This authoritative and lavishly colour-illustrated handbook by a globally renowned entomologist is a very welcome addition to any agriculturalist, horticulturalist, forester or entomologist's bookshelf. In addition, it has a useful companion website with downloadable illustrations and tables from the book. The book has a unique global coverage on the ‘insects that matter’ to its intended audience. As the author states, this is a changing field with none of the ‘top ten’ insect pests of today having that status when he started teaching in the 1950s. The handbook is not one targeted to control of a particular pest problem but rather to symptoms, damage, life histories and identification. It is ordered in relation to subclasses of Insecta subdivided into orders down into families and subfamilies in a very logical and structured manner which allows identification down to family level. This identification is not based on a scientific key but on readily identifiable features and is all the more practical and useful for this approach. After three fairly brief general but informative chapters on the diversity of insects, their external features and their structure and function and the major Insecta divisions, the book moves into the heart of the matter. This consists of ten chapters on the different orders dealing with each logically and clearly in turn. In summary, an excellent, well-illustrated handbook and a highly welcome addition to the literature of a very practical nature.