Maybe I'm weird for reading field guides but there is so much to learn. Eastern forests are a large topic since there are many (about 2 dozen) types covered in this book and each has it's own ecology. But that is really what the book is about - forest ecology. Again since this is a broad subject the coverage tends to be spotty and anecdotal but I did learn many things. It also attempts to describe how to look at things from an ecological view point - how are things related and why? I say attempts because that is a difficult subject and so many species are interrelated it's hard to put out a particular example and still do it justice. But he does discuss soils, forest age, succession, forest layers, plant and animal interactions and seasonal changes. It is a very ambitious book given it attempts to be a field guide as well for the most common species.
Having a fairly good background in ecology and evolution I felt he picked simplistic examples (or gave simplistic explanations) as his illustrations. Had I not had a strong background I would have learned more and it probably would have served as a good introduction to these concepts. As a field guide it is pretty worthless since it is organised by the species in a forest community and has no dichotomous key. Still it does point out things to look for and gives facts about specific species. I learned jewel weed, a plant I am reasonably familiar with, has small self pollinating flowers as well as the showy orange or yellow ones, something I'll look for this summer.
My biggest complaint is that it seems dated and poorly edited. It was written in 1988 and revised in 1998. It describes the monarch-viceroy butterfly mimicry as batesian when more modern research shows the viceroy as unpalatable in it's own right and it is therefore mullerian mimicry. I also noted some lack of clarity in the use of the flower parts ( sepals, petals and calyx) and an obvious error in conversion of metrics to English measurements. These are minor faults but they cause you to question other things.
I would recommend it as a help in learning to see what's around you. Pick a particular forest type you have easy access to and look for some of the things described. It does introduce the complexity of forest ecological systems and they change over time and provides many examples.
Having a fairly good background in ecology and evolution I felt he picked simplistic examples (or gave simplistic explanations) as his illustrations. Had I not had a strong background I would have learned more and it probably would have served as a good introduction to these concepts. As a field guide it is pretty worthless since it is organised by the species in a forest community and has no dichotomous key. Still it does point out things to look for and gives facts about specific species. I learned jewel weed, a plant I am reasonably familiar with, has small self pollinating flowers as well as the showy orange or yellow ones, something I'll look for this summer.
My biggest complaint is that it seems dated and poorly edited. It was written in 1988 and revised in 1998. It describes the monarch-viceroy butterfly mimicry as batesian when more modern research shows the viceroy as unpalatable in it's own right and it is therefore mullerian mimicry. I also noted some lack of clarity in the use of the flower parts ( sepals, petals and calyx) and an obvious error in conversion of metrics to English measurements. These are minor faults but they cause you to question other things.
I would recommend it as a help in learning to see what's around you. Pick a particular forest type you have easy access to and look for some of the things described. It does introduce the complexity of forest ecological systems and they change over time and provides many examples.