# I Recovered Part of my Childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069 "2025-04-15T14:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/1 "2025-04-15T14:24:24Z")
This is inspired by the Childhood Delights thread on Cafe Society. When I was a kid I inherited a field guide with mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and marine invertebrates from my older brother. I loved it to death. It just fell apart from being opened and closed so much. A month or so ago I had a dream about it, and decided to see if I could look it up on line. I grew up to be a librarian, so it took me all of a minute even though I didn’t remember the title. Here it is: [Vintage Book Complete Field Guide to American Wildlife, 1959 Colorful Graphics | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/303876224903) The one I ordered was in better shape than this one, and it was one of those rare things from childhood that was as good as I remembered. One weird thing is the range covered. The animals have to live north of the NC/SC border and east of the Rockies, but can range all the way to the North Pole. Fish that were introduced in the range covered (called “our area” by the author) are included, so salmon species from the west coast that have been introduced make the cut, as do goldfish. Walruses, Musk Oxen, and Polar Bears are also included. Many entries include personal reminisces by the author, or just random comments. One I had remembered was for the Hammerhead Shark; “Look what happened this time when Triton blew his wreathed horn!” My wife said I look very serious when reading it. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/2 "2025-04-16T16:01:50Z")
I found a copy of Mammals of the Great Lakes Region last year and read it pretty much cover to cover. There are so many interesting creatures out there. I’m still on the lookout for some local flying squirrels, I’ve never spotted one in person. > **[Mammals of the Great Lakes Region: Revised Edition (Great Lakes Environment):...](https://www.amazon.com/Mammals-Great-Lakes-Region-Environment/dp/0472064975)** > > Buy Mammals of the Great Lakes Region: Revised Edition (Great Lakes Environment) on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/3 "2025-04-16T16:27:06Z")
I started a [similar thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-rosebud/1008339/44) a few months ago when I found one of my childhood toys online. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/4 "2025-04-16T16:50:49Z")
Looks like a great book. I had the insects field guide and used it a lot also. I have a much rarer guide today, “Golf Car Classics” and have emailed a few times to the author, Ron Lyons. > **[Golf Car Classics – Golf Car Options](https://golfcaroptions.com/product/golf-car-classics/)** > > A must-have book for golf car enthusiasts, showrooms, or gifts! Contact us for discount pricing on a case (10 books) or more. Orders outside North America please contact us for shipping rates and options ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/5 "2025-04-16T17:08:05Z")
I recently re-discovered a book that I’d loved as a kid, after seeing it on the PBS educational program _Cover to Cover_, entitled _[The Devil’s Storybook](https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Storybook-Sunburst-Book/dp/0374417083/)_. It’s a slim book, written ostensibly for children, with a bunch of short, funny stories about the Devil and Hell. Only in the 1970s… 😉 One of my hobbies as a child and teenager was model rocketry. None of my old rockets survived various cleaning purges at my parents’ house. When I started back into the hobby, about 20 years ago, I was able to find “clone” instructions and kits, which allowed me to re-create the specific rockets that I’d built as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/6 "2025-04-16T18:15:07Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I’m still on the lookout for some local flying squirrels, I’ve never spotted one in person. You might try pulling a rabbit out of a hat; that seems to attract them. ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/7 "2025-04-16T18:27:13Z")
I am 72 years old and never saw a flying squirrel until… 3 years ago I drove through a ritzy neighborhood where they left the mature trees when they built the houses instead of bulldozing everything. Something caught my eye, moving up in the sky across my field of vision. I thought it was a large bird until it landed way up in one of those old trees. It scurried about a bit on those high branches, and then took flight away from me again. I always look when I drive on that street but it was a one-off I guess. This is SW Ohio outside Cincinnati ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/8 "2025-04-16T19:14:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > > > I’m still on the lookout for some local flying squirrels, I’ve never spotted one in person. > > You might try pulling a rabbit out of a hat; that seems to attract them. - I just keep getting large feline predators. Will not buy again. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/9 "2025-04-16T19:20:03Z")
We (Chicago) do have flying squirrels, I just haven’t seen one. There’s also a bunch of voles, bats & shrews but they’re harder to spot still. > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/squirrels/comments/12rswfa/flying_squirrel_in_my_window_feeder_should_i_worry/?rdt=33095)** ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/10 "2025-04-16T20:03:42Z")
Looks like a lovely book. As a pre-teen and teenager I read tons of nature guides and kept buying them - some old, others updated\*\* editions, well into adulthood. The Peterson guides, the Kaufman guides, a few Golden Book guides. Illustrations from the latter were also used in the [Golden Book Encyclopedia of Natural Science](https://www.librarything.com/nseries/53065/The-Golden-Book-Encyclopedia-of-Natural-Science), another old gem. Someone once gifted me five volumes of this and a volume of a more general Golden Book children’s encyclopedia as a kid. This gave me hours of educational enjoyment. I would love to have the whole set, but have nowhere to put it at present. \*\* For example, there are species that were not recorded from North America in the 50s or 60s but do live there now, such as the Seven-Spotted Ladybug (very common) or the European Peacock Butterfly (likely came to Canada on ships via the St. Lawrence Seaway; small population established in Quebec and may be expanding its range). Also, scientific names of many species have changed. Example: all the Brown Bears in the world, Old and New, are now normally classified as one species (Ursus arctos). At the time of your book’s publication, it was common to classify North American Grizzly and Alaskan Brown Bears as _at least_ two separate species: _Ursus horribilis_ (the Grizzly) and _Ursus middendorffi_ (the Kodiak Bear), and often other species, e.g. _Ursus gyas_ and _Ursus dalli_ for various Alaskan Brown Bear populations. ---
**Author:** ![PuppetFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PuppetFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuppetFrog)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/11 "2025-04-16T20:28:59Z")
Things that that are so good, aren’t they? Interesting that the author’s scope was limited. It might have been printed and distributed regionally rather than nationally originally. Or maybe the author was Canadian? For some childhood stuff, a photo is enough, but other items you want your own. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/12 "2025-04-16T21:46:25Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I’m still on the lookout for some local flying squirrels, I’ve never spotted one in person. > > [Mammals of the Great Lakes Region: Revised Edition (Great Lakes Environment): Kurta, Allen: 9780472064977: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Mammals-Great-Lakes-Region-Environment/dp/0472064975) We have some in Lincoln,Nebraska, specifically in the East Campus of the University of Nebraska. East Campus originally was the ag campus of the University and it still has test fields and is an arboretum. > **[Lincoln Southern Flying Squirrel Program | Project | Research | School of...](https://snr.unl.edu/research/projects/researchproject.aspx?pid=20)** ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/13 "2025-04-16T21:52:34Z")
I was pleased when my daughter sought out and bought a book of Greek Mythology which we had read to the kids when they were young. In my 20s-30s I bought a copy of Leo Rosten’s The Education of Hyman Kaplan. Still think it one of the funniest books I’ve read. Regretted having lent it to a guy in high school and never getting it back. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-recovered-part-of-my-childhood/1017069/14 "2025-04-17T20:20:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You might try pulling a rabbit out of a hat; that seems to attract them. That trick never works.