If you love a steamed lobster with a view, there’s a brand new guide to New England lobster shacks – and half of the book covers lobster shacks in Maine.

“Lobster Shacks: A Road-Trip Guide to New England’s Best Lobster Joints” (Countryman Press, $18.95) by Mike Urban, gives a history of each of the shacks and writes about the quirks of their owners and menus. Consider, for example, Ruth and Wimpy’s Restaurant in Hancock. Ruth Wilbur (who owns the place with her husband Wimpy – and yes, they do they serve a Wimpy Burger) says that at any given time there are at least 30 different lobster dishes on the menu.

There are lots of helpful sidebars in the book for people who don’t know much about the critters or how to cook them. One covers boiling versus steaming, others various seafood festivals. And there is, of course, the ubiquitous “how to eat a lobster” lesson.

There are also lobster boatloads of recipes sprinkled throughout the book.