The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual- Spas- Pools- Hot Tubs- Rockscapes and Other Water Features- 2n Description:

The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual: Spas, Pools, Hot Tubs, Rockscapes and Other Water Features, 2nd Edition review:
4 stars (Helpful Tool) - This book is a helpful tool for any pool owner or someone interested in having a pool.
2 stars (NOT the best book to buy.) - This is my first Amazon review, but I feel compelled to share this experience with others.



This book as said to be for the professional and the novice. It was said to contain all the information one could possibly need. It was suggested that you could take what you want from the weighty tome, and leave the rest. In reality the book is clearly NOT written for a new pool owner. In fact, its not written for an experience pool owner. The book was written for a pool repairman. Moreover, it does not contain the practicle information a pool professoinal would require to steer clients toward pool products.



Which cleaner should you get- Vacume or pressure driven? No answer here. What about a heating- Solar, oil, gas? No advice, no direction....



In fact, the book reads more like the diary of a pool man. About how one manufacurer was driven out of business by refusing to compromise quality, or how he cared for the pool of come Malibu celebrity.



Having recently purchased a home with an in-ground pool, I have read three books so far, and gotten quite and education. This book however failed in almost every regard. Finnally, the book deliniates ways of making money of customers as a pool professional. Information I simply have no use for.



Lastly, it bears mentioning that there is a quote on the book jacket from another Amazon reviewer "If you want to buy one book on swimming pools this is it!" Why not a quote from a noted pool authority or publication? Why quote some anonymous amzazon.com user like you or me? Most likely because there were no favorable reviews from newspapers or magazines.



This book was more then a waste of 30 dollars. It was also a waste of time. Unless you need to know how to change things like light fixtures in to pool. The book is not awful, so I gave it 2 stars, but I urge you to look elsewhere.
4 stars (Good for service people, not as good for owners) - There are too few pool books out there that go into enough detail on maintenance and water chemistry. So, for that reason, the book is great for an owner who wants to understand how to do simple maintenance or work better with a service company. However, there were a few things that bugged me about the book. As mentioned in a previous review, I agree that there was not enough information given to help choose between one product or another, which I would have liked to see. It is more about "when the owner has made a decision, here is how to make your money..." He even goes as far as cautioning the service person to think twice about recommending something like an automatic pool cleaner (like a Polaris) because the owner may then cancel service. On one hand, it is annoying that the author seems to tell the reader to do certain things to maximize profits instead of what is the right thing for the pool and owner. On the other hand, I guess I am glad (as an owner) to read the book so that I on a more even playing field and can more easily detect if someone is fleecing me.