The appearance of the second edition of this textbook, intended for and sensibly priced for the student market must, inevitably, lead to a renewed consideration of its merits. In principle, this new edition should be very warmly welcomed. There is a paucity of student texts in this area and the new edition of Wilson is the most up-to-date (the 13th edition of Payne & Ivamy’s Carriage of Goods by Sea was published in 1989). The two leading practitioner works, Scrutton and Carver, published last in 1984 and 1982 respectively, are now rather out of date, so a contemporary text, albeit a student work, is an important development. As the author himself points out in the Preface, developments in the area of the carriage of goods by sea in the years since the appearance of the first edition in 1988 have themselves dictated a second edition which takes account of the new law. Indeed, even since the book was written, developments have continued apace and this can be readily