Now this is a beautiful book. Not only does it have the most bewitching illustrations – each fish has a landscape page to itself – it is printed on fine paper and the review volume also has the most wonderful smell. James Prosek has clearly been struck by a sense of wonder about the sheer variability of trout and this book proves, better than anything else I can recall, how diverse this fish can be. At a guess there must be a hundred plates in the book, ranging from the ethereal Belvica trout, from Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, a fish which lacks any spots at all; through the Balkan Marble trout, which have the most extraordinary vermiculations; to a Sonaghen from Lough Melvin, which is clearly trying to redefine the spot. Each painting is accompanied by a page or two of text, explaining a little about the fish and its environment, with the occasional quote from books past and present, and even the odd recipe. Since the fish come from all over the world, the subsequent mélange makes interesting reading – and as if trout weren’t enough, a scattering salmon, char, taimen and hutchen are also included. Books don’t really come much better than this, I promise.