This is a beautiful book on all levels. It is well made with what appears good binding (on my copy at least). They did not skimp on the quality of the page paper, the colors pop. There is some, but not much text, just lots of stunning, oversized images, which is what we want! I really like the "square" format, adds something to the book as most other books are rectangular, so I think it improves the overall unique "impact" of the book. I am a long time serious amateur photographer and SI Swimsuits in the 80's and 90's helped define my ideas of women and photography and contributed to embracing that hobby. So a look back at a book with a large number of the women I remember fondly from that time doesn't hurt either. I really think women of that time had something special (every generation feels that way about "their" generation I am sure), but Elle, Cindy, Christie, Paulina, Stephanie, Kathy are the women that almost created the idea of a swimsuit "Supermodel" and this was the "golden" years of the SI Swimsuit issues, unsurpassed even to this day. The ladies hung around for years with SI, almost becoming your "friends" as you anxiously awaited every year to see them again (long before the internet where anyone is viewable within seconds at any time) and teasing was more the rage than overt sexuality/nudity. A time when millions of teen males repeatedly asked that most important of question every February from that innocent time past "is that really a nipple showing or just the lighting?" Fear not, all the newer models from the late 90's and early 2000's are there as well as a few from the 60's and 70's. The photos are mostly film (slides probably), so there is some validity to some complaints that some images are grainy, but as a photographer from that time, the graininess in most instances appeals to me as it reminds me where we have come from in terms of taking photos over the past several decades (remember, these images were never meant to be blown up larger than a portion of a magazine page and these are all cropped to some extent to make them square, using slide formulas decades old). That said, there are a few images that you do wonder if that was the best the digital scanning/photoshop guys really could have done with the slide. I assume the answer is "yes" as they have expertise and equipment that far surpasses mine, but I do understand what some people are saying about some (maybe 5%) of the shots. So if you are middle aged wishing you had never thrown all those issues away decades ago, take the nostalgic tour from the past with some old friends. If you like this style photography, lots to learn from and see how styles (fashion, photographic AND the actual models) have changed over decades. SI really had some of the best photographers in the business and its a joy to learn from them.