It is that time of year, when my thoughts turn to giving gifts of field guides. Do you too?

As I’ve mentioned before, I love field guides – to read, to collect, to write.

Pick up a field guide and support the International Cryptozoology Museum! I will send out, postpaid, this week to reach you by Christmas, in the USA via priority mail, or to Canada via air mail, for a contribution of $35 US or more, a signed copy of either The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates or The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep (while my few supplies last). I’m not doing this as a heavy sell, please note, but as a way to give something back that I really enjoy, in appreciation for donations. (Two copies are being sent out today, Thursday, to the first two donators. They will have their autographed field guides by this Saturday.)

Also, as a reminder, the University of Illinois’ unique online location, the International Field Guides site merges the out-of-print book A Guide to Field Guides: Identifying the Natural History of North America by Diane Schmidt, Biology Librarian at the University of Illinois, and the companion website, International Field Guides. After the publisher returned the copyright to her book to Diane Schmidt, she decided to combine the two products and create a searchable database of field guides for plants, animals, and other objects in North America and around the world. Except where noted on her site, all guides listed there were personally examined by Ms. Schmidt. It is a treasure trove of information.

Meanwhile, back to the bookshelves….

My personal favorite field guide during 2008, which I have used often on visits to view animals in several locations in North America this year, is Elizabeth Cary Mungall’s Exotic Animal Field Guide.

It continues to surprise me with the amount of global information that it shares about exotics now located in North America, and her data is given in such a concise and clear fashion. Highly recommended!

Additionally, I still like the track and traces field guides, which are best for actual on-site fieldwork, from country to country.

One of my all-time favorites remains Murie’s field guide to animal tracks. My field-weary copy wears its years well, and yet is not as clean as my field guide on exotic animals – for obvious reasons.

Pick up a field guide for yourself or as a gift on the kinds of animals or cryptids that appeal to you or for the person receiving your gift. Such a field guide gift will last a lifetime and be used beyond that temporal limit, actually, when it is passed down through the ages.

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Please, you may directly send a check, money order, or, if outside the USA, an international postal money order made out to the “International Cryptozoology Museum,” to

International Cryptozoology Museum
c/o Loren Coleman
PO Box 360
Portland, ME 04112

An easy-to-use donation button is now available merely by clicking the blank button below, which takes you to a donation site without you having to be a member of PayPal. Thank you, everyone!

You may also merely use PayPal to LColeman@maine.rr.com