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Rating: 
Summary: Great reference book for the a beginner
Review: This book is an excellent companion to "Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents" by the same author (Terry Hewitt)."101 Essential Tips" has some information not included in the larger work. This reviewer recommends buying both books and consults both books on a regular basis. This book is adequate on it's own, though. If one has a very limited budget, this would be the book to buy. Reading this book will likely whet one's appetite for Hewitt's "Complete Book", but this book will get one started and might be all the book that one will ever really need. It contains every bit of basic information necessary to successfully grow these plants. The format, of separately titled and illustrated "tips", also makes the book a very easy read. One can easily flip to some specific tip and never have to read the whole book end-to-end. What it's not: This is not a book for identifying a just-purchased, unlabelled cactus. It's also not a coffee-table picture book (though it does have informative and useful photos) and it does not attempt to _thoroughly_ cover any aspect of cactus cultivation. It is a small, inexpensive quick-reference with answers to common questions and solutions to common problems that arise when growing cactus. The photographs that it has are fully adequate for illustrating the techniques described. The book shows implicitly, due to its small size and price, that growing cactus is neither difficult nor expensive. This book is a very good value and makes a great starting book for those with a limited budget.
Rating:
Summary: A good supplementary reference
Review: This book is an excellent companion to "Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents" by the same author (Terry Hewitt). "101 Essential Tips" has some information not included in the larger work. This reviewer recommends buying both books and consults both books on a regular basis. This book is adequate on it's own, though. If one has a very limited budget, this would be the book to buy. Reading this book will likely whet one's appetite for Hewitt's "Complete Book", but this book will get one started and might be all the book that one will ever really need. It contains every bit of basic information necessary to successfully grow these plants. The format, of separately titled and illustrated "tips", also makes the book a very easy read. One can easily flip to some specific tip and never have to read the whole book end-to-end. What it's not: This is not a book for identifying a just-purchased, unlabelled cactus. It's also not a coffee-table picture book (though it does have informative and useful photos) and it does not attempt to _thoroughly_ cover any aspect of cactus cultivation. It is a small, inexpensive quick-reference with answers to common questions and solutions to common problems that arise when growing cactus. The photographs that it has are fully adequate for illustrating the techniques described. The book shows implicitly, due to its small size and price, that growing cactus is neither difficult nor expensive. This book is a very good value and makes a great starting book for those with a limited budget.
Rating: 
Summary: A Waste
Review: This book is so cursory and high-level that I got nothing out of it. For example, there's an entry on spider mite damage to cacti. It says to combat this use a predatory mite. It fails to tell me which mites are predatory, where I might find them, how to use them, etc. I don't know the purpose of this book. It's so short, vague, and imprecise that some one new to cacti won't find it useful. And it's so vacuous that some one who knows cacti will read it and say "Duh." And it's too little to be a good coffee-table book....
Rating:
Summary: A Waste
Review: This book is so cursory and high-level that I got nothing out of it. For example, there's an entry on spider mite damage to cacti. It says to combat this use a predatory mite. It fails to tell me which mites are predatory, where I might find them, how to use them, etc. I don't know the purpose of this book. It's so short, vague, and imprecise that some one new to cacti won't find it useful. And it's so vacuous that some one who knows cacti will read it and say "Duh." And it's too little to be a good coffee-table book....
Rating:
Summary: this is a very imformative book for beginning cactus growers
Review: This book is the best thing I have every purchased about cacti. The book gives you important information about watering, lighting, repoting, arranging, feeding, tempature, pests and diseases, and choosing cacti. I would recomend this book for anyone who is a beginning cactus grower, or anyone who has questions about cacti.
Rating:
Summary: Have Cactus Questions...
Review: This is a great book if you are starting out with Cacti and Succulents. I have had my plants for a while and I still will ask a question to myself, and then go look it up in the book to see if it is there. It is my opinion that this book has something for everyone. It has watering tips, feeding tips, and if you are thinking of starting out with cacti, it will even tell you what is popular for beginners. I looked for a lot of cacti books, and this one was one of the best I found. P.S. It's affordable too!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great reference book for the a beginner
Review: This is an excellent reference guide for those with little or no experience with cacti and succulents. If you are visually-oriented, you will apprecicate the vivid and colorful photos. This is a very simple and easy book to read....I would consider it to be a nice starter book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good info, but redundant
Review: This little book has some pretty good tips, but if you already have Hewitt's Complete Guide to Cacti and Succulents you don't need this book. Virtually all of the information and photographs (as excellent as they are) comes right from the author's more complete book. So if you already have Hewitt's Comlete Guide... don't waste four bucks on 101 Essential Tips. If you want a good cacti/succulent book buy The Complete Guide to Cacti and Succulents not 101 Essential Tips.
Rating:
Summary: Good info, but redundant
Review: This little book has some pretty good tips, but if you already have Hewitt's Complete Guide to Cacti and Succulents you don't need this book. Virtually all of the information and photographs (as excellent as they are) comes right from the author's more complete book. So if you already have Hewitt's Comlete Guide... don't waste four bucks on 101 Essential Tips. If you want a good cacti/succulent book buy The Complete Guide to Cacti and Succulents not 101 Essential Tips.
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