Scott W. Michael: what happened to Reef Fishes series?

[marc price]

I have a few of Scott W Michael's books:

"Basslets,Dottybacks & Hawkfish", "Damselfish & Anemonefish" and "Angelfish & Butterflyfish".
Must've missed "Wrasses & Parrotfishes", I'll have to look for that one.
Also have "Pocket expert Guide Marine Fishes" and "Pocket expert Guide Aquarium Reef Fishes".

In my opinion these are the Best aquarium reef fish books available to us.

Will add, Ewald Lieske • Robert Myers "Coral Reef Fishes" (Indo Pacific and Caribbean), to the list of best books as a adjunct to all of the above.

 

[maxxII]

I've got All five of the Reef Fishes books...
Really, seriously disappointed to see that there are no current plans from TFH to publish the remaining volumes...

If you're reading Scott Michael, I'd be happy to donate towards you self publishing the remaining volumes!!!

 

[Wolverine]

I've got All five of the Reef Fishes books...
Really, seriously disappointed to see that there are no current plans from TFH to publish the remaining volumes...

If you're reading Scott Michael, I'd be happy to donate towards you self publishing the remaining volumes!!!

Last time I talked to him about it (SEVERAL years ago), that wasn't even an option. TFH has (or had) the rights to what's been written and to the pictures.

 

[GPCooper]

I have returned to the reef keeping hobby after 20 years away. The books in the late 80's and early 90's were slim. I still have my copies of books labeled as "NEW" by Dr. Moe. I am in the process of building my library w/ new books and these are the ones I am most interested in. I just received my copy of Volume 1, and immediately order the books on Damsels and the one on Basselets. I would love to get the other two that are available, but w/ the money that needs to go into the tank to update pumps and a protein skimmer, my wife is having fits.

 

[_E_]

Double

 

[_E_]

I have returned to the reef keeping hobby after 20 years away. The books in the late 80's and early 90's were slim. I still have my copies of books labeled as "NEW" by Dr. Moe. I am in the process of building my library w/ new books and these are the ones I am most interested in. I just received my copy of Volume 1, and immediately order the books on Damsels and the one on Basselets. I would love to get the other two that are available, but w/ the money that needs to go into the tank to update pumps and a protein skimmer, my wife is having fits.

I seem to collect books on our little hobby. This series is by far my most useful and favorite. I've bought all mine used and don't have a ton of money invested in them. If you stay diligent you can sometimes find them for little to nothing (I think I paid less than $10 to have the basslet book shipped to me).

 

[ca1ore]

I have returned to the reef keeping hobby after 20 years away. The books in the late 80's and early 90's were slim.

Late 80's perhaps as the reef hobby was only just getting a toehold here in the USA, but the 90's (and first half of the 00's) were the golden years for reef books. Internet magazines and resources like RC have largely killed of physical reef books. Not completely, but mostly. I have all the books I though worthwhile, and the last ones were in this series and volume 3 in sprung's series (now 11 years old). Shame really; I'd have bought the remaining volumes without a second thought.

 

[humaguy]

I don't think he is really involved in the hobby that much anymore, certainly not to the extent he was...
I bought many of the books from his collection when he sold that off a few years back..

 

[lizmiller2633]

Hello! I am a PhD candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. For my dissertation I am collecting data on the presence and absence of sexual dichromatism across all fishes. I will use these data to analyze the evolution of dichromatism across fishes and the effect on species diversification.

I was looking for Scott Michael's books and that brought me to this forum. So far his books have been instrumental for my data collection as they are more comprehensive and detailed than other sources. I am disappointed to hear that the volumes about gobies, blennies, and puffers were cancelled for publication. I actually do need data for those groups, most importantly the gobies.

I understand from this thread that Scott may not own the rights to those unpublished books. However, I was hoping to get in contact with him to see if he can share some of his notes or otherwise help consult me in collecting these data. I could not find his contact information online, so I am hoping some members of this thread could help.

For more about my past research in marine biology, my publications are available on my website: www.elizabethcmiller.weebly.com

Thank you!
Elizabeth Miller

 

[DJKnox]

The sad truth is that this is a consequence of the digital age and the Millennial generation. To realize that we have gone from Albert Thiel's Advanced Reef Keeping in the 1980s to youtube top 10 videos is disheartening to say the least. Scott Michael's books are very good and not completing publishing 3 volumes is sad, but the reality that so many advancements have been made in the hobby over 30 years and yet no great technical books have been published in decades is even sadder. In order to follow the conduct guidelines of this forum, I won't say anything further on it.

 

[Bernie21]

The sad truth is that this is a consequence of the digital age and the Millennial generation. To realize that we have gone from Albert Thiel's Advanced Reef Keeping in the 1980s to youtube top 10 videos is disheartening to say the least. Scott Michael's books are very good and not completing publishing 3 volumes is sad, but the reality that so many advancements have been made in the hobby over 30 years and yet no great technical books have been published in decades is even sadder. In order to follow the conduct guidelines of this forum, I won't say anything further on it.

Oh the tease... How could you leave us missing the other info you are privy to?

It's a wonderful resource and truthfully the centerpiece set of my reef & fish books. I don't even have a fish tank any more and I still prize those books. It is a darn shame that the others haven't been made available. I'd love to finish the set some day. I won't hold my breath.

Sent from my Phone using Tapatalk

 

[scchase]

Same, I've read a few of them so many times I've bought spares

 

[Steveb]

ditto. Always wondered why the last weren't published.