"The most remarkable single-subject books to come along in a while...Jacobsen covers oysters in exhaustive detail, but with writing so engaging and sprightly that reading about the briny darlings is almost as compulsive as eating them...this book will improve your oyster eating immeasurably...There may be no more pleasurable food than a raw oyster, there almost certainly is no better guide." --Los Angeles Times

"The ultimate macropedia for oysters." --Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

"Whether enjoyed on the half-shell raw -- alive, actually -- or fried, stewed, baked or pickled, the oyster has an appeal that is unique and perfectly captured by food writer Rowan Jacobsen." --Wall Street Journal

"Lively, lucid prose that should suck in even the most squeamish eaters." --BN.com