National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashells

Great book for North American seashell identification. Front half has lots of pictures and the back half is details about each entry. The index is set up to also serve as a checklist with small circles available to mark off your finds.

This is a real field guide, complete with tough plastic binding, but also a great reference book. I love the thumb tabs that use 24 silhouettes to group like-shaped shells. That feature alone gives this field guide top points in my experience. It's so easy to find any one of the approximately 700 North American Shells featured. But there's more, of course. Any shell enthusiast will appreciate the Audubon Society's expository texts on shells throughout history, the Phylum Moluslusca and its Classes, scientific and common names, illustrated descriptions of parts of shells, their orientations, all the basics, plus good, in-depth descriptive material on each shell including habitat and range. The appendices include a guide to shell collecting, cleaning, labeling, storing and conserving, a glossary, and an index that lets you check off the shells you have seen as well as the page numbers for their color plates and descriptive texts. A fine go-to book.

Audubon Guides are the gold standard for anyone interested in any branch of the natural world! This guide to shells is an invaluable addition to your bookshelf if you love seashells!

Typical quality of an Audubon guide, beautiful picture section. Book in very good condition.

I buy the Audubon books for my young son and I. We both enjoy using them often when we've spotted an animal, plant, insect or just about anything that we want to identify. Many times I have spotted my son with his nose buried in our old book searching for a picture to match a bug he has found. We both also agree that we like the layout of our older Audubon book where the picture and the information on that picture are on the same page. Much quicker than the new book layout where you must find a connecting page to read about your subject.

Book is Great! Perfect to take with you anywhere on any coast of North America if you are hunting for seashells. Nice and small size. Compact. Very thick book packed with so many seashells all found throughout North America. Full color, crisp and clear photographs with accompanying information for each and every shell. I would strongly advise to take this guide along with you when you go shelling. It is very helpful. It is a field guide that shows you clearly what you are looking for, where to find it, or what you have found. It explains everything-how deep in the water, where on the beach,and how large it grows. Just a perfect guide. The best guide there is I think.

This is a very good reference book. I’ve found it very helpful in identifying shells we gathered in Baja California. Most of the North American shell guides focus primarily on shells found in Florida and along the East Coast. This book had more west coast shell information. It would be nice to be able to find a book solely focused on the west coast but I haven’t found one that is still in print and reasonably priced. This Audubon guide is the best one out there.

This is great for identifying shells. I was hoping for more information about the life of the animals living in them but I guess that’s outside of the scope of the purpose of this book.

Love this book and will be bringing to my next shell filled beach destination. Pictures were great and lots of great shell details. I learned lots regarding shelling.

It is nice to know that you can actually depend on a brand name. I have purchased many of Audubon's Field Guides on a very wide range of topics, and have never been disappointed. This book is no exception. All are made with high quality materials and very sturdy which comes in handy for a book you actually like to take along in the field with you. I feel that this book fits (and benefits) all levels of expertise. With the beautiful full color photography, even the complete novice can rather quickly identify most anything they will encounter. If you are a little more advanced collector, you can find the information also. I would recommend this book as "the one" if you had to narrow it down to your first book on the subject, or if you plan to build a more complete library.

I learned as my boss was about to retire that she was a big seashell lover. She takes trips to look for and at seashells (sorry if there is a proper term for that hobby!). She loved the pocket book. It was a perfect retirement gift.

Good book, nice pics

good reference book