The old saying "You can not judge a book by its cover" is especially true of this solid blue, no cover picture, two volume photo and text adventure into the realm of the wild discus in volume I and domestic / captive bred discus in volume I I which gives us a view into what is now known as the beginnings of today's domestic strains / variants. While " Discus " boasts the best close up views of each 'type' of discus this book is not just a "picture book", it is a study in wild and domestic discus with a illustrated guide teaching the reader how to notice the "fine points" of each strain shown. In the opinion of this reviewer the text on Dr. Eduard Schmidt - Focke by Heiko Bleher is an wonderful and important notation in the history of discus often left out of today's information on discus. That text is a gift from Heiko for those who own the book and as such I choose not to discuss it here other than saying I found it very informative and have not found it anywhere else.

The authors have written a book full of information on the discus yet they have created a book that simply can not be put aside once picked up. Text and great photos take the reader from habitat to aquarium that might be in our homes. Along this trip one is taught by Mr. Bleher and Mr. Gobel about wild discus, captive bred / domestic discus, "grading" a discus, caring for them, anything and everything one could want or need to know about discus. Along with the detailed photos of fish and "names" in discus are the maps of Amazonia keyed to waterways where wild forms live and are collected from.

Every few pages the authors gift us with insights and "tips" on things discus. Sometimes these bits of information share the human behind the famous "name" in discus other times the authors share a bit of themselves with us, sharing their wonder of the "king".

With the latest available supplements to the two volumes one has best pictorial guide through the wild caught and early domestic discus available. Add to this the page by page strain "guide" of: average body size, body shape, upper head profile, breast region, finnage, body pattern, pattern color blue / green and base color brown / red and one has a sort of selection guide in photos, illustrations and text.

I rate this book as a must have and once in possession it is hard to set aside / put down once picked up and opened, let alone read. Most books have a lot of "hype" and then contain little "holding power"... some how this book has nearly no "hype" now... but has great value to anyone wanting photos of all the wild discus of which two experts agree on the "classification" / "naming" of the wild forms. These volumes have something for everyone, majestic photos for those wanting a "picture book", informative text for those wanting help in identifying discus while learning how to "grade" discus and for those who want to read about the "names" in discus from the late 1990's back, the authors have some "surprises" tucked away in the pages. These passages also give us a bit of an glimpse into the personality of the authors.

Those who know me from the DPH Forum know that I seldom "rate" books and that I have a very very short list of "must have" books, these two "hidden" jewels are obviously on my list. Below are the "usual details" regarding number of photos and pages and while important I believe "feel" and "tone" along with "content" are what we should examine when advising others on buying "this or that" book on discus so the "statistics" mentioned last : with all the supplements there are over 300 pages, 470 great photos in D ring binders.

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