Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding investment.
Review: Your first impression upon recieving this will be just how huge it is. At just over 6cm (2.5 inchs) in thickness you had better strengthen your shelves and coffee tables. The huge impression does not stop there for inside the covers is a cruiser policy, design and operational history that makes excellent books like "Norman Friedman's US Cruisers - An Illustrated design history" and "Robert's - Britsh cruisers of WWII" look childlike in comparison (and these last two titles are amongst the best that money can buy being far better than their closest rivals). This book is for the dedicated naval buff and anyone intent on research in this topic.Those of you who thought they had all the information they needed on Japanease cruisers from either "Whitley's - Cruisers of WWII" or "Conway's all the world's fighting ships 1922-47", think again. These books often berate the Japanease designs and certainly don't do them justice. Where as the authors of "Japanease cruisers of the Pacific War" have gone to great pains searching through even Japanease sources to write the most complete work on Japanease cruisers that there will ever be. You could say that the title often strays a little from cruisers as it delves deeply into policy and then the conplex subject of firecontrol. If you wanted to know how a type 94 Japanease director and computer functioned, its in this book along with simple diagrams and any of its ancesters used on board Japanease cruisers in WWII. In fact the number crunchers among you might enjoy the dispersion figures and statistical chances of hitting a target at 20000 metres and so on.... For those who just want to know the life and times of these ships, thats in there too. Modellers will find this work invaluable, for while the ship diagrams are small (they have to fit inside), none the less the diagrams and details on the ships superstrutures, the modifications they underwent, the internal arrangements, the armour schemes etc. are all in there. As far as I can tell only paint schemes and crew member names have been left out! On general Japanease policy and Japanease ambitions in the interwar period and beyond, this work will prove an invaluble resource. Containing amongst other things, some Japanease inteligence of the time and their projected building programs. For example we now know that the 1940 Battlecruiser B64 often quoted in the west, should be B65 and that a class of 6 (not 2) ships were planned. Like any book, there are some weaknesses. For me it was in the layout which was quite alien and tiring. A graphist here or there might have made it easier on the eye especially when flicking back and forth. However for the dedicated reader this work will leeve your jaw dropping in places such as when you learn that the cruiser Nachi underwent a final torrid ordeal of 9 torpedo and 20 bomb hits (a lot for a cruiser) and so on. This outstanding work has yet to become widely known as the definitive work on the subject. I fear that by the time it does, it will be no longer available with a high second hand market price. My advice is get it while you can or pay far more in the future.
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