ok, ill be honost, i bought it for the pictures, at first. i found this book at Barne's and being atracted to guns as i was, i picked it up and looked through it and noticed all the beutiful diagrams, cross sections, photos, etc. so i bought it. After looking at all the photos and reading about a few of my favorite guns such as the AK and PPSH,i put it down where it layed for a while untill i was bored and picked it back up again and started reading.

what i learned was everything, how it worked, its history, present, and future of most every gun imaginable. im almost done with the book now, im at the smg section.

after reading the rifles section i decided to buy a rifle and am now in the market for a dragunov sniper rifle. this book has inspired me to take up a new hobby in gun collecting

This is the perfect book for anyone who's interested in small arms. I know several people who loves this book; one is a passionate hobby-hunter who also owns a large collection of hand guns, one is a female author of thrillers who uses this book for research and the last one is her step son (13 y/o), who regularly tries to steal her book and show it to his class mates.
The book contains a very large number of small arms, all thoroughly described and with excellent photos. The reader can use it as an encyclopedia, or just indulge in the history of small arms. This book is simply the best.