I became obsessed with tattoos at a very young age; I would look for tattoos on people and often ask them what their tattoos meant and why they got them. Predictably at about 14 years old I started to want a tattoo. I pestered my Mum for two years solid and when I was 16 she thought she'd call my bluff. She marched me into a tattooist and told me to pick a tattoo and get it done there and then. She thought I would wimp out but I didn't and I still love the tattoo I got that day. I guess some people are just meant to get ink.

The text in the book is written by the oh-so-cooly-named, Henk Schiffmacher and the photography and edited by Henk and the also-cooly-named, Burkhard Riemschneider.

The book is published by one of my favourite publishers - Taschen. Taschen produce the most beautiful "coffee table books" featuring art, photography and design. A lot of the books tend to be erotic in one or the other but in my opinion they are not sleazy or seedy at all and they are defiantly not pornography. They do, of course publish less controversial material, many of their design books for example. To find out more about Taschen visit, www.taschen.com.

On to the content of the book; the first 50 odd pages of the book, (titled, "On the History and Practice of Tattooing"), are text and teeny tiny text at that, (about 8 point), which means you will have difficulty reading this in anything other than strong light or if you have a problem with your eyesight. The same text is in English first then it is repeated in German and then again in French.

Once past the bland beginning you will find page after page, (about 644 pages in total), of photos and illustrations. They are separated into 5 sections, Ethnographic Tattoos, Classical Tattoo Designs, From the Early Days to the 1980s, Japanese Tattoos and Contemporary Tattoo Art.

Classical Tattoo Designs shows many beautiful pictures of the more traditional and kitsch tattoos. There is a heavy nautical influence obviously from the huge amount of sailors that got tattoos. These are my favourite tattoos and in fact they are the type of tattoos I have. You will find anchors, mermaids, hearts, birds etc in bright red, blues and greens.

Japanese Tattoos shows the distinct cultural differences between the Orient and the Western world. The section begins with heavily tattooed skin that has been removed and mounted which is, in my opinion, a little gross but fascinating non-the-less. The tattoos shown here tend to be larger, often covering the whole back or torso.

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I think this books would be great for any body with an interest in tattoos and especially useful if you would like a tattoo but don't know what style to go for.