I was lucky enough to find this book in a used bookstore some years ago. It is a larger book, but is surprisingly easy reading. For a non-fiction book it is written in a very conversational tone. If you have been wanting to read up more on tea but have been putting off delving into a long non-fiction book on the topic, this may be a good compromise book. It is older so a few of the points are out of date. However I did find teas discussed here that I have not found discussed in other tea related books, which made it a very interesting read. There are sections on tea history, tea trade (clipper ships!), tea growing/processing, different tea regions, and tea types. There is also a section on various mail order options for tea which I imagine is now out of date. Quite a fun read! ( )