Bivalve Enthusiasm

So when I got home tonight to do my laundry and pack all the fleece and goose feathers I can find in anticipation of my trip to Badger Country, I did get a nice surprise. In my mail was a book entitled "Oysters: A Culinary Celebration." While the oyster porn going on inside is enough to make me want to dive into the Hudson in search of mollusks, it doesn't have something I want: a description of the taste/size/brineyness/sweetness of the more than 300 varieties of edible oysters that exist. It's nice to have recipes and all, but I need to know what to order when I go to some kind of Manhattan oyster emporium. Does this exist? I can't find it. Has R.W. Apple done a compilation, or something? Damn! I need a guide to eating every oyster available in New York.