1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Should have more Shells, February 20, 2009
This review is from: The World of Seashells: A Fully Illustrated Guide to These Fascinating Gifts from the Ocean (Hardcover)
This book is alright. Would return it, but changed my mind since I bought it used, in a "like new" condition for only about 4 bucks. Why I gave it 4 stars? It is good, not great. It is 8 1/2" X 11 1/2" and 8mm or less than half an inch thick. A thin book for its size. It has many pages of information on shells. Maybe half the book. It is an informative guide, a small field guide, and you may call it a small coffee table book. Yes, about half the book gives all sorts of information on shells. There are chapters on their construction, classification, names, fossil records and evolution, life cycle, pests, preditors,pollutants and preservation of shells or mollusks, the habitats, how to collect and keep a well organized shell collection and a chapter on shells used in art history. The second half of the book is the field guide part of coffee table book. It has a brief listing or description of each seashell for every full color photograph. It tells the Scientific name, as well as the common name, descriptor, shell family, location where the shell can be found, the growth size, and also describes how common it is, its habitat, or other interresting information about each shell.
The last few pages are references of shell magazines, internet sites on seashells, and a list on books on shells.
This is a book on shells found world-wide, and is ok. Very colorful, gorgeous and clear photographs of every shell described in the book. I only wish the book was much thicker, or had more pages on more shells. The field guide section is very thin-compared to most field guides I have seen.
It is interresting, for any beginning shell collector, or anyone who just loves shells as much as I do.
By the way, the author's name is Patrick Hook. Shouldn't he be called Captain Hook of shells, or Captain Shell Hook!! He, He. Sorry, bad joke.
Rehana (Chicago, IL)
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