NEVER buy a bonsai for one's self or for a friend without knowing the tree, the care required, and your or your friend's interests or understanding of bonsai. (This is like buying a pet with the same ignorance--- kittens, fish, lizards, tarantulas, etc... the basics always apply.)

UNDERSTAND bonsai --- work with them, not against them. Plants are slow reacting to changing conditions, but are amazingly great survivors. Nature is remarkable. (This is either Zen, or the reading of a lot of books on botany and species-related material, or both. You decide.)

TREE is important... not pots, not tools, not size, not the B.S. you may read on the internet or in some books, nor any of the misconceptions you may have previously formed about the "mystery" of bonsai.

EASY is the word. With basic understanding, bonsai are easy, merely requiring a minimum of one's daily attention.

BOSNIA is a country, and I must be partially dislexic, since I persist in typing "bosnia" instead of "bonsai". (There is a tree called a "bosnian pine" that I've seen at nurseries, which doesn't help much.)

ASK questions. Of myself, of a local bonsai' nursery or dealer, or in the internet newgroup "rec.art.bonsai". Bonsai hobbyists are used to "idiots", since we were generally ones ourselves once. (I still am; I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to my brethren.) You'll soon get a feel for who is full of crap, and who really understands bonsai.  (ADDENDUM:  Do not email me concerning your evaluation of my expertise. I am already aware of many of my limitations, and it will not deter me from expressing my opinions and attempting to promote the art.)

DETAILS: if you have a question of anyone regarding your bonsai, give details. Type of tree (description if that is all you have), where you are growing it (indoor/outdoor), how long you've had it, changes in it's environment and vigour, etc. Anything you can say about it.

PERSIST in the hobby. Riding a bicycle was not easy. Learning to drive was not easy. Marriage is not easy. School is not easy. Breathing... OK, I'll stop. Anyway, a dead bonsai is an experience, not a failure. If you're reading this, you have experience at learning from mistakes.

LEARN to count. Including this paragraph, there are only nine comments on this top 10 list. I'll work on it.