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Inspector Gadget Reports
Article Written By R. Mann
Ok, I can be honest: I am an unrehabilitated gadgetmaniac.
As a confirmed gadget man I own a reasonable array of gadgets. Although my collection is still incomplete, it now includes a little light (with dim and bright) that fits on my head and a bow sight with fiber-optic
cable and I also have a special little vacuum cleaner thingy that cleans things (which I have never used). I also have at least 12 knives, camouflaged, bug-proof gear in all shapes and sizes, a hip flask for cold
days, a fire making device as used by Neanderthals, rangefinder, broadhead sharpener with diamond dust, a special cable to connect my GPS to my cell phone and a custom scuba diving knife to impress sharks with.
Owning gadgets is just something I have been born to do really well – it's a gift actually, a thing of the heart.
My gadgets have varying degrees of usefulness. The only pleasure I get from some of them is only from owning them while others are indispensable and I use them often.
Now here is the addiction: gadgetmaniacs crave discovering a new and really useful gadget and buying it. This is the ultimate high that keeps us gadgetmaniacs panting for more.
My most recent gadget high was last week and was caused when I purchased yet another (my 23rd) book about African animals. This was not a book book but an electronic book (an eBook) which seems to be
computer lingo for a book that lives on a computer.
Drawn into the purchase only by only my super-developed sense for the new and unusual and my love for Africa (ok, and also by the scent of a gadget I did not own), I forked out my $19-95 on the 'net at www.ultimatefieldguide.com and downloaded the Ultimate Field Guide. The full name of the eBook is The Ultimate Field Guide for larger African Mammals. It is very professionally prepared and the layout makes me itch for Africa.
I start it up and this is where the second-largest high of the gadgetmaniac hit me: the actual using of an unusual and surprisingly useful new gadget.
I soon discover why it is called the "Ultimate" Field Guide. For starters, I now understand that eBooks can do what normal books can't: they can search or jump directly to relevant information. Also, they bring
together information in a surprising way: The Ultimate Field Guide uses what it calls Identification Keys which helps me find the info I need.
These keys work in a drill-down way: the category is narrowed down as you identify features until you have the animal you want. I decide to try them all.
The first key categorizes animals by silhouette. This lets me find any of a 100 African mammals by the size and outline. I decided to try and find a difficult one: the Slender Mongoose. I clicked on the Silhouette
Key, the Small Animals icon and had the Slender Mongoose it in only 3 clicks.
I clicked on the Slender Mongoose silhouette and got loads of information: a color photo, the names in African languages, what the track and the dung look like, the red book classification, when it is active, it's
description, distribution, habits, diet field sign and what not.
Impressive, I thought to myself.
The second key was my favorite: The Tracks Identification key.
I have always wanted to have the knowledge of the San bushman tracker and to read the tracks in the bush like a good Wilbur Smith book. This lets me do exactly that. I can tell you in 5 seconds flat which animal made
the track, show you a photograph of it, tell you what it eats, it's habits and when it bears it's young.
Pretty nifty!
The third key is the Dung Key. Dung as in poop. I have not until now been a great fan of dung. But, as they say, dung happens.
I now find out that the dung of every African animal is like a fingerprint – they all leave different deposits on the ground and identify the animal as sure as any picture on a wanted poster. Good, I say. Let me
check it out.
Because I don't keep a sample of leopard dung in my briefcase to show my friends before dinner, I choose the dung I know: the Cape buffalo. I remember that it's like a cow pat and begin my search.
I choose Shapeless Dung (because I noticed that when it falls from the rear of the buf it falls as it likes) and identify the buffalo in 3 clicks and 5 seconds. Amazing!
The last is the one I like the best: The Distribution Matrix. What they have done is to divide Southern Africa into 46 sectors or areas. When you click on an area you immediately get a list of mammals that occur
naturally in that area. I have never seen this anywhere and nobody I know of has ever seen this done.
The list that you get is a number of hyperlinks to the individual mammal pages and lets you jump directly to any of them. Great!
Just to test my new-found skill I decide to use the search function, which is another thing that you guys with paper books can't do.
I remember that the eyes of Bushbabies in Africa reflect a bright red in the spotlight at night. This will be the ultimate (no pun intended) test.
I select Search and type in "red" and let 'er rip. Sure enough, the eBook finds the Lesser Bushbaby and the Thick-tailed Bushbaby, showing me that I am not the only person in the world who holds this information.
What a pity.
I am very impressed with The Ultimate Field Guide. I get tons of relevant information on mammals and quickly and easily identify them by silhouette, tracks and dung. It is so easy to use that anyone who can surf the
web can now be a San bushman.
The only gripe I have is that The Ultimate Field Guide for Southern African Birds and The Ultimate Field Guide for Southern African Trees and The Ultimate Field Guide for Southern African Reptiles are not available
yet. Get a move on, guys!
I am now an expert on gadgets and Ebooks. I am chucking my paper books on the back burner and I am now digital.
So, Ultimate Field Guide, when is The Ultimate Field Guide going to be available for my new PocketPC?
R. Mann
rmann@africanhunting.com
http://www.ultimatefieldguide.com
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