[Deimos]

Actually the full title is "Collins Complete Guides - Collins Complete British Animals: A photographic guide to every common species"

Can't really "review" as the copy I purchased was returned pretty quickly because I was pretty unimpressed. I have loads of the Collins Field Guides (mostly fairly old but fortunately most species take a fair time to evolve so they are still very useful). For ages I have been after a Field'ish Guide to include mammals and ideally one to include a bit more Natural History. My Birds one is great for identification but says nothing about the birds themselves.

Anyway, the above looked good and I ordered it and ... not impressed. The layout is poor and unclear. Some species have a full page, others just a paragraph and no real standard format for different aspects of the animal. Left page has text (and distribution map) and facing page has photographs. Photos are mostly circular and printed over a full page background (e.g. mouse is cropped close in a circle printed over the full page background of grass resulting in an image that confuses the eye and wastes a lot of space. And whilst the photos are OK, they should have asked some of the photographers who post here and get something a bit more impressive. Had they adopted a standard rectangular crop format for images (on a plain background) it would have been much clearer and they could have fitted in a lot more/larger images.

Contrary to the Amazon descriptions/content, not all species have a full page of text, some have just a paragraph.

I would question Collins' understanding of the word "Animals" because the book does not include any birds, no fish, no insects - so I would not describe it as "Complete ... Animals" but then maybe I am out-of-date.

I can see the book being of interest to maybe a teenager who wants to start getting interested in wildlife. But it is not a field guide and not a coffee table book and not really a reference book and I really don't know what it is and where/who it is targeted at. Certainly a lot thinner than all my other field guides.

I was not impressed (hence sending it back the next day). So, if you are considering the book, maybe go to a bookshop and look at it first or online, open it carefully so you can send it back in perfect condition for credit (not easy as just opening the book properly would probably crease the spine - no damage, just no longer perfect condition for mail order credit).

My personal opinion and others do disagree (Amazon has a few higher ratings for the book).

Ian

[Hawk_Eye]

Is it the one with the stag on the cover? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Complet ... 763&sr=8-1

If it is I noticed that in the product description is does say

The essential photographic field guide to all mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the British Isles and surrounding seas.

I agree that it's not well thought of to put Animals on the cover when it only encompasses three types.

I have this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Complet ... 763&sr=8-3 which has pretty much everything from birds to fungi. Admittedly it's not full of detail. The right hand page has pictures on it while the left hand page has a short paragraph on the corresponding pictures.

Ignoring the one you sent back are Collins guides the best out there?