Recreation Books

Great book. This book makes a wonderful gift, especially for fathers who have teenage sons.

I was given this book by a very dear friend, a Mom who has a son. I have 3 daughters and I have to say that I can relate to so many things Marc talks about with his young teenaged sons. I truly believe the lessons and experiences inside this glorious little book will touch any parent. It is not only for fathers but for mohters too. I plan on purchasing several copies to pass along to my daughters. Out of a heart wrenching tragedy comes poignant insights to our relationships with our kids. May generations of families make this a must read!

Raising Cole is the true account of a father's love for his sons, and the tragedy of losing one of them early in life. Pittman is the owner of a construction firm, and from his own account is a huge man. Likewise his sons grew to big, strong men, but they never allowed their masculinity to stop them from openly showing affection for one another.
Pittman's story, however, doesn't start with his role as a father but as a son. His father was anything but affectionate, and early in his son's life he followed that same path. Raising Cole recounts his walk toward an open and extremely deep loving relationship with his sons.
His son whose name rests in the title, Cole, was a lineman at the University of Texas with a bright and promising future when he fell asleep on his way back to campus from home and died in a automobile accident.
The book's more poignant moments are Pittman's response to his son's birth and death.
My favorite chapter was "God Shows Up." Pittman admits it is the presence of God that has allowed him to continue these years following Cole's death, not his own strength.
Pittman also states that though it has been years, he still grieves for his son. His grief finds solace in ways I admit I don't fully understand, but then I've never lost a son.
While this book may be of help to those who have lost a child, I think it may hold more value for those who children are still with them, especially men who may be reluctant to be open with their affection.

This book is a must read for everyone because it is so moving. The story that Marc Pittman tells is one that will change you for the rest of your life. The bond that a father and son have is special and the bond that Marc and his two sons have will make you look in the mirror and think about the relationship you might have with your father. I encourage people to read this book and for them to get their friends to read it.

One of the most amazing stories I have ever read. Pittman captures his relationship with his children in stunning detail, while allowing the reader to visualize how this could affect their own relationships. I highly recommend reading this great and inspirational book.

I've read a lot of reviews about this book and no one book is going to make everyone happy. My husband and I had a great time picking out hikes we wanted to go on. It got us where we wanted to go and it provided us enough information to know whether or not we'd enjoy them or not. There is a lot of construction and change going on in and around Sedona right now but we didn't have any problems navigating. The authors use the "Y" in Sedona as the starting point for each of the hikes. The "Y" is now two round-a-bouts. The book does exactly what it's supposed to do-Introduce you to some fantastic hikes, tells you how to get to them and has explanations and thoughts on each one. No complaints here.

This book seems to cover many great hiking areas in Sedona. It is quite explicit re: directions and information about the hiking trails. Great book for a person new to the area or even people who have been around awhile. Very informative!

I used this book for planning a 2 day visit to Sedona. I was extremely happy with the format. It has 2 pages per hike, with a high quality photo of what to expect for views, driving/hiking distance/time, as well as selections of their favorites. We didn't visit long enough to do a lot of the hikes, but we truly felt that we were able to select 3 hikes that were perfectly suited to our tastes and with nice variety. Overall, I don't think you could go wrong in Sedona, but I felt like this guide was well worth the price and only wish I could find similar guides for other locations. The Magnum's have done a great job, deserving of 5 stars.

The only shortcoming you may find is that their maps are very general and mostly help you find the trailhead (which was flawless). But, I prefer to have a quality map as well and I purchased the Emmitt Barks Cartography - Sedona Trails Map (not sure if it was on Amazon), and was very happy with it. Personally, I don't think you can create a detailed map inside the book for each hike, so I don't consider this a flaw to the book - just a bit of advice if you are planning a trip.

This book was very helpful in deciding which hikes to do. We were not dissappointed by any of the hikes. It was good that we knew about the pink jeaps ahead of time.

I have read five books about the Sedona hikes, all written approximately across the same time period, and this is why Iknow what I am talking about.I have also been to Sedona twice and know about it in a general sence. Short and sweet...this is the best all around Sedona hiking book filled with lots of bits about popular and unheard of hikes. This book is good because it is created by a Husband and Wife writer and photographer team who have lived in the area for years. The book includes maps of how to get to the trail heads and where the trails go from there. Also, descriptions of weather related to time of year and level of exertion required to do the hikes. The hikes that include VORTEXES are clearly marked. The photography is great. The five other books are best described by one or several of the following phrases: sickening and homespun; the writer as spiritual guru who is grandiose; might as well not bother; information repeated elsewhere ad nauseum. GET THIS BOOK

Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.

Two of the greatest names ever to play Major League Baseball and a pair of the most fiercest rivals on the diamond. Ruth was the new-school slugger whose gargantuan homers matched his pursuits off the field. Cobb was the oldest of old-school, a master of "small-ball," who saw the game of titan shots with "juiced" baseballs as an utter abomination.

"Cobb disliked much about Ruth. But one of the things that pricked him most was Ruth's lifestyle. The Babe lived with wild abandon, ignoring curfews, staying out all hours, drinking, partying, overeating, and snaking through towns in search of sex," writes Stanton. "Cobb was nearly fanatical about taking care of himself, about being prepared for games, and about the need to sacrifice for the long term. He felt confident that Ruth's nocturnal adventures would eventually undermine him."

But in retirement, the pair were kept at arm's length by the top executives in the game - Ruth never got a shot at managing a club and Cobb was tarnished by a 1926 gambling scandal "cover-up" - though each eventually found the time to frequently chase a golf ball around 18 holes. Ruth was a five handicap and Cobb a nine.

Author Tom Stanton tees up an interesting dual biography of the legends that is built around a 1941 charity golf match which pitted Ruth against Cobb. Along with coverage of every baseball game the paired played against each other, Stanton drives into the professional hatred which erupted into near brawls and vicious taunts, but eventually evolved into a cordial friendship.

Even the biggest fan of baseball history will find some new gems, especially about Cobb, which is a salute to the solid short game of Stanton; meticulously lofting up to the green buried facts from the sand traps of historical fiction.

An excellent resource for the Baseball fan, who is always looking for good books about the Legends of baseball.

This book was very interesting and informative and obviously well researched since the author is a baseball historian. It makes you feel as if you know the players and are living in their time period but it isn't the most enjoyable book I've ever read. You rarely smile or laugh, there's very little that's amusing even though these are two very colorfull and bigger than life characters so I felt the book could have been a little lighter. Also check out two of my favorites - The Teammates by David Halberstam and When Life Was Baseball Teams and Egg Creams by Craig Howard, the last one being much lighter and more about life in the time period than baseball itself. Good nostalgia though.

I have now read all of Tom Stanton's books, and I have enjoyed them all. I am one of many that had certain perceptions of Ty Cobb's character based on stereoptypical opinion of Cobb in recent years. But Stanton sets the record straight in allowing us to get to know a different Ty Cobb; one who is a great competitor, but no where near the "evil" man that he has been portrayed as. The Babe is as fun loving as ever in this book and it is a fun read. I would recommend it to baseball fans, and golf fans too!

This is a strange little book. For one thing, it presents a far more positive picture of Ty Cobb than one often encounters. Second, golf becomes a key part of the relationship between two bitter antagonists--Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.

Ty Cobb was an exemplar of the old fashioned "scientific" approach to baseball, bunts, stolen bases, sacrifices, etc. Babe Ruth was a harbinger of a new era--focusing on the home run.

Cobb versus Ruth, while they were in the major leagues together, had a pretty negative relationship. Cobb had little respect for Ruth; Ruth despised Cobb.

The book tells of their slowly evolving relationship, to the point where they expressed respect toward one another by the end of Cobb's career.

Their rivalry took a turn after their respective retirements. Both became avid golfers. They took part in a series of golf matches, where there was much greater camaraderie than when they played baseball.

The book chronicles that strange evolution in their relationship.

There is a nice appendix, which chronicles those games in which they opposed one another. Interesting. . . .

An offbeat little book that ends up humanizing Cobb.

An interesting look at the life of an interesting personality. I don't understand the socialist attitude about money and investment. Mr. Hayden gives a good look at the attitude but doesn't clarify it.

I recommend his novel Voyage.

This book is as convoluted as its author. It maintains a flow of semi-stream-of-consciousness from start to finish, and what emerges are the memoirs of a man whose love of seafaring and considerable self-deprecation ("self-loathing" is a little too strong a term) has brought him to a sea voyage to Tahiti with a pick-up crew and his four children in violation of a court order. Hayden's story is it's own animal, going from the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine, to the forests of Yugoslavia, to courtrooms and congressional chambers and movie sets and finally to the high seas and South Pacific islands with a strain of fatalism and regret throughout. It should make for a downer of a read; instead, I found myself staying up and turning the pages to see what happened next. A great book.

I would like to add something to the excellent and perceptive reviews above. What came through so strongly is that life is messy, yet Hayden's remarkable self awareness didn't seem to help him. This is a fascinating look inside a big life. I found it valuable.

I believe it was 1959 and I had just returned from a month's cruise to the Tuamotus and Marquesas islands on the copra schooner Charlotte Donald. I was sitting at a table on the quay in front of the Hotel Le Grand when the schooner first appeared off Papeete. It sailed in smartly, picked up the Pilot, and docked stern first, as was the custom, at the concrete quay. The name "Wanderer" was nicely affixed to her transom. I lived in District Punavia, kilometer thirteen, next to Paul Gauguin's old home by the Thompsons. Several weeks later I would board the Wanderer after meeting her skipper at a party to buy some of the 16mm color film he had for sale. He was courteous, the children were well mannered, the library below was impressive, and his ship was clean and appeared to be able to sail on a minute's notice. We chatted for some time and he recounted some stories of his trip. We knew the same haunts in coastal California. We met a couple of more times at functions on the island. He seemed to be a cheerful and courteous person. He was a large man and deep voiced and I knew he was an actor, but that's about all I knew. Not long ago I had written my autobiography and had made a small mentioned of the encounter and the film. A friend who read my book asked if I had read Hayden's biography, which I hadn't. He suggested I do so, and last month I ordered it from Amazon. The book was disheartening for me to read. While he and I had many similarities in our lives (I wasn't an actor) and had been to many of the same places, we came away with massively different reactions. Mr. Hayden is a good writer and tells, especially about his life at sea, in an authentic style that kept me reading. I don't know if I would have finished if there weren't the similarity of our experiences. The sparse interjection of the third person voice over his normal narrative of first person was effectively used. The book and his life stand on their own merits and I make no judgment. He was first and foremost a seafaring man of unusual talents, and I wish I had visited him in the States in our later years. Mr. Hayden, you steered the course you wanted in recounting the voyages of your life. That's about all most of us could ask for. Rest in peace.

PS:
Spike Africa, his mate, came as a surprise, or else I had forgotten. Skip ahead twenty years and I chartered the "Spike Africa", a 70 foot schooner out of Newport Beach California somewhere around 1979 for a company off-site (the exact thing Hayden despised ... sorry). Bob Sloan built and then christened the boat "Spike Africa". The California yachting community all knew of Spike Africa the man, as a legend in the Pacific ocean, although I never knew any details of the legend.

Hayden was one of those force of nature types who, sadly don't exist in sufficient quantities to make the world a really interesting place. In this book, he tells his life story, while telling the story of his last voyage on the 100 foot schooner, Wanderer. His prose is lovely and has the rythm of the sea; like other great works of sea literature (like Moby Dick). I'll give a high point of his prose before I complain:

"What does a man need ---really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in --and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all --in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where then lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be, bankruptcy of purse of bankrutpcy of life?"

Hayden was a child of the depression who worked his way out of bad circumstances by a combination of stubbornness, physique and leadership skill. He is eventually given a job a an actor, after being spotted by the media during a sailboat race in Glocester. He abandons this due to a love affair with an actress who fancies herself concerned with serious social issues. He joins the war and does OSS/CIA type operations in maritime support of partisans in Yugoslavia. He returns to his acting. Makes many movies. Marries an evil shrew. Divorces. Gets the kids. Chucks it all for a trip to Tahiti in his 100 foot yacht. All this is well and good, but the man reveals too much about himself. His self loathing isn't interesting. It is certainly not edifying, and though he seems to abundantly pity himself, I cannot feel sorry for him. The man had many fine opportunities. He had fine charachter qualities; I admire the fact that he chucked it all, just because he didn't like it. But he was not a fine man: he was petty and ugly -he couldn't even treat his own widowed mother decently, and though his ex wife was probably no better, I rather doubt as being around such a tormented spirit was good for his kids. In that way, he is a tragic figure; all the more tragic because he doesn't seem to realize it himself. It is no suprise he never did much with himself after he wrote the book. I don't know this to be true, but I suspect he drown himself and his self-loathing in booze.

Still, it is a beautifully written book. In a way, the book is his triumph over it all. It is doubtless a finer thing than any of the movies he made, and his great "the heck with it all" dramatic gesture is probably better than any he made on camera. I know I will read the book again. Perhaps when I am older I will think differently of Captain Hayden. Amusingly, a visit to Sausalito revealed that I had known Hayden as the demented General Jack D. Ripper in "Dr. Strangelove."

A young girl named Katie Durham is born with one leg that is shorter than the other. She feels unhappy all the time until a foal with twisted legs is born. He's named Willow King and Katie feels a connection to him due to their disabilities. Katie begins working with Willow King to help his legs straighten and turn him into a champion.

This is an excellent book for all horse lovers.

Ok all I have to say is this is the best book I have ever read in my life. It's a great story that part of it made me cry and some of it made me laugh and smile. I highly suggest this book to EVERYONE!!! I gotta go buy the sequal to it now. Chris Platt is a great author. I couldn't stop reading this book it took me only a day to read the whole book. So buy it, read it, and love it!

This book was one of the best books I've ever read and if you read about horses and haven't read this book, you're missing out on something special. This girl Katie is born with one leg shorter than the other, so she's imeadiately touched by Willow King who was born with crooked legs. When the owner decides he should be put down, Katie begs to be the one to own him. Finally, Willow King is hers! Together Katie feels that they will be able to reach the top. But there are more bumps on the way then she expected including, teaching this foal. I absolutely loved this book and Chris Platt is at her best when she writes!

I borrowed Willow King from my local library and liked it alot. i personaly think that horse racing is rather mean, but this book was good. I reccomend it for kids 8 to 12. Enjoy!

This a awesome book that I absolutly have to reccomend. It is about a girl named Katie who saves a foal who is about to be put down because he has crooked legs. She feels a strong bond between her and the foal because she was born with one leg shorter than the other, similar to the foal. Katie trains Willow King, the foal, and straightens his legs. Along the way, ahe has to deal with her enemy, Cindy because Cindy is using Katie's beloved show horse, Jester so Katie can train Willow. She also has to deal with a boy named Jason, whom she befriends. I strongly recomend this book to anyone who would like a good read. Even if you are not a horse fanatic like me, I think you will like it.

You'd realy be surprised to find out what San Diego has to offer in the way of hiking and trails. This book is your guide for those trails. From a 90 foot Waterfall (Cedar Creek Falls) to many other wonderful hikes. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about hiking in San Diego.

This book is the best hiking book I have come across, and I have many. Not only is it well planned out, with attached maps, and hikes separated by areas, but it also grades the level of difficulty very accurately. As for the comment on this book being old and vague on location... well, it's not designed to be an all encompassing guide, and you will have to dust off your map or Map Quest the locations.

We just recently moved to San Diego, and it's been a great source in discovering all the area has to offer, I feel that without it we would have missed out on so much.

My co-worker was telling me about all the wonderful waterfalls and boulders that he saw when he was hiking, and he told me that he learned about the trails from this book. I immediately ordered it, and so far, it has been handy to have.

Each trail is labeled with its difficulty, length, and even the best times to go. The descriptions are very useful and are pretty accurate.

There is an art to describing hikes in a succinct yet useful manner. Like with movie reviews, you don't want to give everything away, but you want to give the reader enough information to decide if the subject matter interests him enough into going to experience it for himself. Jerry Schad is THE master. It is simply amazing how much information he can pack into so few words. Once you do a few of his hikes, and reread his descriptions, you can quickly learn what exactly he means by certain turns of phrase and the like. This is because while English (or any language) is a poor tool for communicating this type of information, it's all we've got when reading a book. But what Schad does is describe practically every worthy hike in San Diego County in a consistent fashion, so you can apply what you learn he means by a certain description for one hike that he uses for another hike.

San Diego County is an amazingly diverse area of natural wonder. To discover it without Jerry's help would be very difficult. I strongly recommend his book for anyone interested in such a discovery.

However, I do recommend that you take several 1-star hikes before going on to a 2-star, and several 2-stars, before a 3-star, etc., primarily to learn how to read and use the book most effectively. Picking up the book and planning a 5-star hike before going through the rest of the process is NOT recommended.

Have fun!

Exhaustively researched, comprehensive, with good descriptions of why you'd want to pick a certain hike, so you'll know what you've got to look forward to.

This may be the only book you'll ever need on the subject, but it's not the only thing to take on a hike: you'll need that most uncommon of things, common sense" -- and that means you'll also need to bring a MAP and water, and the rest of the "Ten Essentials."

Remember, it doesn't replace a USGS or topographic map, let alone good hiking sense. It's "just" a trail guide, albeit the best one the county has had for about 20 years. And frequently and responsibly revised, too. No guidebook, or map, is of much use unless you know how to use it: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, right?

Don't expect too much. With San Diego's exploding population, your enjoyment of trails can alter seasonally with use, let alone by weather. Schad makes every effort to anticipate your tastes when he describes a trail, when it's best to go, what you'll get most out of a hike. You'll learn how to make your hikes match your tastes the more you use this excellent book. And you'll learn to appreciate, up close and personal, the scenery of the climate you moved here for.

San Diego county has great places to explore, and a wide range of habitats: from coastal to montane, to high & low desert. Most of it makes great scenery, but up close it can be intimidating. Schad's book won't let that stop you.

Most trails, even those in state or county parks, are not well marked except at trail heads (about what you should expect when park budgets are so meager these days).

This book and a topographic map are just the things to reawaken a sense of purpose, and to give our desires a sense of direction. And these, in turn, unlock our sense of beauty and wonder.

San Diego deserves nothing less from its inhabitants, and they and it deserve nothing less than such a resourceful book as this.

I loved the book. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened to the main character, "Sticky." It's not the kind of book you have to use a dictionary all the time. It's written in plain simple language.
The only draw back was the lines that were repeated. Other than that, it was an excelent story. I even got motivated to dig the old basketball out of the closet. Good show!

This is a great book. Everyone should read this book. And the movie is gonna be really good.

I liked his book because it was about basketball and I have played basketball for the last nine years. I felt like I understood the book because I know a lot about basketball. It also told of a story about a boy growing up in the foster carte system.
Sticky was the main character of this book. It starts out when he is 16 years old waiting for a chance to play a pick up game at the recreation center. All the guys from the neighborhood like to hang out there. He is the only white player on the court. The other players make fun of his name. It was a nickname his mother gave him so he likes it and gets angry because they wanted him to say his real name or change it.
The book flips back and forth from his rough childhood with his single mother, to his multiple foster parents, to current time. It took him through rough and good experiences with friends and foes.
He meets a girl from high school who he likes and they start dating. They want to go to the same college so Sticky has to try really hard to get a basketball scholarship.
He learned life lessons throughout the book. Most of his lessons were learned on the court at the recreation center. There were lots of fights, laughter, and yelling, homeless people, young and old people.
I give this book a 5 star rating and you should for sure buy Ball don't lie if you don't you'll be missing out.

I'm not usually a big book guy, but I knew I had to read my boy "Cali's" first book. We play ball together at the Prospect YMCA. So I went and bought a copy to show my support. Then I didn;t read it for about six months. Well I just finished it last night. I couldn't believe how good it was. This dude can really write. And I love the story. It's sad, but in the end you feel like the main character is going to be alright. Speaking of the main character. He's from the west coast which usually means he'd be soft, but this kid has got some heart. so get get a copy of this book and support my boy Cali. You'll be happy you did.

This book starts out really slow and boring because you are blinded by all of the basketball details. So you think "here's another boring sports book" and by chapter 3 it is already unraveling into a book you just can't put down. Sticky is a ghetto and rough-around-the-edges white guy that has grown up on the streets, moving from foster pad to foster pad, eventually making it to an area where he is daily playing ball with the regular crew down at Lincoln Rec. He knows that he has to have something special to get out of this life he doesn't want to be stuck with forever. It really does suck you in and has you going through every trial with Sticky from past to present making you feel as if it were you telling the story of Sticky's crazy and hectic life.

First rate guide to baseball, combining the obscure with the common and the everyday with the historical. A must for every baseball buff.

As an aspiring sportswriter/PR individual for a baseball team, having a book such as Baseball Field Guide (An in-depth illustrated guide to the complete rules of baseball) to reference is absolutely essential. If you are in anyway like me and need to have some visual clues this book is right up your alley. The book is as simple and concise as it is precise and informative.

The book begins by giving the reader a view of the basic rules of baseball followed by and overview of teams from little league up to the pro-level. Following that is an understanding of the equipment that is used and pregame preperation. Did you know that before a game starts the umpires must prep the balls by rubbing a particular type of mud from the New Jersey shore on them; this a tradition that has dated back more than half a century?

It is with continued illustrated outline precision that Formosa and Hamburger delve further into pitching, batting, running, fielding, umpires and a myriad of other needed information concerning America's pastime.

This books is brilliantly composed!

I learned lot from this book. While watching baseball I was having a difficult time understanding all the terms and moves. This book helped me understand all of it and more.

This book makes sense out of the disorganised mess that is the Offical Baseball Rule Book. Good indexing and graphics clear up the confusion most fans have about balks, interference, and other fine points of the game. A must for the serious fan.

I have attended minor league baseball for 15 years. It is amazing what I didn't know.

As an adventure racer who recalls when Don Mann owned Odyssey AR, I recall his midnight encouragement at CPs. At Primal Quest in Moab in 2006 Don was just as enthusiastic. This books carries some of that sincere, enthusiastic voice. His energy kept me running for years. I recall running together on the backstretch of the JFK 50 mile ultramarathon. We talked about books. Some time later, Don shared his enthusiasm for me by writing a testimonial for my book. For anyone interested in learning about our sport I strongly encourage you to read this book. Doug Gray, PCC, and author of Passionate Action: 5 Steps to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work

I new to AR (3 races to date) and was looking for a good reference book on the subject. This book exceeded my expectations. It is well organized and filled with practical information and detail. It has section with tips and advice from experienced racers, there is also first person accounts of races and experiences. It is also a great price for all the information you get.

The adventure racing world waited a long time for a resource as comprehensive as this one. It is no surprise that we were finally provided this resource by the man who founded Odyssey Adventure Racing, a company that produces more races than any other US AR company and also offers a great racing academy.

One of the best features of The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing is that rather than giving us "the gospel according to Mann and Schaad", it provides multiple views from various experts on controversial topics such as nutrition, strategy, team dynamics, and sleep management. You may occasionally find that the contributors disagree with each other, which only serves to underscore the strategic nature of the sport.

What I didn't expect was inspirational content in addition to the detailed information of this text. By including first-person stories from other racers, race directors, and observers, the book becomes a "good read" in addition to an instructive one. It makes you want to get out there and register for the first race you can find. Buy this book and you'll see what I mean!

The adventure racing world waited a long time for a resource as comprehensive as this one. It is no surprise that we were finally provided this resource by the man who founded Odyssey Adventure Racing, a company that produces more races than any other US AR company and also offers a great racing academy.

One of the best features of The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing is that rather than giving us "the gospel according to Mann and Schaad", it provides multiple views from various experts on controversial topics such as nutrition, strategy, team dynamics, and sleep management. You may occasionally find that the contributors disagree with each other, which only serves to underscore the strategic nature of the sport.

What I didn't expect was inspirational content in addition to the detailed information of this text. By including first-person stories from other racers, race directors, and observers, the book becomes a "good read" in addition to an instructive one. It makes you want to get out there and register for the first race you can find. Buy this book and you'll see what I mean!

firstly this reviewer is a racer and has quite some experience in the various disciplines of AR (adventure racing) so bear that in mind.

The book is quite well laid out covering most things you might expect in AR. The exciting glossy cover belies the lower quality paper and pictures used within- no smart glossies inside, rather some average b/w photos.

The information inside is fine but can largely be found elsewhere with a quick google search. Still a good repository of information.

If you are looking for some guidance re AR equipment, training, techniques, tips and have not looed for the same on the web, this will be a useful book, if you have looked then it is something to have on the bookshelf. It is not of sufficient quality to have out on the coffee table as a conversation piece!
My 2cents.