I love this book. We see a snake in the woods, and take note of as many characteristics as we can, then look it up later to learn more about it. Same with frogs, toads, lizards, skinks! The actual information provided for each reptile is slim but very interesting. This is a great book to have if you spend any time in the wild in Virginia.

I've had and used this book since it came out in 1980. I always recommend it to all of the classes and seminars I give on reptiles and amphibians and to all of the people who ask for a good field guide because, for the size and cost, there are none better for this part of the country. Well worth the money if a handy, accurate, well-done field guide with great photos and range maps is what you want.

There's some good things about this book: in typical Lonely Planet style you've got great general travel information for the area (which if I really wanted, I'd buy a general travel book).

It does also cover a large number of sites - though is still far from comprehensive.

And it has some nice additional information occasionally through the book.

Two main peeves though. And they're killers:

- Each description is a paragraph, or two at most. You can't tell me very much about a dive site in so few words.

- There are no maps / diagrams for specific dive sites (just area overview maps) - a dive guide fails totally without these.

It's a pretty book, but to be any use you need to include maps and more detail per site (if this was done it could be forgiven for not being totally comprehensive).

In short, it's nice, but it's no use as a tool for researching a dive holiday.

What'S further is I now own two of these (Red Sea and Bahamas) - I certainly will not buy another.

Compared to the other Red Sea dive guides I've been able to find, this one is the best by far. The photos are fantastic and the maps are very readable - and the text gives an excellent overview of the dive site conditions and highlights. The descriptions seem balanced and informative, and if the site isn't the greatest, it says so ("hard corals are not a strong point here..." and for a wreck dive - the Salem Express "...take a look, spare a thought for the victimes and then head to the nearby reefs."). Based on my 5 dive trips in the RS, it looks very accurate as well.