Here is my brief review of the book. Mike looked through my book so knows a little about it as well. Ian from Forgotten Weapons did a video review of it, much more indepth. I didn't watch it, I assume its more in depth though.
Here is the 20,000 foot view though. The book reads like a technical manual. There are a TON of charts and everything is broken up into variation and sub variation. It is not a history book, and has minimal background on production. It is much more a collectors handbook. For example, if you want to know what shape loaded chamber indicator is on your AC44 J block, you can find out. There is a breakdown of every holster known. I think these tables and charts may be usefull for my collecting. They have nice color photos of everything. I have yet to use the book to vet a p38, once I do, I will update my thoughts.
There are some issues with the book. The two major factual ones are that the authors say that cvq was a legitmate code change, and that 0 series spreewerks were made at Neuengamme. I'm not going to discuss these, because authors much smarter than I are addressing these in the near future. My issues are more logistical. I find the translation difficult to follow at some points. I know it is tough to translate technical terms, but the translation distracts from the overall points of the book. They also include several highly questionable pistols in their oddities section. They have shoulder rigs listed as legitimate in their holster section. It also bugs me that Simpson advertises in the book on the last page, but that is not major.
I'll answer any questions if anyone has any.
