In the three weeks that I've owned this book, I've been able to identify dozens of trees in my neighborhood -- brush cherry and holly oak in my complex, Brisbane box in the supermarket parking lot, Bradley pear at the post office. Although by no means comprehensive, A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among Us is a huge improvement over my previous tree identification strategy (scrolling through pages of image search results for "tree with bright pink berries").

Assuming you live in California and have an interest in trees, this is a great starter field guide that not only profiles lots of common street trees (more than 150 of them), but also provides the basics on how to look at trees and talk about them. There's a non-illustrated identification key in the beginning, but the book (divided into gymnosperms, angiosperms and palms) is mostly composed of full-color tree profiles, arranged by Latin name. (If you're new to trees, you may end up flipping around a lot at first.) Each profile contains color photographs of the tree and its most distinctive features -- e.g. the leaves, bark, flowers or seeds. Unlike most field guides, author Matt Ritter's text offers plenty of interesting, eclectic factoids about each tree.

If you're a nerd, you might find Trees Among Us to be a fun read in its own right. I definitely did. Check out the profile on dogwood for Ritter's most droll entry.

A few usability quibbles: in focusing on just the most distinctive features of each tree, Ritter doesn't always include a close-up of the leaves, which can be annoying especially if the features he does include (like flowers or fruit) don't happen to be on the tree at the moment. There were a few times I thought he should have included more photos (such as the highly distinctive bark of the strawberry tree) or different ones (the crape myrtle in bloom rather than just with leaves). Finally, the index, which is a good place to go if you can't remember the Latin name of a tree, often lists a tree under several different pages without indicating which is the main profile. Start flipping.

These are minor drawbacks to what is overall a very user-friendly, accessible and nicely organized field guide that will have you eyeing your neighborhood trees with new appreciation. At about 150 pages, Trees Among Us is just small enough to be portable in a book bag or large purse. There's even a ruler printed on the back of the book for measuring leaves, pods and other tree parts.

I'm grateful to Ritter for reminding me that nature really is everywhere, even in boring suburban California. If you're not in California, you might be more interested in Arthur Plotnik's The Urban Tree Book: An Uncommon Field Guide for City & Town.