American Bamboos

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for the bamboo expert
Review: A wonderful introduction to bamboo for anybody. This was my first "scholarly" book on this fascinating plant, and the background material (which generalizes to all bamboo of the world) is outstanding.

So many great pictures, and so many vivid descriptions, and such erudite yet well written text.

I am no scholar of bamboo, just mostly enjoy reading about plants and looking at pictures, but this should be a classic among students of bambooology I am sure.

Rating:
Summary: super photos, great text
Review: A wonderful introduction to bamboo for anybody. This was my first "scholarly" book on this fascinating plant, and the background material (which generalizes to all bamboo of the world) is outstanding.

So many great pictures, and so many vivid descriptions, and such erudite yet well written text.

I am no scholar of bamboo, just mostly enjoy reading about plants and looking at pictures, but this should be a classic among students of bambooology I am sure.

Rating:
Summary: Bamboos in color!
Review: An excellent resource for American Bamboos. There is not much out in the market on these often forgotten plants. There are loads of color pictures that make the book invaluable. East-to-read text with plenty of location maps so you know where the plants are found. Anyone interested in bamboos must get this resource!

Rating:
Summary: Bamboos in color!
Review: An excellent resource for American Bamboos. There is not much out in the market on these often forgotten plants. There are loads of color pictures that make the book invaluable. East-to-read text with plenty of location maps so you know where the plants are found. Anyone interested in bamboos must get this resource!

Rating:
Summary: The beauty and diversity of American bamboos revealed
Review: Bamboos grow here in the Americas. In writing "American Bamboos," we wanted to make people aware of that wonderful fact. We wanted to share our knowledge of the beauty and diversity of the native bamboos of Latin America (where hundreds of species grow in humid rain forests, high cold mountains, and even deserts) and the United States (where one hardy survivor hangs on); and how the people of the Americas use and relate to their bamboos. The greatest strength of our book, we believe, is the graphics. Our foremost pleasure in writing "American Bamboos" was the opportunity to canvass 20,000 color slides of bamboos in the Smithsonian Institution and our own personal collections, and pick out the very best ones - the _creme de la creme_ - to share with the public. The Smithsonian Institution Press did a great job in presenting our precious photos, as well as the outstanding line drawings of Smithsonian artist Alice Tangerini. The American Bamboo Society and its Florida Caribbean Chapter gave outstanding support to our book project from the beginning, and enabled us to have lots of color illustrations and distribute them throughout the book as appropriate. Their stipends also made the book more affordable. We cannot thank them enough and hope that other horticultural organizations will follow their lead in supporting publications that are both beautiful in themselves, and scientifically accurate.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for the bamboo expert
Review: there is not much information out there on bamboos and this book fills the gap. It's a must buy for the biologist in the grass world. Lots of excellent pictures of the plants and good text to go with it. Well written.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly, But Astonishingly Good
Review: This is a comprehensive volume of the bamboos native to the Americas (only one of which is native to the United States). Anyone fascinated with the giant bamboos (as well as others) of Central and South America will love this beautifully illustrated and well written book. For anyone who is already a bamboo lover, this book is a must-have. An instant classic, books on bamboo just don't get any better than this. Highly recommended.