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The author, born Munich 1931, graduated from the Hebrew Reali School of Haifa (Biology Trend) and earned his MSc and PhD (Zoology) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There he taught vertebrate zoology and herpetology during 1953 to 1999 and curated the National Collection of Amphibians and Reptiles. He researched many different aspects of reptile life and published over 440 abstracts, articles and research papers and one book, A Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel, Nature Reserves Authority, Jerusalem, 1995 (in Hebrew). He continues researching as professor emeritus. Werner had co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, is a honorary member of the Zoological Society of Israel and is a Research Associate of the Senckenberg Museum, Dresden. This second book, initially written in Hebrew, addresses both beginners (amateurs and youth) and advanced readers (students and researchers), through each topic starting with a paragraph marked for beginners. The book draws data from over 1,800 cited sources. It comprises a general introduction to reptile life, biased towards local interests (ecology and life history) with 80 illustrations, followed by exhaustive reports on 97 Israeli species and shorter comments on 18 selected additional species. Dichotomic keys enable identifying all species. The species reports emphasize sexual and age differences, heed individual variation and indicate the statistical solidity of all data. Almost all are illustrated with photograph, head sketch showing scutellation and a map of locality records that also reports the material seen. The photographs clearly portray all species, often with scale, with attention to geographical origin and age and sex differences, and include examples of nuptial coloration, mating posture, egg laying and hatching, as well as threat behaviour and predation.

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