Customer Reviews

Carnivorous Plants

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book takes a look at the various types and species of carnivorous plants. It is not an all-encompasing field guide and doesn't try to list every known species, but is a good introduction to carnivorous plants and the methods they use to trap prey and some of the more common species in cultivation at the time.

Practical growing advice is at a minimum - for that it's better to see the author's later work Insect-eating Plants and How to Grow Them (recently reprinted as Insect Eaters), or a more recent book such as D'Amato's The Savage Garden. As I understand it, this was the first serious book devoted specifically to the study of carnivorous plants since the 1940's. As such it is probably more suitable to the collector of carnivorous plants (and books about them) than someone who is trying to grow them.

But still, I've heard Slack called the "Father" of modern carnivorous plant cultivation, and his books deserve respect for that alone. The photos in the book are superb, although there are few, and most are B&W.

This book is one of the best books on carnivorous plants (CP). Slack writes in an easy fluid style that reads well, although occasionally his British terminology can confuse the reader. The book covers a wide variety of species and techniques for growing each of them. My only major complaint (and my reason for giving it only 4 stars) is the small number of colored pictures. These plants are some of the most beautiful plants on earth but it is hard to grasp their beauty from line drawings. Slack's second book (Insect-Eating Plants and How to Grow Them) and D'Amato's book (The Savage Garden) do better in this regard. I would recommend this book both to the beginner and experienced CP grower for its wealth of useful information.

The book is outstanding. It covers most types of carnivorous plants, and has many excelent color photos. It has a section on how to grow & care for each type of plant. From pot size, soil, light, humidity, fertilizers, growing period and more.

A minor negative - some additional information would have been useful. I wish it had a little more information on the optimal pot size for the plants, some have this info, some don't. And don't expect it to have every complex Sarracenia Hybrid covered, although it does have a lot of them.

Ive read many (most?) books on CPs published in the last 50-60 years, and this one covers more, provides more info, and has better pictures. This deserves 5 stars, unlike the typically inflated rating. I use it to research any plants I consider buying. If you're interested in CPs this book would be worth buying. It's a steal at its current price. ... .

I was a little disappointed with this book. Adrian Slack's expertise can't be doubted but as a layperson I found the book heavy going. There was an awful lot of scientific jargon used and I didn't even finish reading it - something I rarely do. There were some stunning full-page colour photos in the book which were sadly few and far between. Most of the photos were black and white or sketches. I like my gardening books to have full colour photos and a minimum of jargon. One for those with scientific/botanical backgrounds only I think.

This book definitely excels in the scientific side of things. Reading the various methods by which the plants lure their prey and then trap them was extremely fascinating. There is no doubt, that if you want to know the different mechanisms by which these amazing plants work, then this book is for you.

Unfortunately, I don't feel it explained in any great detail on how to cultivate the plants or how to grow them. The section of the book that dealt with growing the plants was rather superficial and disorganised.

Nonetheless, when it comes to science I give it 5 stars, but when it comes to methods of growing, I give it 3 stars. Overall, I would give it four stars. I still recommend it- it was a great read for me and I'm sure it will be for you too.

Back in 1981 I found a copy of this book at my community college library. Prior to that I had been trying to grow carnivorous plants with only meager success since all the literature was up to that time was scant, and often based on pre-conceived notions about carnivorous plants. Most success I had were a combination of just applying common sense based on the little I knew about the plants, and just dumb luck. Most information up to that time led to quite a few dead plants.

After going through the book I was so entranced that I probably read it 10 or more times, and later purchased two copies of it, one of which I wore out since I was using it as more of a garden guide. Slack's book not only had beautiful pictures, but descriptions and natural history of species I had never heard of. This text was a turning point in being successful with carnivorous plants, and was instrumental in leading me to having a carnivorous plant nursery today.

Even though the information is getting a little dated, I still refer back to this book and his companion book, "Insect Eating Plants and How to Grow Them", to this day. Adrian Slack had some insights that were valuable, and wisdom that I quote to this day.

Some of the folks who give this book low ratings are not taking a couple things into account. This book was published in 1979; no computers, film photography, four color process offset printing. It was expensive back in this day to publish lots of color photos. I found the photos for the time period amazing. Also, Slack never intended this book to be a "how-to" guide; he did the cultivation section as an after-thought. He was already working on the second book which was a cp horticulture guide. It was meant to be a natural history guide. Even so, it was the best information out there at that time.

I would say this book is a must if your serious about carnivorous plants. It wouldn't be my first choice for a beginner, but would still provide excellent background on the natural history of the plants.

I think some of the previous reviewers may not have been aware that Adrian Slack has a different book available that deals specifically with growing carnivorous plants. This book's intended purpose is definitely not to be a "growing guide" for carnivorous plants. Rather, it is a rigorous and detailed study of the plants themselves, their history, biology and trapping mechanisms. Yes, there is a small section in end of the book regarding cultivation, but it is clearly intended to serve more as an appendix than a main chapter in the book.

To dismiss this text on the basis that it is not a growing guide and that it lacks sufficient cultivation information is a cheap shot, because that was never the author's intent and anyone who has read it could tell you that.

For what this book IS intended to do, it is without a doubt the best on the market (even today!). No other carnivorous plant book on the market today covers their biology and trapping mechanisms in such vivid detail, nor do they provide such high quality drawings and examinations of just how these plants function.

If you want information on how to cultivate these amazing plants, this is definitely not the book for you. If, however, you want to know where these plants come from and seek rigorous scientific detail on just how they work, this is without a doubt the best resource in publication, bar none.

This book has been around for a long time and I hope it remains in publication because there is currently nothing else that supplies the same information. If you are growing these plants and want to know more about them than what is covered in more popular cultivation books (e.g. Peter D'Amato or Barry Rice's texts) then this book is what you need. It makes an excellent companion to many of the cultivation books on the market today and will give you an even greater appreciation and understanding of these remarkable plants.