Title: Complete Mediterranean Wildlife Photoguide: Author: Paul Sterry.
ISBN 35798642 Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers. 2000* 
HarperCollins website link: www.fireandwater.com
Price: Around 16GBPounds. 
Source: Book Sellers/Publisher.
*(New Imprint July 2005 - ISBN 0-00-220161-5 Price 15.99).

Complete Mediterranean Wildlife Photoguide:  The Review.

Book titles are easily come by. Living up to their implied claims is quite another matter. 

In the absence of a definition by the author of 'complete', and considering that the book is available to all, novice layman to expert/specialist, the present claim can only mean the overall picture.  The almost landlocked Mediterranean sea alone covers an area of over 2,500,000 sq Km (970,000Sq miles) and is bordered by around 14 countries which can be defined as 'Mediterranean'.  It would take a rather large tome to cover all  the wildlife therein.

And this is a reasonably sized tome.  Including the introduction, glossaries, index etcetera it contains 384 pages (excluding the cover); weighs in at 645gms (1Ib 8ozs) and measures 20cm x 13.5cm x 2.5cm (8.5'x5.25"x11").  Big enough to weigh down a jacket pocket, but not a problem for a small backpack. Worth remembering because most books of this type are probably, unless you are competent with a camera, have a photographic memory (or are an underwater enthusiast), best taken out with you - used as field guides.

This introductory section of this excellent 384 page photo-guide is but 41 pages long, including at least one photograph per page.  Attractively presented it gets off to what seems a slow start, as if searching for a theme, but quickly finds its feet and, like the rest of the guide, becomes very interesting.  Perhaps one of the more relevant points is the proffered reason for the creation of the book – the ready availability of specialist books on various aspects – botany, bird watching about more northern climes – but a lack of a work catering for those people with an all round interest in Mediterranean wildlife. Hence this particular contribution. Overall, Paul Sterry presents the introduction extremely well - much better than the average wildlife books I have read.  The section on 'The Coast' for example, divides that area up into Cliffs and Coastal Land; Rocky Shores; Sandy Shores; Dunes; Estuaries; Mudflats; and extends to Salt Marshes and Saltpans and so on. Rather better than just saying Coast or Coastline or Shore. A good start.

However, any serious review must look for the holes in the argument.

There are a few all round nature guides about, but certainly not of the quality of this photo guide and certainly not for the target audience – ‘people whose visit to the Mediterranean lasts perhaps not much longer than two or three weeks and who are willing, on a daily basis, to travel for a few hours in search of the region’s wonderful wildlife’. There is, I think, rather more to a successful wildlife trip than that, but I would have to agree that in my own experience it is generally true. I would have liked to have seen a bit more emphasis on preparation for a wildlife trip.

There are also a few rather sweeping generalizations in the sections dealing with the region covered by the book. The fact that the bulk of the Mediterranean ’s wildlife interest is concentrated around the almost land-locked Mediterranean sea; the bulk of the target wildlife being concentrated along a coastal strip some100 miles or so inland; all the Mediterranean islands being important wildlife sites; and much of coastline of the region covered being low-lying, seem, to me, to be synthetic a-priori. Rather like saying that all swans are white! But the accompanying map does clarify the statements and with a little study also leaves a healthy curiosity about stretches of the Libyan and Egyptian coastlines which appear on the map as barren. But then the book is not aimed at the southern Mediterranean.

Equally, the section on Mediterranean climate and vegetation mentions the invariably warm seas and comments on the Mediterranean climate exerting a profound influence upon the wildlife – well, one can’t argue with that…

But just a minute, these are not reasons why you should buy this book - and buy it you should if you have an interest in Mediterranean wildlife, as after the initial hesitation it gets into it’s stride and sets what is often a cracking pace.  For me this commences at p15, ‘The Coast’ and carries on, with few exceptions, throughout the book.

So how good are the contents of the book?  In a nutshell - for most wildlife enthusiasts it is good. It covers the fields the title claims to cover. Except of course (tongue in cheek!) areas such as microbiology - though some would undoubtedly deny microbes a place in 'wildlife'. It certainly covers much of everything else.

Birds - 34 photo pages / 295 bird photos.  Wild flowers - 59 photo pages / 691 photos. Mammals - 5 photo pages  / 52 photos. Reptiles - 5 photo pages / 46 photos. Butterflies - 7 photo pages / 74 photos.  Moths - 5 photo pages / 66 photos.  Other insects - 5 photo pages / 52 photos. Dragonflies - 3 photo pages / 10 photos.  Flies, wasps, bees - 1 photo page / 12 photos.  Insects and other invertebrates - 1 photo page / 12 photos.  Spiders and allies - 1 photo page / 12 photos. Wasps, Bees, ants and beetles - 1 photo page / 11 photos.  Slugs and terrestrial freshwater snails - 1 photo page / 12 photos.  Coastal and marine plants and animals - 1 photo page / 12 photos.  Coastal and marine animals - 7 photo pages / 93 photos.  Fish - 2 photo pages / 22 photos.  Trees - 7 photo pages / 83 photos.  Palms and climbers - 1 photo page / 11 photos.  

Well covered.  Occasionally spread a bit thinly.

The photographs.  Mostly excellent - as could be expected from the contributors listed.  I don't recognise any of the names associated with the Brownies - Kodak that is!  More associated with outstanding wildlife photography I think.

Around 1603 photographs in all, good quality and reasonably sized. Certainly, the judgment and skill required to place such a high number of quality photographs on only 149 pages is of a high order.  As is the often unknown to the reader difficulty of reproducing the RGB colours of original photographs to the CMYK colours needed for printing whilst retaining the correct colours of the original subject is by no means easy.  I can't speak for the whole book in this respect but certainly my experience of plants and flowers tells me that the colours in this book are pretty accurate.  Not always the case in wildlife books.

But can you really squeeze 1600+ photos into 149 pages and see the result without a microscope?  

You can, with a great deal of hard work and this book by Paul Sterry has achieved it  - 99.9% anyway.  There is no single picture size used but the pages seem to be based on a page content of 10, 12, 8 and 6 photographs. Mostly portrait (horizontal). Sometimes portrait (vertical). Sometimes a combination on the same page. But always seem to be selected on a basis of showing off the subject to the best effect.  The majority of flowers, for example, are printed at 12 per page with an individual size of around  51X45MM easily good enough for the average flower identification picture.  But therein lies a rub.  There is no average flower.  No two, even on the same plant, are ever exactly the same. Growth; blossom; seed; wither. Constant changes.  But then as the author notes, available space often only permits the inclusion of a single specimen which in reality will occur at different times in different forms. But then, since we most of us use the mythical 'average' for anything and the ice-cream salesman this is not really a problem. Rather an indicator that care is needed when identifying specimens in reality.

Ease of use - 95%. It is a scientific fact that we learn around 80% from sight. Looking at things....  A photoguide is an excellent method of both teaching, learning, revising  - and this one makes the process very enjoyable - another plus.  Not many of us like hard mental work and a book with coverage this wide could be very hard work. This one is anything but.

Each photograph is identified by a very simple position guide on a facing page.  Each position guide has an accompanying text entry with 7 or 8 lines of text giving essential information.  It won't give you the genetic code of a specimen but has all the basic details to enable identification.  Now why didn't I think of that?

I have read this book several times - cover to cover - and applied some of the flower information/photographs in practice. I can't really fault any part of it to any serious degree. Even my criticisms of the generalisations found in some parts may not hold good if the reader is on the lower slopes of the learning curve. I remember vaguely attending a lecture on learning, many years ago,    where the lecturer presented a limerick about the position of a new student in relation to the teacher and learning something new...  It went something like this:-

There is something I don't know, that I am supposed (need) to know,
I don't know what it is that I don't know, and so I cannot tell you,
But I know that you (the teacher) know what it is,
But not that I don't know it,
So you must tell me everything!

Paul Sterry's  Complete Mediterranean Wildlife may not tell you everything, but it certainly tells you everything that you need to know. There is something for here everyone, beginner to expert. If you want to plan a wildlife trip to the Mediterranean region this is a good place to start - with what you would hope to find there. And it is enjoyable.

Drawbacks. Only good as far south as Crete and Cyprus. No insider knowledge of particular locations.

Did I buy one? I certainly did - within 24 hours of borrowing the copy for review.