Handbook for Butterfly Watchers

by Robert Michael Pyle

Book Overview

Discusses finding and watching butterflies, identifying and photographing them, and butterfly gardening and conservation. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395616298
• ISBN13: 9780395616291
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Move over Birds: Butterflies are the New Animal to Watch

You'll picture yourself in a serene meadow. The dewy grass will still feel wet beneath your bare feet. The sweet smell of pollen will tickle your nose, and the rising sun will set a backdrop of beautiful pinks and purples in the sky. This is how you will feel while reading this classic book. Pyle's Handbook for Butterfly Watchers is a captivating, leisurely read that will inspire you to go out and experience nature in a way that you never have before. His writing style is beautiful and poetic. He places you in a world where butterflies flitter about without a care in the world. His love of lepidoptera is evident through the book. His organization is masterful, ranging from scientific butterfly knowledge to rearing your own butterflies to conserving butterflies. He also shares his experiences and offers his expert insight to the best spots in North America, and around the world. His book starts with a simple question that I am sure he proposed to himself before writing the book. "Why watch butterflies?" Why would anyone be interested in this activity? Moreover, why would anyone be interested enough to buy the book? Pyle claims "those who miss butterflies miss one of the greatest spectacles of all, in sheer wonder and beauty if not in size"(1). This natural history book has other fun chapters entitled "How to Find Butterflies" and "Moths: Learning to Love Them". The book will give you a plethora of knowledge about butterflies with the less scientific approach that all will enjoy. I would strongly recommend this book both to a avid reader, and any person looking to discover a new outdoor hobby. The book is enjoyable, understandable, and readable to all adults in all fields. The themes of the book were well represented but sometimes I felt as if the author went too deeply into personal experiences from the his own past. I also thought that the title was somewhat misleading. At first glance, although it is not explicitly stated, I thought this book was a field guide, rather than a natural history book. His writing style is absolutely astonishing in a sense of lyrical beauty, however, it does not offer as much scientific information as a field guide. Perhaps this is why it is named a "handbook" rather than a field guide. For instance, he writes: "On a hot, crystalline morning I started up a steep slope, bound for a moor purple with heather and overlooking the Irish Sea, buoyant with hope and exhilaration."(3). The text talks about why he watches butterflies but why should the reader watch butterflies? The obvious reasons why Pyle wrote this book was to share his love for butterflies with the world. This is a well written book about the natural history of butterflies and I thought he conveyed that message very well. His descriptions were idealistic and imaginative. The text seems accurate for the time it was written. One thing I noticed that seemed outdated was in the "Records and Field Notes" section, he talks of a time before global positioning