Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide Paperback – September 8, 2009

I bought this book for $16.47 (it lists for $25.00) and it would be a heck of a buy at twice the price - heck even thrice the price. The book is HEAVY, well bound, highest quality photos both in how taken and how reproduced by Rio Nuevo Press in Tucson. Just a great deal on what will become a classic book on this aspect of popular herpetology.I particularly like that the authors/editors did not try to do it all themselves - they enlisted the help of many other herpetologists, presumably based upon those scholars' specialities, and yet the authors/editors have instituted a great format for each species, including what you'd expect from a field guide, but also much more. I particularly like the occasional personal observations, and of equal worth is the section under each species telling us where best to view this species.Obviously I am a fan now of this book. Anyone else who is interested in the American Southwest's lizard fauna will be too once they have their own copy in hand.

I love this book! It is very helpful to me, given that I spend a lot of time at Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site (El Paso, TX), I see a lot of lizards, and I like to know what I'm seeing. This book is very good for that. It has excellent photos of every species, and plenty of information on where to see each type of lizard as well as the variations. Also a detailed description for each species, information on range, viewing tips, and natural history. The first part of the book gives very thorough information on everything you need to know to identify lizards, including information on coloration patterns, scale types and habitats. Yes, it is too big to take into the field, but if you take photos of what you see, the pictures and other information in the book make identification easy. I am learning a lot by reading the first part of the book (I read the species information when I'm in the process of identifying the lizards). It's been a long time since I studied biology, so I've forgotten a lot of the really technical stuff, but this book still makes identification easy. You don't have to be a biologist to get a lot from it: they explain everything you need to know. I bought this book based on reviews I read, and have been very pleased with it. I, too, recommend it highly.

This book tells you everything about identifying lizards, where to find them and helpful remarks. The text is easy to read and the pictures are high quality making great visual aids. An enormous amount of knowledge went into this book including information on each lizard and how to tell them apart. Sometimes you really have to catch a lizard to be sure what it is. This book provides instructions on how to noose a lizard but it's very difficult to catch one alive. The first few times I tried to noose a lizard it got away. Then I started pulling harder on the noose but ended up strangling a lizard. Now I just feel bad about trying to catch one this way. I thought I had carefully followed the instructions line by line. Maybe this activity is best left to the experts. Anyway, everyone, good luck in all your lizard watching and don't forget to buy this most essential book.

This is a very good book and loaded with great photos. It is a little bit difficult for a novice to find their local species at first though. At well over 500 pages, there's a lot to see here...maybe too much. There are lizards from Texas and Baja here too, which is great, but geographically, I wonder if the book would have been more useful and concise dealing with a smaller area...in other words with just the American Southwest...SoCal, Arizona, Nevada...This is not to say don't buy this, I highly recommend it and this minor quibble is only enough to knock off one star. To be fair, it would be difficult to arrange a book with so many species in any geographical format. Especially since some Lizards inhabit such a large area. Wonderful book. Could have been a bit more compact and focused, but still great to have.

This is one of the best books I have found on southwest lizards. Great photos and very informative.

Looks very interesting and full of scientific info that is accessible to the layman. Bought as a gift.

Great book and very cheap!Beautiful pictures, very good description of each species with a lot of comments, including geographic range, taxonomy, habitat and similar species!It also have a very nice introduction with general information about lizards and the environment of the american Southwest.Recommended!

Excellent book...chock full of information on the many lizards to be found in the southwest. Pages include small map of area for any particular lizard of interest. Great for hikers, and anyone else who enjoys the many unique wonders of the southwestern desert.Highly recommended.

Great book, nicely illustrated and very informative!

Wer sich für diese Tiere und diese Weltgegend so interressiert wie ich, findet in diesem Buch eine wertvolle *Wissenserweiterung* bzw ein hervorragendes Nachschlagewerk. Ich nenne dieses Buch *Arbeitsbuch*, ist immer griffbereit, weil alles kann mann nicht wissen.

This is an outstanding book for antone interested in lizards of this region.As a field guide, it is easily the best currently available. I particularly like the section for each species on top locations to see the animals. Each species is covered in detail, including subspecies. The photography is excellent too, and make identification easy when used with the very clearly described text.If you buy book on southwestern lizards, make sure it's this one.