Cephalopods of the World
by Xinjun Liu, Bilin Wang, Yao Geng
2009, Ocean Press, Beijing, in Chinese, heavy paper covers with folded flap inside covers, stitched binding, 714 pages about 8 by 11¼ inches (about 20 by 28.5 cm), illustrated throughout with extremely well done drawings and distribution maps
First let me say that if I have one wish for this book it would be that it would appear in English translation. Since it is only in Simplified Chinese many readers who would have a great benefit from having this excellent resource of information in their libraries will be left unable to read this book. I have gotten Juying to translate some of the information for me and I am very impressed with the scope and the detail that you find in this publication. It seems to have a wealth of information about these very advanced mollusks found through out the world's waters. Since it is not an easy task to be able to photograph most of these specimens in their natural environment the authors have wisely chosen to illustrate this book with very well rendered drawings of the animals and also of their structure. Of course the names are given in the accepted scientific manner but the text unless you are willing to work slowly and with a good computer translation program will not be accessible to most of us. I have a very small supply on hand since I feel that there will be little demand for this book among my regular clients.
