Buck Books

Henry Mercer produced one of the standard books for the history of woodworking tools. It, together with W.L. Goodman's _History of Woodworking Tools_, is an invaluable guide to ancient (i.e. Egyptian to 19th century) hand tools. He surveys each type of tool (drills, saws, planes, or what have you) and provides many photos of archaeological finds and museum pieces. His work suffers from some bias, however, in the assumption that "everyone except moderns knew and understood the sound of the saw and the ring of the blacksmith's hammer" (to paraphrase the introduction from memory). Such an idealized conception of the pastoral nature of western society before the industrial revolution is unfounded, but his book nevertheless provides artifactual examples of what "everyone" would have known, were his belief correct.

Mercer does not deal in any depth with mass-produced planes, saws, etc. that are so common to and sought-after by woodworking tool collectors. Rather he concentrates on how it was done before mass-production corrupted the honest trade (my interpretation of his stance). Still, it is a valuable book - sadly effectively out of print - and is widely sought after by historians of woodworking.

Steven Walton
History of Technology - University of Toronto

An anthology of stories that appears to be designed to function as a background to the particular Buck Rogers setting that TSR etc. were using.

The only actual Buck Rogers appearance while mobile is at the beginning, in the past, whereas others are characters in the two factions in conflict in the future time.

A reasonable amount of the rest of the plots centre around the recovery of the newly discovered body of said Mr. Rogers.

Arrival : 1 Armageddon 1995 - Flint Dille
Arrival : 2 The Homecoming - Robert Sheckley
Arrival : 3 Triple Cross - Abigail Irvine
Arrival : 4 Tryst of Fate - M. S. Murdock
Arrival : 5 Two Barneys - Ulrike O'Reilly
Arrival : 6 The Relic - Flint Dille
Arrival : 7 Adversary - Jerry Oltion


Buck has to take a space adapted fighter on a suicide mission against a Russian madman, a supercomputer, enemy fighters and space weapons to stop WWII.

3 out of 5


A young man studying at John Carter military school is summoned back to Mercury because his cash is tied up in some plotting by the ruler, and they need his signature. Wilma Deering is in his future.

3.5 out of 5


Ardala Walmar has a brainwave, and after finding out that Buck Rogers' body has been discovered, she decides to send NEO colonel Wilma Deering to recover it, partly out of jealousy. Oops.

3.5 out of 5


Wilma Deering and Killer Kane had a thing, and the latter bailed for the other side, and Ardala is manipulating in the middle.

2.5 out of 5


A pig wrestling crim disposes of his opponent and gets on the trail of Rogers' body.

3.5 out of 5


A disgraced professor finds Buck's body and just barely manages to get him out of stasis before Deering, Kane and then Barney turn up.

3 out of 5


Holzerhein's personality meets the now active again Masterlikn AI, and wishes he hadn't.

3.5 out of 5

As a teacher in a multi-cultural district, I was looking for a book to show children the beauty and self worth of all races and nationalities. This book only does this for Afro American children.

The book is certainly simple solutions. It is written simply without to many basic commands. It aids in training a dog but more basic manner intructions should have been included. I'm glad that I bought it to add to my library.

this book was a good one for the kids...especially cause i got it for my sister and she loved it...but she love pokemon not me...well this book was not very educational...but very entertaining for the kids..i recommend it if your kids like pokemon..but not if your looking for something educational

A book put out around the time of the series, adapting the pilot for that television series and other elements to make a novel. Fairly mundane stuff.

The book is divided into four chapters - Rural Life and Beauty, Travel and Transportation, Work and Play, and People and Places. I would have preferred a regional breakdown. Also, more dates and some maps would be nice.

Sadly there are far too few biographies of Patrick Cleburne. This particular volume by Irving Buck, who served as an adjutant to Cleburne during his service with the CSA Army of Tennessee, provides a solid account of the war-time service of Patrick Cleburne.

The details of Cleburne's life prior to the Civil War are mentioned only briefly. Despite this, Buck's work gives the reader a first hand accounting of the events and activities that colored Cleburne's Civil War career. This is a matter of fact accounting and fairly well devoid of a fawning, hero type worship, which could serve to distract the reader.

While Buck's accounting is not necessarily a complete and satisfactory biography of Cleburne, it is an excellent source for understanding the military life of a man, who by any standard was one of the greatest field commanders of the American Civil War.

The Appendices of this book are a wonderful added bonus and provide 1st person source material.

Be sure to make this book a stop in your journey of discovery into the life of Patrick Cleburne.

I was somewhat disappointed with this book. I thought that it would have CPT exercises at the end of each section, but it didn't. All this book consists of is a brief overview of CPT codes. It also has a section on anatomy, terminology, and pathophysiology (these sections do have have brief exercises with answers). Carol Buck's Step by Step book is much better. There is also a pre-test at the end of book and a post test on a cd (that is included).

This is a story of a very complex family unit consisting of our heroine, Florence, her father, Jacob, his live in male lover, Michel and Jacob's sister Julia. Florence's mother had died at birth, leaving her to be raised in Paris by her father, with occasional visits to London to stay with Julia. Julia had promised that when Florence had completed her schooling in Paris, she could come to live with her in London to take a course at an art school. Julia is a very glamorous woman who leads a rather exotic life so Florence is excited by the prospect and is completely shattered when Julia is killed in a car crash, under slightly suspicious circumstances. This changes her whole life plan and sends her off the rails into a life of casual sex, experimentation and a career as a sylist for a photographer. The veneer of sophistication which Florence has always possessed as a result of her father's involvement with the gay world, is rubbed thin as her true vulnerability leaves her easy prey for an amoral bi-sexual lover whose tragic presence seems to be inextricably bound up with her entire family. I found it to be a wearying read with far too many raw emotions to cope with in the one book.