Orchid Books Reviews are very important.

[Rik]

Since I started growing orchids, I also had interest in literature. Books are very important to be informed about orchids. To inform as much as possible orchid afiniados about orchid books I started my own website in 2002. One of the most important pages are those with reviews of orchid books.
You like to know more about the orchid books in my collection? Go to www.riks.be where you will find a lot of information about orchid books but also about orchids.
Thanks.

[tropterrarium]

Hi Rik,

Interesting idea and thanks for pointing it out. I may take the liberty of making a couple of suggestions:

- do not use pop-ups (target = new window). Use a common navigation bar (maybe a template in your web-design application, I use Dreamweaver) and then load those pages in the same window. Many people block pop-ups because of pervasive advertising on the web. My iPhone does not permit pop-ups at all, so your links are all dead.

- Provide a source where those books can be obtained. I looked at Orchidaceae of Tahiti, French Polynesia in which I am interested. I tried to contact University of Gdansk Press, but their site is very difficult to navigate, and I never got a reply from my email based on an address I found somehow. It is very annoying to see a book but have no way of obtaining it.

Otherwise, interesting idea. Could be a good resource eventually. The writing is a bit to florid for me (references to Brel and Gaugin), but that is a matter of taste. Been in FP/Tuamotus a couple of times there, but before my interest in orchids.

Another issue is titles in non-Latin alphabets. Recently obtained a couple of books in Thai, and even checking ISBN listings and WorldCat failed to provide the full citation. Fortunately, I could check with a friendly Thai orchid vendor recently, who will send me full details. One is is "Orchid flowers" by Authors???? (maybe Wattana, Nuntia) 2012 from Silkworm Books, Bankok ISBN 9786165380348 6165380344. This is where your site may become very helpful.

[Rik]

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try to do this in due time. I'm beside orchids also very busy with humanitarian projects in Congo RDC. If you read French, go to katako-kombe.be

Try this email address for Orchidaceae of Tahiti, French Polynesia:biodarek@univ.gda.pl (one of the autors).

For Brel (was a Belgian and very important atrist who wrote and sung 'Ne me quite pas' -'If you go away' in English a lot of atrists did sing this song/ Frank SInatra was one of them: go to Youtube) and Gaugin (a French painter) take a look via Google.com. They both lived in Tahiti.

NHBS and Koeltz are important soucres of orchid books. As I am a private person, not commercial, I am (at this moment) not allowed to give more info than the titles and the ISBN on my website. For that reason I'm mentioning that readers can contact me personally via my email address. Thanks for your understanding.

[tropterrarium]

Hi Rik,

thanks for the e-mail. Have just send an inquiry.
I know who Brel and Gaugin are and their relationship to FP. This is just question of style, the basic info is quite fine.

Re NHBS, their prices are extremely high. E.g. the recent Orchid Seed Diversity from Berlin, Dahelm sells for something like Euro 25, while NHBS charges Euro 40. My book is sold for $80 plus $70 shipping, NHBS charges $185 (without shipping). However, Dalhelm does not accept any payment except bank transfer (no VISA!), which is costs more in fees than the book, so NHBS is "cheaper".

In general, though, it is by far better to go straight through the publisher (e.g. Natural History Book Borneo; Indonesian Orchid Society) than one of those highway robbery resellers. Amazon is still the easiest, but smaller titles are often not offered.

Strange restriction on your website. Every book review I have written and have read include price plus one or even often multiple sources. You already have your own domain, so no problem there. If it has to do with hosting service, that is very cheap. I pay some $100 per year, and can do whatever I want. Re contacting you by e-mail, that is a nice offer, but I did not see it. This should be part of every single review, right underneath the bibliographic information.