PICTURES BY DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY

The Sibley Guide To Trees (Knopf, $39.95), written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley, is organized in the same concise, logical manner as his indispensable bird guides: by taxonomy, not, as are other arboreal manuals, by leaf shape. For Sibley, who has been studying and drawing birds since he was seven years old (he even dropped out of college to pursue his passion), “looking at birds means you are looking at a lot of trees,” so it was a natural next step for him “to notice different things about their twigs and leaves and bark,” and compile a field guide. With over 4,000 detailed paintings and some 400 maps showing the range of both wild and cultivated trees, this volume is the new high bar for tree guides