This is the first book I ever bought on gardening since I live in a flat and houseplants is all I can do. After that I started doing other things as well, such as herbs in containers, and I have bought more gardening books on different topics. But this book has stayed the only book I need for looking after my houseplants.
The book, first of all, teaches you what a house plant really is. It is a plant, like any other plant, only found in other countries with different climates and brought over to colder countries. So the main thing one needs to understand about them, is that they are plants with specific environment needs. The book covers a bit of the history of house plants, and for every house plant it tells you where they come originally from - which is a very useful thing to know.
This book is an encyclopaedia, because it contains information about hundreds of plants. I don't imagine all house plants in the world are in this book, but I still have to come across a house plant that was not in it.
And it is also a very good practical manual on house plants, because it contains practical information on everything you need to do to look after your houseplants: watering, feeding, repotting, training, propagation, pruning, pests and diseases... The more practical bits of information on these subjects are printed in orange pages that are easy and quick to locate. The instructions are kept clear and simple, and are accompanied with graphs.
The writing is clear and the book is full of gorgeous pictures.
This is a very nice book and a very good buy.