Canter Bridge

Birds of Thailand is the reason the prestige university press and its zero-tolerance approach to schlock products exists. Princeton University Press has done itself proud with this condensed and focused version of author Robson’s Birds of Southeast Asia.

If you’re interested in the birds that inhabit a medium-sized country like Thailand, you don’t have many choices in field guides and you may not have many friends. At least, friends who share your precise and tiny interest. For that reason, this review should be read as a referendum upon the Princeton Field Guides as much as on this individual volume.

A field guide’s physical quality matters more than with other books since you’re meant to carry the thing around. The PFG is quality construction through and through and just compact enough to make for convenient traveling.

The choice of a small font size in Garamond BookCondensed is a wise one, providing exceptional clarity and saving space for the beautiful and competent illustrations (drawn, not photographed).

Because the majority of birders are English speakers by first or second language, bird guides that cover species native to non-English speaking countries often read as though the people who live there (with the birds!) don’t exist. This may be a pecadillo rather than a felony, since – after all – such a book is about birds, not people. Yet Robson’s guide adds the nice touch of Thai indices and page headings, no doubt appreciated by the local colleagues who are necessary participants in a project of this high quality.

The Princeton Field Guides include volumes on mammals as well as birds, with a penchant for out-of-the-way locations. If your interest takes you there, any one of these Guides is a worthy investment you’ll not regret.