Reppenhagen's book

Hi,

I was curious how useful either of teh following would be for a guy with almost no German, i.e. any english, how many pictures etc.

1. the two volume Gattung Mammillaria (1992?)

2. a book called Die Gattung Mammillaria nach dem heutigen Stand meines Wissens, (1988?)

thanks Mike

Hi Mike,
I am perhaps exactly in your situation, never learnt German at school, and though I've visited on holiday and on business, and can just about manage to order a beer and a meal, not really progressed further than this.
I bought the second book you mention a long while ago, and found it interesting. Now that I know more about the genus, it is very interesting, and the tables of comparison and the photos help the explanations along.
I also bought Vol 1 of Die Gattung Mammillaria in February this year, and I have found it fascinating. I find that after a while, I can pick up most of the important words, and the location data and climate is pretty understandable. If I get stuck, I revert to Babelfish or Google Language translators, or a good online dictionary.

But do I assume from your post that you now of a source of the 2 volume "Gattung, Mammillaria", 'cos I have been looking for either Vol 2 on its own or both volumes for a godo while now.

Not everyone accepts Reppenhagen's classification, and his "rediscovery" of plants to which he has allocated old and possibly undocumented names. But you cannot doubt the breadth of his travels, the range of plants that he saw and documented, and for that alone these books are invaluable.

Hi Mike,

Well, a few years ago I didn't understood a word of German.
With becoming a member of the Afm (German Mammillaria Society), I've tried to read in their journal the articles in German as well. And I must say it's going better and better to understand the language. The descriptions in Reppenhagens books are easy to understand once you know what the basics are. The basics that I mean are the same for every description, like radial spines = randdornen, central spines = mitteldornen, habitat = heimat, fruit= fruchte and flower = blüten. In his books "Die Gattung Mammillaria" (part1 & 2) are more than 300 descriptions of Mammillarias with a picture for every description. These books are a must have for everybody who loves Mammillarias.
The only problem is nowadays that these books are very ,very rare and not cheap. Sometimes you will find them on Ebay but for a ridiculous expensive price.
Maby there's a solution: a friend of mine is copying the books and is making a CD or DVD of them. In this case it would be easy to propagate his books for those who are interested.

thanks guys.

Actually I don't know of a source for the 2 volume set. I saw the 1987 book listed, not sure they still have it, and was wondering about his books. Mike