A Wildlife Guide to Chile - Chester (Princeton / A & C Black)

I wonder if anyone has seen "A Wildlife Guide to Chile: Continental Chile, Chilean Antarctica, Easter Island, Juan Fernández Archipelago" by Sharon Chester published by Princeton / A & C Black? This sounds like an ideal guide for a trip to Chile and / or the Antarctic. There appear to be no copies on LT yet. Any comments would be much appreciated. Many thanks! Chris

I've not yet seen this book to offer any comments. However, I did see a review posted on Amazon.com, US site. And, on another site (NHBS), ten different images are displayed. These can be seen at http://www.nhbs.com/a_wildlife_guide_to_chile_tefno_157574.html&tab_tag=albu...

Hello Soleglad! I have been away for a month and am just reading your message. As it turned out, A & C Black gave me a copy of this guide together with several other of their recent books (Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife, Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World, Whales, Dolphins and Seals and Birds of Trinidad and Tobago). At first glance Chester looks very nice indeed - but perhaps I will post a fuller review here in a few days when I have had time to look through the book carefully.

Having had a little time to leaf through the Chester guide, I would definitely recommend it. As far as I know, there is nothing similar available for mainland Chile and since this guide also covers the all Chilean territories, it will be of interest for visitors to the Antarctic too. The book is very well organised and carefully laid out: it must have been a real labour of love for its creator who wrote the nearly 400 pages of small text and produced the photographically derived illustrations. In scope it is a general guide to the natural history of Chile, something along the lines of the Ecotravellers' Wildlife Guide series but, to my taste better put together. After an overview of Chile's natural environments and ecology, subsequent chapters tackle marine organisms, flora, lepidoptera, herps, birds (by far the largest section) and mammals, after which there is a short section on where to view wildlife. The would fit easily into a coat pocket and, at under $14 on Amazon.com (but three times the price on Amazon.co.uk!), it has to be one of the bargain nature books of 2008.

Since this group is dedicated to birds, it's worth noting that the present guide will not replace Jaramillo's excellent Birds of Chile, but it will certainly make a Chilean trip more enjoyable for the birder and general naturalist alike.

Highly recommended!