Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm writing this review for novice birders who are unfamiliar with guides and likely to be swayed by all of the 5-star reviews. The short version is this: it's an illustrated dictionary of eastern birds, encyclopedic in coverage but too shallow to be called an encyclopedia. I know people love this guide, but I don't find it useful or usable. As a "guide" for those who aren't looking simply to confirm a bird, it's unusable because it has neither a key nor overviews of related groups of birds that might narrow things down for you. Instead the front material suggests (in a nutshell) that you observe the bird, make mental notes of key features (based on having spent time poring through the book at home), and try to match them to what you remember from reading the book at home. Seriously? That could work only for experienced birders. My recommendation: download Cornell University's Merlin app to your smart phone or tablet. Answer five simple questions and get a list of possible birds based on geographic location, date, approximate size, color combinations, and where in the habitat you're seeing it (e.g., on the ground). As for useless, perhaps that's an overstatement. Here's my problem: the descriptions add very little to what I know by the time I've found my way into them. I'm left wondering exactly how the 5-star reviewers actually use it.