Central Park Trees and Landscapes: A Guide to New York City's Masterpiece

This book is a treasure. Its subject, Central Park, is an extraordinary creation that warrants a publication which mirrors the Park's beauty and reflects the hard work needed to maintain that beauty. I have sat down time after time to dip into this book, enjoying the pages that are chock full of information and beautiful photographs. I particularly enjoy the two-page presentations about individual species of trees, one page providing a full-page photo of that species as it appears in the Park, while the facing page includes very interesting information about the species, typically its history and the challenges of maintaining it in Central Park. The trees face many challenges such as air pollution, disease and the cold winter climate. The book is a wonderful companion to the Park; its sturdy paperback makes it suitable for visits to the Park, but it also well-suited for "armchair strolls" through the Park regardless of weather or time of day. The Park is large, almost overflowing with its beautiful variety of trees and landscapes. To capture it is not easy, but this book does so in a way that is simply excellent. The authors bring great knowledge and professionalism to their subject.

Do you love New York city? Do you love history? Are you a gardener, arboriculturist, landscaper, architect, or tree lover? To be honest, I only answer yes to the first question, but I loved this book. It starts pretty much at the dawn of time and takes you through time to the park today. The chapters are broken down into the park sections. Each takes you through the evolution of their unique landscape, detailing the many changes due to weather, landscaping decisions, the invasive nature of many plants and trees, and of course, the affect of the millions of people who use it every year.The final chapters are an encyclopedia of every tree in the park. The detail and care is incredible. If you have every doubted that the park is a huge financial investment by the city or a labor of love by dedicated groups, this will permanently erase your skepticism. Your next stroll will be with a greater awareness and appreciation of what it takes to keep these 500+ acres beautiful and maintained for today, and for generations to come.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. For years I have wandered Central Park almost daily asking "what kind of tree is that?" despite knowing virtually nothing about trees. I cannot believe how well this book answers that question, no matter which of the ~20,000 trees in the park you are asking about. If you want to do some detective work, you can start by identifying the type of leaves and then paging through the corresponding section. Or, you can just look at the incredibly detailed maps by park section and pinpoint exact individual trees that are coded to a legend in the front. I'm glad I waited until 2016 to try to quench my tree curiosity because this book just came out and I'm certain nothing could rival it. It's gorgeous, the perfect size, and filled with rich histories and vivid descriptions of every type of tree in Central Park. You will not regret this purchase if you have any iota of interest in trees, the history of Central Park, or New York City nature in general!

Beautiful drawings

This book was very comprehensive and talked about Central Park as well as about the trees. It is informative reading as well as a great reference tool

Book terrific

This is a great book. Detailed and written well.

Excellent

Bought this as a gift for my uncle as we had visited NYC previously and fell in love with central park and it's wildlife. He was delighted with it!