Best books for MFKers?

[Madding]

No offense to any respectable authors, but I am not a fan of fish books. It seems that by the time the book is printed, the information within has already been scientifically debunked. Very rarely do I find relevant and correct information in a book on fish.

Sadly, forums are the most reliable thing we have.

 

[krichardson]

There were no forums around for me to learn from when I first got into the hobby which also was when I purchased most of my books.

 

[lujor]

Ha ha,you're absolutely right about the Axelrod book.I have'nt pulled it out and looked through it in a while but your comment brought back memories.He also seems to have a thing for photos of dead fish......I may have to get a few aqualogs.

Yeah Axlerod was old school. Although you can tell he loves fish, he is not exactly a conservationist. Most of his anecdotes are about him stumbling across some cool species & then fileting it. He even discusses the digestive issues associated with eating RTC. It comes across more as a macho "look-at-the-cool-stuff-I-found-killed-and-ate" book. Still, with the shortage of good books about large aquarium fish, it is worth getting if the price is right.

 

[lujor]

No offense to any respectable authors, but I am not a fan of fish books. It seems that by the time the book is printed, the information within has already been scientifically debunked. Very rarely do I find relevant and correct information in a book on fish.

Sadly, forums are the most reliable thing we have.

Forums are great sources of info, but, to state the obvious, just like a lot of things on the web, you have to be careful. A poster on MFK could have many thousand posts, leading you to assume that they are very experienced/knowledgeable, but that may not be the case. This site can be EXTREMELY helpful if you take the recommendations with a grain of salt or get to know the posters making the recommendations.
I think TFH is a great source of up to date info too though. It is generally very reliable. Taxonomy and info on breeding of certain species changes with some regularity, but I have some books that are many decades old and still have usable info. The Baench Aquarium Atlas series is LOADED with solid info. The vast majority of the info in those books was usable when it was first printed, it's usable now, and it will still be usable and true in thirty or a hundred years. Fish are not about to grow fur and start swimming in liquid nitrogen.