I would emphatically recommend the book "The Orchid in Lore and Legend" by
Luigi Berliocchi (translated from Italian by Lenore Rosenberg and Anita
Weston). I acquired this book in the bookstore of the Orchid Express exhibit
in the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. The orchid exhibit was fun,
and so is this book. It contains a lot of intriguing stories ranging from
orchids in Greek mythology, exploration of the Americas and use of orchids
in Catholicism there, Chinese art and orchid symbology, the use of vanilla
in Aztec culture, the stories of the orchid explorers and hunters who gave
their lives for orchids, beliefs in magical qualities of orchids, etc.. The
book is well written and highly enjoyable, in my opinion.

Before reading this book I read "Phalaenopsis: A Monograph" by Eric A.
Christenson. Also enjoyed it, though it was somewhat drier (though not
nearly as dry as might be expected from a taxonomist), and there were parts
of this book that I had to skip because the terms were too technical for me,
and I had not realized before I bought it that this book deals almost
exclusively with Phal species with hybrids mentioned only a bit. I was glad
to find out more about the different Phal species, their classification,
origin, etymology, and such though. Definitely worth reading if Phals are
your genus of choice (Claude, have you read this one yet? If not, I am sure
you would enjoy it.)

Joanna