Can anyone recommend a book on succulents that is comprehensive in its information. I'm not looking for one that has every one of the thousands upon thousands of succulents known to mankind; more like complete care/maintenance info for the plants they do have in a particular book. I have spent so much money on books that either have most of the same vague information (including many of the exact same pictures) or are a discourse on a particular plant in its genus and natural habitat with little or no info on how to grow it. I'm looking for a book that will tell me if a particular plant is summer or winter dormant, requires more or less water or light, will or will not tolerate some frost or full sun exposure. Oh, and one that doesn't cost over $200! Except for one particular book ("The Plantfinder's Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents" by Grantham & Klaassen) most of the money I've spent on over a dozen books has been for pretty pictures.

I miss the days of the physical bookstore where you could peruse a book at your leisure to see if it was the one you were looking for. Damn Amazon killed the mom & pop bookstore.

I like my pretty compact but comprehensive 'Cacti and Succulents' by Miles Anderson. It describes 400 plants.

Is that the "Complete Illustrated Guide to Growing Cacti & Succulents, Pub. 1998? If so, that's the one that has gotten me so upset. It gives no info on dormancy seasons and very little on specific plant care.

It's not.

"The Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents" by Terry Hewitt is pretty good.

I hear you about bookstores. Me too.

It seems that succulent books written by the British focus on different aspects of the subject matter. Consider the difference in the style of Terry Hewitt as compared to that of Debra Lee Baldwin.

Yes, it's difficult to find just one book that covers everything.