Customer Reviews

Innes's Exotic Aquarium Fishes: A Work of General Reference, 21st Edition

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first read the Innes Book, as we called Exotic Aqaurium Fishes by Dr. William T. Innes back then, in the late 70's, in its 19th edition. I was a teenage hobbyist back then, and the book was biblical to me and my peers. Recently, I discovered my old copy in a box of books we had stored in the garage, and was delighted to flip throught the pages and see that I could still learn new things from this grand classic by one of the pioneers of fresh-water ichtyology. Hopefully, I went to Amazon.com to see if I could locate a more recent edition (the 19th edition mostly sports black and white photographs and some of the scientific data on specific specimens is dated). I was delighted to discover the 21st edition! With valuable illustrations, taxonomic and biotope contributions, as well as descriptions, and transportation and husbandry advice, the Innes Book is a fine complement to Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Tropical Fishes, which is much more complete (7800 photos) but which only mentions common names in the index (60 pages of it!) and offers only the most succinct coded advice on fishkeeping, due to it's immense range. I recommend both books to any tropical fish hobbyist who wishes to maintain even a small comprehensive library on the subject.

William T. Innes was the Godfather of the aquarium hobby in the first half of the 20th century. And "Exotic Aquarium Fishes" was (and many feel still is) the greatest book every wrritten for and about the aquarium hobby.

Innes was the publisher of the Aquarium Magazine and knew his stuff. But more importantly, he was a man of letters; The Innes Book (as it is called) reads like prose, not just boilerplate or dull descriptions so common in churn-em-out Axelrod/TFH books of the latter half of the century. Innes spent years writing this book and it shows. The color plates (painted photographs) are exquisite as well.

But caution: MAKE SURE you purchase the edition published by the Innes Publishing Company - not Metaframe or TFH (which altered some of the text, changed the format, and produced it on lower quality black and white paper after the copyright ran out).

A great gift for the hardcore fish nut in your life and a historic document!

William Innes is widely considered the dean of the aquarium hobby in the US. My parents purchased this book for me along with my first 20 gallon tank when I was in high school, in the early 70s. It is truly a pleasure to read. He has a graceful, engaging writing style, and his book is full of practical information. While some parts are out of date (an antibiotic is referred to as a "wonder drug") don't let this dissuade you. This is an outstanding first book for a new hobbyist, and yet remains useful even for the more experienced hobbyist. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I have a lot of books!

I have the 19th edition revised, which has a YELLOW and White cover, and says 19th edition revised in a red banner near the top. After this edition, the rights were acquired by TFH, to my great regret. They "revised" it by putting in a lot of crude product placements for their products. It really detracts from the charm of the original. Try to get the 19th edition revised, with the yellow and white cover.

NOTE: Amazon seems to have attached this review to more than one edition of this book. This review is regarding the 21st edition ONLY! I give five stars to editions 19 or earlier!

A different book, Innes' _Exotic Aquarium Fishes_, is THE classic aquarium book. There were 19 editions of it from 1935 through 1966. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS BOOK IS NOT THAT BOOK! _Innes's Exotic Aquarium Fishes_ (21st edition, 1994) is a bait and switch. The book's own back cover text says it all. It says that this 21st edition "represents major changes in the original _Exotic Aquarium Fishes_, by Dr. Willima T. Innes-- to the extent that neither any of Dr. Innes's photos nor any significant portion of his original text appears in this book..." In other words, TFH wrote a new book and inserted Innes' name into the title to make it sell.

Poor Innes is probably turning over in his grave knowing that his primary competitor, TFH, ended up with the rights to his excellent book. TFH's founder, Herbert Axelrod, later (1962) wrote a book and named it _Exotic Tropical Fishes_, presumably to steal some of the thunder from Innes' successful _Exotic Aquarium Fishes_. Innes later sued Axelrod when it was discovered that Axelrod had lifted some of Innes' photos, blacked out the backgrounds to make them look different, and used them in his own book. Innes won the copyright lawsuit, but copyright laws were harder to enforce in those days. Innes couldn't prove monetary damages and so, sadly, won no award in the suit.

Anyway, though this so-called 21st edition is a fairly decent book in its own right, please don't buy it. Find yourself a used copy of a real "Innes book," _Exotic Aquarium Fishes_, which means buying 19th edition or earlier. You'll be much happier to find a supreme book that is the favorite of almost every longterm hobbyist.

Four and a half stars.
My does this book bring back memories. I acquired my first copy back for my birthday in 1968 and spent many a night pouring over it as though it was sacred scripture.
It still makes for valuable reading but fortunately the hobby has evolved to the point where fish survival rates are much higher especially for the beginner due to more modern techniques than those elucidated in this book. In that way its advice about setting up an aquarium is quite outdated. However most of the fish described and their morphology and behavior are still the same and the information offered still of great use to the aquarist. Descriptions of each species are literate and used to send off my mind to dream in the same way as a child's mind would dream when viewing a window full of toys.
I believe this book will remain a classic for years to come.

as old as this book is it still provides relevant information. the only thing negative i can think of is its range of species which could be wider in my opinion. a great book at [price] or less.

Did not know I didn't rate book or seller Book was used looked Brand new price was right fast delivery Very happy with purchase.