The Songs of Insects
by Lang Elliott, Wil Hershberger
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Book Reviews of The Songs of Insects
Book Review: If you have done butterflies and dragonflies.....
Summary: 5 Stars
I just received a copy of Lang Elliot and Wil Hershberger's book, The Songs of Insects and just wanted to say what a fabulous addition this will be to any local naturalist's collection of guides.
I used to work a lot on this group in the late 1990's, testing monitoring protocols primarily for the katydid groups. I grew to appreciate how one could identify almost all of the species just by their calls. Unfortunately, I couldn't get much interest to continue that work and so instead now work on native bee monitoring techniques...something that people have more awareness of.
I think this book should move crickets, katydids, and cicadas into the same realm butterflies and dragonflies now inhabit for many naturalists. Now non-professionals will have great access to information and calls of these insects though this book and the associated CD. Furthermore this is complemented by accessing the information on Tom Walker's web site in Gainesville, FL for all the species in North America, complete with their songs and calls. Consequently, it would be great to see people organize the collection of distribution and abundance information of these species within North America similar to efforts for dragonflies and butterflies.
The pictures are the best I have seen and the recordings are of the highest quality....this is a book that will greatly change how any of you listen and look at these critters. ... .I can't say enough.
Sam Droege
Book Review: Great resource for insect identification!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have long wanted to know what insects I am hearing every summer and now have a chance of knowing which ones they are. The imagery is fantastic. The range maps will be a blessing to my students as they try to determine what type of katydid or cicada and so on they have nabbed for their bug collection.
The audio CD is great too! The only drawback there is that the holding compartment in the back of the book is poor. Right after I got this book I was taking it to school and the brand new CD fell out of the pouch and onto the pavement. Now its scratched and I don't know what to do. I usually make a backup of all my CDs right away but failed to do so with this one!
This book came to my attention when I wrote in my blog about the microphone I positioned in my backyard. I use it to listen to crickets and lots of other creatures out back, sometimes all night long.
Book Review: Remarkable work
Summary: 5 Stars
As other reviewers have stated, this is a remarkable resource for insect identification. I would like to comment on the quality of the images. I found that a remarkable effort and attention to detail that went into these images. In far too many books the conversion of images from digital to print looks like the author doesn't know or doesn't care how his images look. For Lang Elliott this was not the case. He meticulously ensured that the printed images have remarkable depth of field and colors. I found any number of them to be remarkable pieces of photographic art. I felt guilty for only paying $13.57 for this book.Book Review: Insects finally get recognition
Summary: 5 Stars
I heard an interview on Chicago NPR with the authors of this book and CD compilation on the songs of insects. I was curious and followed the links to amazon.
Having been a long-standing amateur student of ornithology I was immediately motivated by the genius of the idea of a guide to insect songs. I bought the book/cd, and I think if you buy it too, you'll be very happy with the work. It is interesting and unique and a great way to open up areas of the brain that lie dormant beneath the contemporary condition.
Book Review: pleased
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I enjoy the song of the cricket.......we didn't understand that so many varieties of crickets existed... Having the photos in front of us while listening to the cd songs is a very good feature. My husband finds listening to the cricket songs relaxing also. I would certainly purchase other quality items from the people who created this....probably birds or just cricket songs. Now we know more about the world we live in.