I would recommend The Complete book of Bonsai by Harry Tomlunson. It has a full colour A-Z species by species section. Very good.
Also Bonsai by Dan Barton. And anything by Peter Chan!

I would recommend The Complete book of Bonsai by Harry Tomlunson. It has a full colour A-Z species by species section. Very good.
Also Bonsai by Dan Barton. And anything by Peter Chan!

Thank you both! :) Maybe I'll get him a little set of books.

I would definitely recommend The Bonsai Book by Dan Barton, one of the best and most complete books on bonsai I know. Is easy to read, have a very explanative style and is complemented with great illustrations. I wrotte a full review about it if you want to know more:

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bonsai Book

thanks!

To be successful at bonsai, a good working knowledge of soils and plant physiology are essential, and more valuable than a collection of bonsai books, which tend to cover a variety of topics, and none of them well. Exceptions to that rule are Bonsai Techniques I and Bonsai Techniques II ~ John Naka, and Bonsai ~ Deb Koreshoff. These books are out of print, so buying them used might be required, but they are worth looking for.

I highly recommend Plant Production in Containers ~ Carl Whitcomb PhD, The Physiology of Woody Plants ~ Kozlowski/Pallardy or Growth Control in Woody Plants by same authors, and Growing Media for Ornamental Plants and Turf ~ Handreck/Black. Another out of print book that is excellent is The Growing Tree ~ Brayton Wilson

Another very good plant physiology book is Plant Physiology ~ Mohr/Schopfer, but this is a book for more advanced horticultural practitioners ....

Al

Than you, Tapla and to OP

This is just what I was looking for, too.

You're welcome - good luck!!

Al

I guess this is an old-ish thread, but with the holidays approaching its still relevant.

As a beginner myself, I've checked out a decent number of bonsai books in the past year. Despite many recommendations here and elsewhere, I found "The Complete book of Bonsai by Harry Tomlunson" to be so basic as to be almost useless. You can find similar info all over the internet by reading any introductory material on bonsai. At least for me, it was way too basic and high level to be of much use.

I did however have the fortune to be gifted a copy of Deborah Koreshoff's out of print Bonsai book, which I find invaluable and amazing. Quite accessible to a beginner, and I think it will be many years before I am at the point where I need more depth than is in this book. It's probably expensive to buy, but well worth it. I can't figure out why its no longer in print, given the high quality of the content.

I also had a chance to browse a friends copy of John Naka's Bonsai Techniques I, which I found very technical and difficult to relate to at my current skill level. I'm sure its a great book, but I decided its not for me, at least not now or anytime soon.

Daniel