Book Reviews: Lizards. Vol. 1 and 2. Rogner M. 1997
Assoc Reptilian Amphibian Vet 8[4]:22-23 Winter'98 Book Reviews 0 Refs

- ..... on first glance it appeared quite useful. I then put the book to the challenges I use in reviewing herpetoculturally-oriented books. Does it provide me with concrete information about species that I have never encountered? Does it concur with my knowledge about species that I have encountered? I think it meets both of these challenges and once again proves that it is well worth the effort of a publisher to translate German literature for the English-speaking market. There are problems with the scientific information in the text, particularly with some of the taxonomy used. I am not a skilled taxonomist. I rarely follow any of the disputes that flip animals between genera, or resurrect or invalidate scientific names although I try to stay current with the generally accepted binomial nomenclature for a taxon so that I can access the literature. However, this does not change the information presented although it might make it a challenge to find some of the taxa if you are unfamiliar with recent changes or the history of a name. ..... My concerns with the taxa presented are simply that it reflects those species most available in Europe and does not include many of the taxa most commonly available in North America. However, since the original author is German and it was written for the German market, this is one of the delineating expectations of this text. I wish that there were more photographs. It has excellent photographs of many species that I have not seen depicted before in herpetoculturally-oriented publications. I think more photographs would have greatly enhanced its usefulness to the clinician trying to identify an unfamiliar animal. ..... Although you may purchase the volumes separately. I would recommend purchasing the set since I believe you will want to purchase the other one after perusing the one you have. Krieger Publishing Co., Malabar, FL. translated by John Hackworth. Original German edition. 1992.