The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada (California Academy of Sciences) Paperback – Illustrated, June 1, 2007

An excellent guide, and pretty comprehensive. Excellent illustrations. I've only found a very few species that weren't in this guide. 99% of the time I've found it included in this guide. Also, I found the distribution maps very helpful when narrowing down which species of chipmunks I found. Chipmunk species look really similar, so narrowing down the number of possibilities based on location is helpful. Also, for most species, the author has included tips with arrows and descriptions of key features that differentiate one species from another similar species. This made it much easier to identify the species of some of the butterflies or wildflowers I found.The only slight criticism I have is that this guide hasn't been updated to reflect changes in the scientific binomial names of a few of the wildflower species. Botanists sometimes reclassify the genus of flowers from time-to-time as genetic analysis gets better. Fortunately, John Muir Laws has published a more recent book that only covers wildflowers, and has updated taxonomic binomial names, and that book is small enough to carry in my cargo pants pocket as I hike, so I recommend buying both books if you're into accurately classifying your finds.When I'm out on a camping trip, I keep this larger general book in my vehicle to use as a reference against my photos when I finish a hike. And, I carry the smaller wildflower book in my pocket as I hike, so they work well together.

If I could afford it I would give this to all my family and friends who live in the sierras!

What a magical book! I was just at Yosemite and visited the Conservation Heritage Center where they have a small library located in the left corner. This book was sitting on the table and my eyes were instantly drawn to it. I picked this book up at least 4 times and kept walking back to look at it. As I was flipping through the pages I saw a stellar’s jay bird that my Dad and I saw at Camp Curry that day. I ran over to my Dad and pointed to the bird in the book and he excitedly said “it’s the bird!” We were previously calling it the wrong name and I loved that this book taught us the the correct terminology. I am so happy that the Conservation Center has this book available for people to explore! For the first time during my trip, I couldn’t wait for my phone to get service so I could buy this book. My eyes are in heaven and it is such a masterpiece. Probably my favorite purchase of the year. I can’t wait to show my niece when she visits for the summer. Thank you, John Laws for sharing your beautiful creation with us. If you only knew how happy this book makes me. :)

The book is well organized and the illustrations are fantastic. It is a go to guide for all things Sierra Nevada.

I absolutely love this book! Great color and pictures!

there's a lot of great field guides out there, but this is one of the best for california that i've ever seen!!everything is organized really well, making it easy to use for field identification. particularly for birds, where every page is organized by color.wide range of flora and fauna is covered. makes a great gift for both kids and adults that are outdoor included or nature enthusiasts. highly recommend!

A fantastic resource for identifying most plant species to at least family or genus in the Sierra Nevada range. I used mine in the field for some really strenuous work and it held up for a few hundred miles of hiking and identification. For the price and size, it can't be beat.

This is our favorite book, we buy this book for all the kids birthday parties. Very informative and fun for adults and kids!