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Originally Posted by Almafeta
I'm thinking of getting Beastiary, since I could use some animal stats to write a fan supplement or two, but the way things are going, there'll be hundreds of pages about animal behavior and running zoos but not one actual animal stat-block.
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Genre books cover such genres as conspiracy, cyberpunk, fantasy, and space SF. Their job is to describe the genre, its conventions, and its tropes; to survey genre fiction; and to explain in broad, non-world-specific terms how to create campaigns and PCs that are true-to-genre.
Examples: Fantasy, Space.
Worldbooks describe specific settings. Their job is to detail the history, geography, and politics of the setting; to catalog that setting's signature abilities, equipment, races, etc.; to show how to create suitable characters for that particular setting; and to illustrate possible campaign types in the setting.
Examples: Banestorm, Infinite Worlds.
Rulebooks provide new systems, usually either for character abilities (magic, martial arts, superhuman powers, and so on) or designing things (vehicles, weapons, etc.). Their job is to provide expansions of the core rules that can be used in any genre or game world (although they'll suit some genres and settings better than others!).
Examples: Martial Arts, Powers.
Catalogs list ready-made armor, beasts, implants, magic items, races, vehicles, weapons, or whatever. Their job is to provide large numbers of sorted, indexed items with statistics that can be used in any genre or game world (although they'll suit some genres and settings better than others!).
Examples: Bestiary, High-Tech.
It's rather unfair to use one reviewer's inability to grasp the difference between a catalog and a genre book as a basis for the assumption that SJ Games is too stupid to tell the difference between a genre book and a catalog.
Of course Bestiary will be a catalog.