Reddit reviews A Field Guide to Bacteria (Comstock Book)

A field guide to bacteria

For protists... well, there's Free-living Freshwater Protozoa by Patterson, but it's quite expensive. I have just found Part I online though, that someone scanned. Here's part 2 It's an excellent resource for pond critters.

And there's always google. Lots of googling... ;-)

There is a lot of microscope material online that I can't find in print, so that's the way I do most of my learning. But I agree that a book is nicer since much of this information is on old websites that haven't been updated in a decade or more (so many frames and animated gifs ugh).

I only have one microscopy related book I use regularly, A field guide to bacteria by Betsey Dexter Dyer. It's oriented toward finding bacteria without a microscope based on macroscopic clues. Since bacteria and other microorganisms are often found in association this book has given me some great ideas about where to look for samples to take home and check out under the microscope.

A Field Guide to Bacteria While not the "single greatest book" is a great book that will allow you to get a better understanding of the bacteria all around you in nature. It will.also allow you to identify a number of different general types by sight alone.