Arachinda and a pinch each of Entognatha, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Branchiopoda, Malacostraca; because I don't need to know that much, but being able to vaguely identify it is still loads helpful :)
But yeah, each have their own faults and mistakes as well- consult the internet and double check your sources for controversial taxonomy! I've been confused more than once.
Yup I'm still a scrub, but I'm working on it!
December 15, 2017
Very good book, the illustrations are very helpful.
August 3, 2012
The best insect field guide available at my local Barnes & Noble, and probably one of the better ones out there - covers enough species so that you can narrow an unknown insect down to a family, at least, and then go from there by searching online. As it is, though, it does have a lot of species represented in it, and so far I've only ID'ed maybe 3? species that weren't represented in the guide. Also, it's plenty portable (might even fit in a large pocket), unlike some of the other "field guides" I saw in the store.
February 15, 2015
Who told the authors it can be called a "field guide"??? Which way the redactors were looking? It's as terrible as it can possibly be. Something like "This family has 31 species, but we will only mention one name and give you one picture. We also will not give you any clues on what the differences between the species in the family might be or where you can find it's representatives."
As a superficial review of North American insects it may work, but it is not a field guide, not in the slightest.
As a superficial review of North American insects it may work, but it is not a field guide, not in the slightest.
September 14, 2017
I've been drawing insects and I prefer this sort of thing to live models. Live insects always want you to go through their agents and there's so much red tape involved. Plus when you finally do get them in the studio their behavior is erratic and sometimes they can be prima donnas. The flying ones are the worst. They can never just relax on the recliner and pose like a cat or a dog. My personal favorite selection in this book is the page entitled "weird crickets". I'm not making this up. If I were a cricket, these guys would be my friends for sure.
January 26, 2013
Most field guides to the insects are not particularly useful simply because the sheer number of species exceeds what any guide can cover. This book, though, is the exception. It is a highly useful field guide and it continually amazes me how often the insect you find in the field is also in the book. Some of my photographs are in the book, but I would feel the same about the book without this fact.
February 22, 2011
Very good guide to the most common North American insects. However, there are so many insects that it is impossible for the guide to cover all of them, so not every insect can be identified with this book.
March 2, 2011
my favorite insect guide. It seems to have nearly everything I find, or a close enough relative to make ID much easier, and it emphasizes that there are many more species out there. Just enough information on each bug. love it.
February 1, 2009
The best I've come across yet for IDing insects. With this and the National Wildlife Federation's, you can't go wrong.
May 31, 2009
My constant companion to help identify insects I find in the garden. I only wish that it showed even more insects than it already does - which are quite a few!
June 28, 2012
My kid and I are obsessed with this book. Great learning tool for both of us as we prowl the backyard.
October 12, 2012
way cool.
July 30, 2013
A decent field guide. Ruggedly built, which is also important for a book like this.
May 30, 2014
My #1 all-time favorite field guide. I've read it cover-to-cover, twice.
September 27, 2016
LOVED THIS BOOK! So much information and the pictures are top quality.
Read
July 29, 2015Great for bug identification
March 17, 2016
a generally good sampling, but not nearly as complete as i had hoped. sparse in description.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews