Mediterranean Islands

Publisher: Survival Books, £20.00
Publication Date: 2008

Described as a unique guide providing detailed information about every one of 218 islands, Mediterranean Islands contains a dozen general interest essays by a number of international experts on the geology, flora, fauna, tourism and sailing in the area. Inevitably such short articles, albeit interesting and informative, can only scratch the surface of the subject. The ‘detailed information’ consists of three or four sentences on each island together with some statistical details such as the size, number of hotels, beds, population density, crowd factors etc. A star rating system is used for tourism, vegetation, beaches and history. If you wish to know that, for example, that Skiathos ranks 78th in area but 43rd in crowd factor, then this book could be for you. Further pages are devoted to a listing of around a thousand islets together with location maps and geographical co-ordinates, all numerically coded. On the positive side, there is a host of beautiful colour photographs, but unfortunately many of these do not give the location within the relevant island. Overall better suited to the dentist’s waiting room than the yachtsman’s library. - Tony Boas