Washington Books

A delightful book that turned out to be much more than I expected. My thought when I started reading it was that it was going to just be a guide book for the Vashon area. Although it includes all the useful information one would find in a guide book it mixes it in with stories and experiences that express the personality of the area. It was fun reading and learning through the experiences and adventures of Biffle. This is much better than most guide books where the author lists the launch points, directions etc in a monotone dry robotic fashion. A very easy read that has made me want to meet up with Biffle and experience the waters of Vashon Island. This book takes you along as Biffle paddles around Vashon Island in a series of day trips. The wildlife provide as much of the stories as do some of the characters he meets along the way. This book is entertaining even if you will never get the opportunity to paddle around Vashon.

Biffle French, former US Air Force supersonic jet pilot turned retired IBM Director lives up to his unusual name writing a Kayaking book that offers something for everyone. Hidden in the shallows of French's daily Kayaking forays lie a hidden introduction to the charting of Puget Sound by Captain Vancouver, Mr. Puget and Mr. Whitney and the history of Western expansion. He offers insight into the clear cutting of the Great Northwest Woods, of which Vashon was a part, to build cities in California in the late 1800's. Swimming between modern day paddle trips and historical narratives, French offers a smörgåsbord of information about navigation, aerodynamics, physics, topography, bird migration, tidal changes and the gravitational relationship of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. All this makes for an interesting read, however, the most entertaining aspect of the book lies in the humorous stories about the odd characters French meets along his journeys and his personal insights revealing his own eccentricities. It is a delightful book whether or not you are a kayaking enthusiast and if you are planning any Kayaking around Vashon Island, this is the book to read.

biffle has written a wonderfully entertaining kayaking guide that covers historical and personal experiences of paddling in and around the picturesque vashon island. written in a first person's pov, one has the feeling of being in the cockpit of a sea kayak on a glassy bucolic august Northwest afternoon. a must read.

Rob Casey
Photographer & Kayak Guide
Ballard, Wa

"Paddling the Waters" takes you on several life enriching journeys within its pages. The best part is that the reader need have no knowledge of kayaking in order to partake. Mr. French has integrated science, folklore, humor and love of life into this charming narrative about life in the Pacific Northwest in the 21st century. There are wonderful adventures complete with dangerous encounters as well as beautiful descriptions of wildlife and natural phenomena. There is abundant humor and humility in Mr. French's weaving together the many elements of his life that have landed him on the water in his lime green NC17. The book offers a great depth of scientific knowledge and explanation including numerous maps, charts and graphs - enough to provide any navigator with all the tools one could need to set out successfully on the waters of Puget Sound or anywhere else for that matter. This book offers a complete package, a rich addition to anyone's library.

After having read the big lie I still was dubious as for knowing if the Boeing 757-200 from American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on the Pentagon or not. Even Though I fully agreed with Thierry Meyssan about the FBI lies and contradictions, the Meyssan's thesis was not supported enough and all he had done was asking questions without really answering them. Further to all these accusations here is a book which explains the thesis in minute detail - lots of pictures, testimonies and experts to back this up and this is very convincing. The demonstration lacks nothing and Thierry Meyssan easily quashes all his detractors' arguments to finally put forward a sturdy hypothesis. The Author and his team show a great analytic sense, without setting aside any fact or testimony in their disfavor.

When this book was published, the term `Conspiracy theorists' became more propagated.

You may not be persuaded much by what's described in your book `9/11 The Big Lie', but the fact remains that in history, and through some quirk in the fortunes of contemporary events, the truth never came out and a lot will remain mysteries that may not be discovered for many generations to come, like for instance `Who killed John F Kennedy and why??'.... "The Secrets behind Pearl Harbour!!' ... `Was Arafat given a lethal injection??' ... Angered at having to waste time and manpower `fighting' to prove to the world- using ordinary common sense - many will identify the open questions now raised in this book with possible obsessions by the 'Holocaust against six million Jews....'.....'Was 9/11 addressed against America or to address American public opinion...'How could a man on a mule shake America, and the world...'?

It is indeed admirable how much a `Camera' can do to the human brain.
The impact of the 'picture' is magnificent; it has eclipsed the impact of the written and even the spoken `Word'. And Thierry Meyssan used many pictures to substantiate his viewpoints.

Nevertheless, in this book the questions rose about `the Boeing should have dived on the roof'....... `video surveillance in the Pentagon parking lot, they did not see the Boeing either.' are fruitful and make one scratch one's head.

The Basic Question:

- How can a B757 that was said by officials to have
totally disintegrated and vaporized as it impacted
(accounting for lack of substantial aircraft wreckage
on site), have nevertheless penetrated through the 3rd
ring's inner wall with its nosecone (the punched-out
hole on the cover of this book), given that the nose
cone is the most fragile part of the aircraft?

There seem to be zillions of other subsidiary
questions, such as:

- Why the FBI confiscated and has
never shown the adjacent hotel and gas station
security cam videos that must have caught the B757's
impact;

- Why the officially blessed few frames of
Pentagon cam video do not show anything remotely
resembling a B757 and appear to have been doctored
anyway;

- How the "hijacker" pilot (incompetent by
instructors' reports) accomplished an extremely
precise approach and targeting (they say these guys
never learned to land, but the "B757" was just meters
above the ground when it hit, (in effect he "landed the plane"
very precisely);

- Why the little scrap of liveried supposed "wreckage" on the lawn shows lettering only one-half or less the size scale it should be for an AA liveried B757;

- Why the "plane" coincidentally hit the
least populated side of the Pentagon, after apparently
taking extra effort and time to target that position;

- Why after saying the plane was totally vaporized and
disintegrated officials now claim to have an almost
complete reconstruction of the "B757"; why the initial
entrance hole was so small;

- Why after a fire that totally melted and vaporized the plane computer manuals and other papers visible in offices at the
sheared cutoff are totally undamaged;

- Why initial eye witnesses reported a small plane or missile-like object; and on and on and on.

Meyssan deals with most of these questions and I got news for you - as a mainstream mind-controlled American (like me) you aren't going to like his answers!

Anyway let's face it - probably no Boeing 757 ever hit the
Pentagon.

The only evidence supporting the Boeing hypothesis
seems to be the following:

- About half the eye witnesses state they saw either a
B757, a plane with AA livery, or both (i.e. a B757 in
AA livery)

- AA Flt 77 is unaccounted for

- The government has officially stated that AA 77 hit
the Pentagon

- bits of possible 757 wreckage were photographed in
ambiguous settings

I really hate to conclude this, but to me it seems
probable that some form of cruise missile, dressed in
AA livery, was used and all the rest is a USA Mil-Gov
coverup. A horrible conclusion, I know it!

Please read this book and if you can convincingly
refute it, dealing adequately with all the anomalies I've
listed above and settling each concern, please write
your own counter-book immediately, and we'll put this horrible
hypothesis to bed once and for all.

Note that Purdue (Indiana) academics have completed a
government-funded graphical simulation of the crash
that on my reading, unfortunately again, does not come
close to answering all the questions raised above.

I don't know why the mainstream media doesn't at least
look into this? All I've seen are one or two jokey
reviews of Meyssan's first (much less detailed)
general book about 9-11. In one case, the "reviewer"
hadn't even read the book!

Why isn't the public more interested in this? Are we
just so satisified with our Hollywood FX story of
"Fires, Explosions, Arab Villians, American Heroes"
that we can't even be bothered to read and respond
rationally to an important analysis like this one?

"Nothing was wrong far as we could tell,
that's what we liked to tell ourselves,
but no it wasn't that way"

- Stevie Wonder "How Come, How Long"

Pentagate is a very important book about the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon because it points out the problems with the evidence that U.S. journalists won't even touch.

Meyssan has built much of his case on the problems in the official version of what happened at the Pentagon. His first chapter, "One Piece of Debris Too Many", points out that the large piece of debris that appeared to be from an American Airlines jet has not even been inventoried by the Dept. of Defense.

As a journalist for American Free Press in Washington, I have tried repeatedly to get the Pentagon to clarify the status of this important piece of debris that was seen by millions. As of this date there has been NO response to numerous requests. What's wrong with this picture?

Meyssan points to the evidence seen in the video from the Pentagon security camera and the round holes that were pierced in three layers of the Pentagon and builds his case that this was not a Boeing passenger jet that struck the building.

The explosion seen in the video and the nearly perfectly round holes that were bored in the Pentagon are evidence that a cruise missile, painted to look like an American Airlines jet, crashed into the Pentagon, according to Meyssan.

The book has an important chapter by a French military expert on explosives who describes "The Effects of a Hollow Charge". This technical information bolsters the case made by Meyssan.

Meyssan raises a lot of good questions. Now if we could only get some answers from the Pentagon.

Pentagate is highly recommended for those interested in the Pentagon attack by Christopher Bollyn of American Free Press.

What a fantastic view into what it was like to be a poineer and what it was like during the formation of western Washington State. I'm from the east side of the state and enjoy our state history but to see an overall picture of what it was like by someone living through it was just a fantastic experience. Much more interesting that just learning "facts" about the history of Washington and the early settlers.

Great book - even if you're not interested in the state itself!

An excerpt from this amazing book:
"While adoring the various brilliant tints of (October foilage)we are reminded "that we all do fade like the leaf." A more perfect simile could hardly be given. For a time "we flourish like the green bay tree," and then comes adversity, trials and griefs that sear and beautify the soul, as the strong blasts and chilly frosts bring out the beautiful tints of the leaves, making "old age" as glorious as the autumn season of the year." p 81

scence Phoebe is my Great grandmother it gave me a background on my history alone! this is a great book!

"A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home" provides an outstanding window into the life and times of the American migration westward. Through the eyes of Phoebe Goodell Judson, one lives the trials of the Oregon trail, the challenges of pioneering, and a powerful perspective on the American mind during the last half of the 19th Century. 20 years old and 7 months pregnant, Phoebe begins the 7 month treck from Ohio to Vancouver, Washington. Through her diaries, she chronicles the life changing experiences of exploration and community building that did so much to shape the American culture. One only wishes that she had kept additional records and thoughts as the reader is left wishing that there was more. First person story-telling at it's best, be prepared to go looking for maps of Washington and the Oregon Trail.

En menos de 72 horas en abril de 1961, Cuba repulsó una invasión de 1,500 mercenarios organizados por el imperio estadounidense. El pueblo cubano hicieron el ejemplo para los trabajadores, campesinos y jóvenes de todo el mundo por su consciencia política, solidaridad de clase, valor y liderazgo revolucionario en defensa de la reforma agraia y la alfabetización. Nos demostraron que sí se puede enfrentar el gigante y vencerle.

This is a timely book published just before the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs. It's a great way to learn about what really
happened from the first-hand accounts of the Cuban revolutionaries who defeated the US-backed invasion. If you've never read a speech by Fidel Castro, there are a couple of very good ones in this book. You'll not only learn about what happened at the Bay of Pigs, but you'll also learn why the Cuban people smashed this invasion so swiftly and decisively. Another great part of the book is the testimony of Jose Ramon Fernandez who commanded troops in the thick of the fighting. There are maps, charts, all the details
of the battle. But it's not a dry or boring account. He tells what happened from a very human and personal point of view, revealing his own mistakes and weaknesses, and recounting some humorous episodes as well. Finally, the foreword of the book tells a fascinating story of how a group of young people at Carleton College organized support for
the Cuban revolution and against the US invasion and what they learned about politics. I think you'll be surprised as you read the
book about how relevant this forty-year-old event is today.

first read this book the first day of beach season. Instead of
spending time in the water, I just sat there and read this book until it was too dark to read. This account is an activist account ofthe fight from Cuban and US fighters who see and saw the US invasion and resistance in Cuba and the United States not as history to be deciphered but part of an ongoing struggle against imperialism, against war, and for the power of working people. I never stopped caring; I never stopped seeing what was hidden from me in 1961, I never stopped seeing lessons for the future. A good read. -

Aqui se ve la gente que hicieron la revolucio`n cubana , y defendieron y defenden hasta hoy di`a. Obreros, campesinos, vendedores de la calle, estudiantes, y trabajdores intelectuales - todos ellos combatieron y murieron en defensa de SUYA revolucio`n, nuevamente declarada socialista. Niguno otro libro publicado aqui` tiene la historia de los combatientes revolucionarios de Giro`n desde los comandantes hasta los soldaldos de infantri`a. Tambie`n se cuenta la historia de las actividades - contado de unos participantes - de unos revolucionarios jovenes EU aqui` en defensa de la revolucio`n cubano antes, durante, y despues de la batalla de Giro`n. Finalmente aqui` se puede ver el papel de la revolucio`n cubana en la politica obrera norteamericana de hoy y del futuro en el contexto del crisis actual mundial del capitalismo.Los autores y editores, Jack Brnes y Mary-Alice Waters, partcipantes mencionados, dirigentes socialistas EU, plantean que sin estudiar el ejemplo de la experiencia revolucio`naria cubana, no podimos constriur el liderazgo obrero necesitamos por las luchas de man~na y por la lucha tomar el poder aqui en el estomago de La Bestia Imperial.Incluye tambie`n discursos de Fidel Castro y Che Guevara en el tiempo de la batalla y un informe horario del comandante tactical de los tropas cubanas en Giro`n, Jose` Ramon Fernandez.

Like a good naturalist or interpreter, this guide provides not only a concise way to identify the most common flora and fauna, but adds interesting facts and folklore. It will surely make the living things in and around Rainier very accessible, and provide even the most knowledgeable biologist/naturalist with enjoyable new information. Illustrations are detailed and beautiful, and the general information and references are an added bonus. And it all fits into your pocket! Great!

An excellent guidebook to the Mount Rainier area. As a former Mount Rainier Ranger, I would recommend this book to anyone considering a visit to Mount Rainier National Park. The illustrations are beautifully rendered and the accompanying text is accurate and insightful. The book is small enough to fit in a daypack or take it along for a backpack along the Wonderland Trail.

Excellent field guide with great illustrations

The problem with most field guides is that they've forgotten they are field guides and not coffee-table art books.

Not so with Joe Dreimiller's POCKET GUIDE TO THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF MOUNT RAINIER!

Sure, this book has plenty of pretty color pictures made by its three illustrators, but they are diagnostic illustrations, just like Roger Tory Peterson emphasized in his bird books. So, you have something pretty to look at but you also have something that will help you identify the common plants and animals to be seen in Mt Rainier National Park.

Pictures are nice, but after you've used the illustrations to identify an Elephant-head pedicularis, Golden-mantled ground squirrel, a Varied thrush, or a Mountain hemlock, Dreimiller tells you the field marks so you'll know what makes these things different from their closest relitives. That way, if you don't have his book next time, you've learned what distingushes each plant or animal from every other plant or animal.

And the help you get from this little gem doesn't stop there. Let's say you've used this pocket guide to identify a False hellebore [Veratrum viride]. Next time you're in the Park, hiking with a friend, and you spot it, you can say, "Oh! Look at that False hellebore! Did you know its botanic name means 'green plant with the black roots?'" And so you look at the roots and, "Wow! They're black."

For all the organisms in this book, there are not only field marks but an extensive list of notes to help you remember why each is so important to know.

Not only that, but there are descriptions of all the groups so you'll learn why mammals are different from birds which are different from amphibians. There is an extensive bird list for the Park including accidentals. And, unsual for this kind of book, there is a mammal list too. And to top off the list catagory, each habitat has a list of common plants as well as suggestions for places to walk.

Did I mention that Dreimiller's book is also pocket sized? How many field guides have you bought in recent years that don't even fit in the pocket of your daypack?

I also liked the short reference list at the end of the book, referring me to other helpful resources. The index is short, but complete.

Evidently Dreimiller worked as a ranger at Mount Rainier for a number of years and it shows. He knows his plants and his animals. All in all, I would reccomend this little gem to anybody who wants to know more about what they see while in the Park. And the best thing about this field guide is that it teaches you things that can be used elsewhere in the Cascades.

I write for a number of newspapers in the Seattle area and I'm pretty sensitive to writers who wastes my time trying to copy the prose of Muir, Leopold, Pyle, and all the other good nature writers. I liked this book because it tells me what I need to know without the usual cumbersome "awesome beauty of nature" rhetoric that encumbers so many field guides. Leave the literature for the coffee table. Take Dreimiller's book into the field.

This is a great book of emotions and feelings this author really knows how to put her feelings into words and touch your heart. Eventhough though some of the emotions are sad its the feelings that everyone experiences and would like to express. I especially love the poems about hear love and friendship the tell you the real meaning of love. I recommmend everyone to read this book and get in touch with their own feelings.

SOME POEMS MADE ME SAD AND WANT TO CRY, BUT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS LIKE READING MY OWN WORDS, IM A OLDER MAN AND ITS NOT MUCH THAT I GET CHOCKED UP OVER, BUT THIS BOOK HAD ME CHOCKED UP. I REALLY LIKE THE POETRY IN THIS BOOK, IT IS STRAIGHT FORWARD AND IS EXPRESSED PERFECTLY, THE POEMS ARE DEEP, VERY DEEP, BUT HEY I CAN RELATE TO THOSE DEEP FEELINGS MYSELF, I THINK THIS BOOK DESERVES FIVE STARS BECAUSE THOSE POEMS HAVE MANY QUALITIES TO THEM, POEMS IN THIS BOOK MAY VERY WELL HELP SOMEONE IN DEEP SADNESS ONE DAY, JUST BY LETTING THEM KNOW THAT THEY ARE NOT ALONE.

I THINK THE AUTHOR POURS HER HEART OUT IN THIS BOOK AND BRINGS TRUE MEANING TO THE TITLE "POETRY FROM THE HEART". I RATED THIS BOOK FIVE STARS BECAUSE A BOOK SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL THIS WAY. IT SHOULD LEAVE YOU CHOKED UP MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU KNOW THE AUTHOR AND RELATE WITH THE STORY THERE TELLING AND FEEL THE HURT & PAIN THERE FEELING OR THE JOY & HAPPINESS. I THINK "POETRY FROM THE HEART" HAS IT ALL AND EVERYONE SHOULD OWN A COPY. THANKYOU MS BODDIE FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO GREAT POETRY AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT BOOK

Reading these poems leaves a tender spot in MY heart. "Living Without You", although I know that it wasn't, I still feel as though this was written w/myself in mind. I hope that she plans to do a book-signing because I would love to tell her in person how her book has affected me. I have yet to finish the book because I want to savor [if you will] these life poems. Although these poems are written about others, I feel like I could have written some of them myself. I guess that many people feel the same as I do, but I like to think that this book was more personal...that this was for Kokoa. All in all, I must say that "Poetry From The Heart" is definitely a work of art for any person to feel. Whether you're depressed and need to know that someone feels the same as you, or if you just broke up w/someone, or even if you've lost a loved one...now you know that Miss Davita Boddie "feels you."

Book follows alone with the trials & tribulations of the original people as it moves through the American Revolution

I am almost to the end of the last volume of the series. I have so come to appreciate the great sacrifice that our forefathers made to make and keep our country free. My heart was pained and I was brought to tears at the unbelievable things they had to suffer in their battle for independence. The 4th of July has a much deeper meaning for me now. I very much appreciated all the research done by the author to produce such a well written series. I have them all and they are prized.

This story of our American Revalutionary War, is told so vividly that the reader feels like they are there, experiencing it with the people at that time. It covers the period when George Washington and his troops were at Valley Forge. It is at the same calaber as the rest of this series; "Prelude to Glory". I highly recommend this book to all DAR members.

This book is extremely moving and intense. I have gained a great appreciation for the selfless acts and unyeilding faith that our forefathers had. I have learned a great deal about the history of the Revolutionary War as the author has creatively woven in fictional characters and yet accurately described events and locations that are a part of this nations history. I have read the entire series and cannot wait for the next one to be published.

This is a terrific, pretty light read. The thing that keeps it from getting 5 stars is the fact that nobody followed in Morgan's footsteps to keep it updated. It is an excellent account of early PNW history, but it stops before it gets to more recent events in the region's history.

This is Murray Morgan's masterpiece. I've read most of Murray Morgan's popular histories. Skid Road is more popular, a breezy, easy read that gives great context to Seattle. The Last Wilderness (about the Olympic Peninsula) is my personal favorite, for sheer range of characters and stories, more humanity packed into a book than most novels.

But Puget's Sound has the most depth and detail, from original sources, of any of Morgan's books. It covers each era of South Puget Sound history, thoroughly and with footnotes. Because of that, it reads more academically than Morgan's other books, and weighs much more, too! But if you are a fan of well-written history, there's nothing better than reading a labor of love from an author with great depth and feeling for a region.

Great book. I disagree with comments in earlier review about book being "... a must-read if you want to amuse and/or bore your fellow Tacomans with antecdotes on street names, unusual buildings, etc". This book is a true narrative as the title indicates, with Morgan taking the historical details and breathing life into them, making for both an informative and an engaging read. Although the title suggests Tacoma as a major topic, the book is really a narrative of Puget Sound. Other books of this genre often spend too much time on Seattle and not enough on other places. This book does NOT focus soley on Tacoma - I'd estimate only 1/4 of it is Tacoma. Although Morgan's "Skid Road" about Seattle is more popular, I'd consider this book "Puget's Sound" to be a much better book than "Skid Road" in content, style, and prose. In fact, University of Washington Press just reprinted "Puget's Sound" (May 2003) as one of the Columbia Northwest Classics Series in recognition of its very important contribution to the Pacific Northwest. Great book by a great historian, newspaperman, writer, etc.

It's unlikely this book will be of much interest to anyone not living in the Tacoma area. Just the same, it is a colorful portrait of the city that used to be, the dreamers and scheamers who came so close to creating the west coast's hub city from scratch. The story of Tacoma's rapid rise to prominence, and its equally swift and steady decline is not only facinating, it delivers a valuable lesson on what still happens today when civic cheerleaders go blind with optimism.

This book is a must-read if you want to amuse and/or bore your fellow Tacomans with antecdotes on street names, unusual buildings, et cetera. Perfect fodder for Tacoma's burgeoning barstool-pundit culture.

This book on Puzzles was first published in 1986 and later published in paperback. I borrowed it from my Library a couple of times and recently obtained my own copy. If you have any interest in puzzles,you'll immediately agree that this book is outstanding in every way. The authors are two of the biggest names when it comes to writing about mechanical puzzles of today and of the past. Jerry Slocum has collected puzzles all his life,has over 30,000, and has probably the finest collection in the world. He is President of the Slocum Puzzle Foundation,in Beverly Hills,California.
This book is an overview of just about everything there is about puzzles.There are all kinds of puzzles such as Crossword,Word Search and many types more commonly called Pencil Puzzles;but that is not what this book is all about. It is somewhat difficult to define Mechanical Puzzles;but if you think of the types of puzzles that you can pick up in your hand,it helps to see the types of puzzles covered in the book.
The authors cover puzzles everyone is familiar with such as Rubik's Cube,Sliding Blocks,Tangrams,Wire,String & Rings,Mazes,Puzzle Locks,Puzzle Boxes,Take-Apart Puzzles,and on and on. I think you get the picture.
The authors cover the history of the puzzles and give hundreds of pictures of them from their collections as well as from collections of other great collectors. The book has many pictures of the creators of puzzles and it is a real treat to put a face to the names which are so well known in the puzzle world.
The book is a pure delight to read and to look at the fascinating array of puzzles;but it doesn't end there. There is all kinds of information on how to go about solving many of the puzzles;and on top of that lots of instructions oh how you can make many of the puzzles. No doubt,the reader could build quite a collection of puzzles,just from the information in the book.
I also find this book to be a real help in finding and identifying puzzles. People don't throw away these puzzles;but they often end up in Flea and Antique Markets,Second Hand Shops,Garage Sales and so forth. This book shows you what to look for and find. Let me give you an example. A while back,I saw one of the Japanese building towers shown on page 65,sitting on a shelf amongst a bunch of bric-a brac,didn't recognize it as a puzzle ,and passed it by. When I saw it in this book,I immediately knew what I had missed. Oh well,live and learn. The point is,if you hope to find puzzles,you got to know what to look for;and this book shows you. Another good example. The Bombay stores carries puzzles at times and recently had 4 very well constructed puzzles.I bought one called "The Comet" which is quite similar to the "Papa-Chuck" puzzle on page 74 and consists of 51 interlocking pieces.
So,if solving,collecting,making or anyting else about puzzles interests you,this book will become a prized possession.It would take many lifetimes for one person to find and enjoy what the authors have assembled in to this excellent book and made it available with extremely high ,color,paper,illustrations ,printing and construction quality;and at the same time a very reasonable cost. While you're at it,why not check out Jerry Slocum's Page on the Web,to see what's going on in the world of puzzles.

I bought the book originally to learn how to make some of the puzzles. The fact that there are dozens of puzzles to make immediately differentiates the book from others. There is an enormous wealth of information about puzzles of all kinds. The authors have notes about puzzle inventors, tips on making puzzles, and, in a few cases, tips on how to solve the puzzles. Really a nice book for anyone with an interest in puzzles.

This book is full of many types of mechanical puzzles many dating from the early 19th century. 150 pages of pictures and discriptions of how to make and solve many of these puzzles along with history and biographies on many of the puzzles and makers. The authors have included concise instructions on how to make many of these puzzles from wood with common handtools and a basic knowledge of how to read net drawings. A great read for any age.

Whether you love puzzles or they just frustrate you beyond belief, you's sure to find this book intriguing and absorbing. Filled with 150+ pages of pictures, diagrams, text, and solutions, this book is the most comprehensive treatment of puzzles of all natures that I've ever seen. Puzzles addressed include: 3D Wood block puzzles, Drinking Vessles, Imposible Objects, Folding Puzzles, Disentanglement Puzzles, and more...

Of course not all puzzles are solved by the book...the authors have to leave you something!

If you're handy in the machine shop you'll enjoy the diagrams of wooden blocks and other items that you can make. I've made a few with great results.

This is a well thought out, organized and very important historical document/autobiography.

I read this book in highschool while living in in Seoul, Korea. I am a Korean-American woman and I found the information in this book to be _invaluable_. Unlike similar historical works such as John Okada's 'No-No Boy' or Sui Sin Far's 'Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings', this is pure autobiography (or ethnobiography if you want to be technical). I cannot believe how lucky we are as Americans to get a first-hand account of a Korean-American living in turn of the century America, when there were literally only a handful living in the country at the time. The 'memoirs' are not only highly satisfying in themselves, they serve as anchors to the past in which to begin tracing a discernable branch of Asian-American history. Adds perspective in which to view today's world of American race relations. I think this is necessary reading for anyone who is interested in race, American society, and/or history. Will also appeal to minority activists.

I am a student from San Francisco State University and this is one of the books that I have to read for my Ethnic Studies Class. I really think this is a book made for student of Ethnic Studies and I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about history of Asian American.

I was assigned Quiet Odyssey for an Asian American studies class, and I was riveted by the clean, simple prose. But the story is far from simple, I admire Mary Paik Lee for her incredible endurance and courage. As a second generation Asian American, my family's roots in the United States are relatively new, but now I realize, that it has been due to Asian Americans like Mary Paik Lee that allow me to lead and pursue the life I wish. Not only is Quiet Odyssey the story of her life, it is also the story of California. It's eye opening to see how much Los Angeles and the rest of California have changed since she first landed here. And lastly, Mary Paik Lee has some incredible spunk to do and say some of the things she did. Impressive.