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Rating: 
Summary: A superb slipper orchid reference book
Review: The book contains about 308 pages composed of: 54 pages on Vietnam flora and habitat, 34 pages on the anatomy, ecology, and distribution of orchids, 178 pages about individual slipper orchid species found in Vietnam (22 species), 20 pages on the conservation, 9 pages on literature referenced, and a 14 page index. The text is far more extensive than just "slipper orchids" or "Vietnam". Rather it also introduces the flora, habitat, and physical geography of Vietnam, and it covers all slipper orchids of southeast Asia in very complete detail. The last 2/3rds of the book is a treasure of information about the individual species of Vietnam slippers. It contains lots of field pictures, closeups of the flowers, flower diagrams, and distribution maps. I was impressed with the completeness of the treatment for each orchid. This is a superb slipper orchid reference book. If you are a Paphiopedilum orchid book enthusiast - times are very good. There are presently three absolutely outstanding slipper orchid books in press: "The Genus Paphiopedilum" by Braem, Baker & Baker, "The Slipper Orchids" by Catherine Cash, and "Slipper Orchids of Vietnam" by Leonid Averyanov, Phillip Cribb, Phan Ke Loc & Nguyen Tien Hiep. Each book sets the highest standard of excellence. We slipper orchid hobbyists are truly blessed to have such talented and passionate writers on this subject. I reference each of these books several times each month. They are great additions to my orchid library. There is total concensus over 2/3rds of the species in all of the books. But there are major disagreements over much of the rest. Discussions in the text are filled with little daggers about what the other book authors had missed or misinterpreted - it is facinating! Since Slipper Orchids of Vietnam was written after the other two books, Averyanov & Cribb have the last word in the arguement. But I suspect that new books from Braem and Cash are already in the making. It's a great time to be a slipper orchid enthusiast. You gotta buy this book!
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