Gordon Cheers' CP book.

Robert Allen (Robert.Allen@Eng.Sun.COM)
Mon, 7 Jun 93 09:44:48 PDT

I bought this at a local bookstore this weekend.
It was the only one, and the binding job wasn't
that great, but there are so many beautiful
photos in the book that I had to get it. There
was a 10% off sale, so I "only" payed a whopping
$40.50.

The book has lots of photos of many of the newer
species, including P. rotundiflora, N. gracillima,
etc. There is a nice table at the back which
covers month-by-month care of the plants, by genus.
I'm not yet sure how accurate it is.

There are what I would quantify as "numerous" typos
and editing mistakes. For example, the description
of D. capillaris and D. cistiflora are swapped, although
the photos are of the correct plants. There is also
a discussion of Mexican pings, which notes they like
low light to simulate the tall grasses and Sarracenia
which grow up around them as the season progresses.
Obviously they are talking about US pings, not mexican
pings, but for the inexperienced grower this may not
be apparent.

Overall I'd say the book is overpriced for the quality
of editing and the information presented. There are
however many photos, and given the price of educational
books in general, it's possible that this is the
cheapest way of getting info on the newer species.

Robert