It’s always a pleasure when a new book arrives in the NHBS office which stands out as being something a little bit special – and Turtles of the World is very much one of those books. There’s no doubt that this is a noticeable step up in terms of both quality and comprehensiveness from previous turtle publications.
The book details the distribution, description, natural history, and protection of all 300 extant species in clear, logical prose with informative photographic illustrations and distribution maps. Although that’s a lot of material for a single volume to tackle in adequate depth, this book certainly does not leave the reader feeling short-changed. In fact, on the contrary, this title will undoubtedly prove to be highly informative to even the most knowledgeable of turtle-lovers. I see no reason why Turtles of the World should not cement a place amongst biologists as the most important book on this subject to date. Surely a modern classic.