Book Review: Chinery: Insects of Britain & Northern Europe

New Edition 1995
Collins
Over 1000 illustrations
ISBN 0002192160

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Michael Chinery has put together a wonderful, informative, beautiful and genuinely helpful field guide to our Insects. There are, of course, way too many species to illustrate or even mention all of them, so the author of any book has the unenviable task of choosing the right insects to cover. Chinery has wisely chosen to cover all the major groups (Orders) of insect; all the common species that children and adults would like to know about; and many interesting and rare species that illustrate fascinating features and abilities. The plates are wonderfully clear -- at once works of art and precise guides to the smallest of distinguishing details -- and the text is solidly reliable and helpful. The identification keys are sufficient to tie specimens down to family, if not to actual genus and species. It's a pleasure to have a book which encapsulates so much knowledge in such an attractive and compact form.