Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles

An incredible book for studying herpetology weather you are experienced or new to the study.

This book gives a great history of the evolution of reptiles along with diagrams and charts to enhance comprehension. The chapters regarding anatomy and physiology are very interesting and provide a lot of useful information for the reptile hobbyist. Although, I would have enjoyed even more details about these interesting creatures physiologic processes, especially dietary requirements. Overall, good reference and and a lot of interesting information,

Low cost, no complaints

My granddaughter Aria wanted this for her 13th birthday. It was on backorder for a while and was expected to arrive after her birthday. Such a nice surprise when it early. Win win! He dad is a biologis and she too loves science.

A treasure trove of information, this college level book covers everything from evolution to biology and ecology. It manages to, rightly so, keep separated the reptiles from the amphibians but explains in detail their relationship. Color photographs as well as detailed sketches make this a great learning book.

This is a decent herpetology textbook with an unsatisfactory index. I think most of the problems relate to this edition's updates, not the last. I recall having rare issues with page numbers not matching up in the index (although maybe they resolved that in future printings?) The index isn't comprehensive enough, either. It's not terrible, but the little things add up, like parthenogenesis not being in the glossary and urostyle not being in the index. The word frog isn't in the index either, when there should be a chapter reference (Anura is in the taxonomic index, though, to be fair). You may think it's not an issue, but when you're up at two in the morning and you're looking up pits, sensory pits, LABIAL pits, INTERLABIAL PITS!!! And you've forgotten which clade has them... while your internet is down... This book just needs a more comprehensive index, is all. It's important, because this is an introductory book, so it needs to be accessible to an introductory audience. The information is no good if it can't be found. Which is a pity, because this is an accessibly written, otherwise thorough book. If you read it cover to cover, you will be well-versed in the herps. If you already know all there is to know, you'll find it easy to work around the book and find specific elements (labial pits: infra-red sensory organ, page 68; see pitvipers, some boas and some pythons)... But if you're at that point, you don't need the book.

Great text, and I'm really happy with the price! It's a fantastic reference for someone with a little bit of a science background who wants to know more about what makes reptiles and amphibians so special!

This is an impresive book for a budding herpetotologist. This was a gift for my nephew who immediately left us and becane absorbed in the book.