Archery Books

I read this book from cover to cover at age 13 my father has had a copy since way before I was born. Fred Bear was responsible for many of the advances in bowhunting and archery we see today. Anyone who reads this book whether a beginner or an advanced archer will learn something from Bear's years of experience. There are many exploits in the book which tell of his adventures. Fred Bear is one of the few men I know of who traveled the world, hunted and killed every type of animal,even a bull elephant with a recurve bow. This books sound practices and tips will help every archer improve even if you hunt or just enjoy shooting targets.

Ted Bear maintains the ancient tradition of hunting with a recureve--the closest thing to a longbow used in hunting today, while exhibiting an ethos uncommon in the hunting world today. He believes in skill, rather than the brute strength of a gun or compund bow. This is an excellent "how to" book for hunters. Bear starts at the beginning of recurves bow shooting, and takes you through to the end. He also interjects plenty of personal interludes, which prove that this is a man who acutally hunts with a recurve, and knows what he's doing.

This book is short, sweet, and to the point. It covers the basics about form and follow through and all of the essentials that you need to know when you are learning how to shoot, or even if you are just looking to improve your form. It includes several checklists and even a whole chapter dedicated FAQ. It has lists of problems, and then explainations on how to fix them. Overall, this book is well worth it.

In a world where many books promise a lot and finally appear to offer the half of that, this is a book that keeps it's promise: It is a useful handbook; just what it claims to be. And yes, it is a good handbook for beginners in archery -like me, for example-. It provides the reader with useful tips and secrets of this wonderful and so special sport, without underestimating the new athlet. Frankly, it helped me a lot when I first started with archery but that's not the reason I like it the most; It is focused on the theme and the author doesn't let himself be carried away by peddling details and useless comments, but in the same time, it exhausts the most important things as much as it's necessary so that they are completely apprehensible by the simple reader.

In a few words: it is as good as it claims.

This book is absolutely great for describing the basics of Archery. It walks the reader thought all of the begining steps to enjoying the sport. Additionally, it encourages people not to rush out and buy equipment. Taking your time in purchasing archery equipment is critical to making sure that you get stuff that you like and stuff that fits you. The book could be a little better when describing how to aim. It doesn't talk about reference points or point of aim. Otherwise, the book is great.

A must read for archery enthusiasts, taking up the sport. The book lays out the basics, and something really important for the beginners, "common mistakes or pitfalls". Gives a good direction of where to go and what not to do in a hurry of taking up the sport. Very good toddler's steps.

I like the author's writing style and his ability to tell storys. This makes this book a very enjoyable reading.

This book covers a wide selection of topics that I find to be very useful. It tends to be quite heavy on varimint rifles though; this is fine with me.

Some area of this book are kind of overlapping with his another (older) book called "Modern Rifles". If you have to choose between these two books, you may want to choose this book.

Chapters: Those twisting grooves called rifling, Building today's sporting rifle, Today's rifles-how good?, Rifle stock-more than a handle, Custom rifle stock, Triggering a revolution, Rifle ammo(past & present), Understanding ballistics, Lessons in trajectory, Wind-the shooter's challenge, Bullet performance on game, Varmint rifles-the super accurate hunters, Rifles for Africa's dangerous game, All-purpose rifle-hits & myths, Rifle sight-past & present, Telescopic sight, How to sight-in a rifle & have in stay that way, Teaching yourself to be a crackshot, The accuracy game, Is handloading for you?, and The ageless .22 rimfire.

Ed Muderlak has produced a book destined to be the authority on Parker shotguns for generations. The research was completed by the author rather than gathering bits and pieces from other publications and the presentation is excellant. The author is a noted collector of vintage Parkers and writes the book in that flavor. He is not terribly impressed with Parker Reproductions or reworked and refurbished guns, so if you are a "Repro" collector, don't expect to find anything here. A quality publication with excellant detailed color photos and reproduced B&W Parker advertizing. If R.L.Wilson was to publish a Parker book, it would look alot like this. A must have for Parker fans!

Mr. Muderlake appears to be a bit more literate than most gun writers (McIntosh excepted), and the book is pleasantly done. Also
the photographs are nicely reproduced. It certainly is a better book than the things currently available on some other supposedly classic shotguns like Winchester and Browning. One thing Muderlake does not do (nor do any other gun writers), is give any convincing explanation as to why so many people think the Parkers were the last word in shotgunning. I've never understood it except to think that since people had to pay more for Parkers than for equivalent grade Foxes or Ithacas, they had to think they had something special...perhaps in the end, this is something impenetrable in me.

One slightly sour, continuing note in the book is that Mr. Muderlake appears to think that scholarship is a competitive sport. Even though he pays lip service to the idea of valuing past writers' work, he several times fairly shouts, "Look at me, I've proved Him (whoever) wrong!" In the world of scholarship there are ways and ways of doing this, and Muderlake's smugness leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.

This book has a great illustration. Especially since my boyfriend is in it!!

Another good book by Millar. Lots of pictures for the novice player to show techniques. Covers shooting, skating, stick handling, passing etc. A good intro book for all you players to read; makes my job easier. From an experienced ice hockey coach...

Tim Bucci is to be commended for many things in this book. One, he's a damn fine writer; the book moves with grace. Two, he's clear and wonderfully engaging about his passion for the game; he is, as he hopes more can be, a "Darts Ambassador." He welcomes us all.

Perhaps most important about this book, though, is its humanity. Playing darts--steel tip or Bucci's beloved soft-tip--is such a wonderful, social enterprise. For some it's bridge or bowling. For us it's darts and Tim just makes me want to go out and play a few games with old friends or with folks I'll meet for the first time. Darts is fun, and Tim captures that enthusiasm on every page.

For the curious and the experienced, get "A Quiver of Three." Reading it is a pleasure, an education, and an inspiration. It is a must for every darts library, and a requirement for anyone interested in taking up soft-tip darts. It's full of good advice and useful information. Read the book and then get out there and play.

Perhaps someday we'll meet at the throwing line, Tim. I look forward to it.

I feel I was a sort of "beta tester" for Tim's book, because I knew nothing about how to play until I read it. I've seen people play occasionally and thought I'd like to participate, but was intimidated by my lack of knowledge on scoring, strategy, rules of the game, and etiquette - the things that make you look and feel like a public "doofus" if you don't know them. This book is the answer to that problem for beginners, but also has enough deeper material to teach experienced players a thing or two.

Tim's presentation of the essentials of soft-tip darts gets you up and running fast, makes you conversant with the darts themselves, the "lingo" and rules of play, and puts you on a path to becoming a worthy competitor.

If you're happy to be only a casual, recreational player, the tips and practice guides in this book will tune you up, help you lose or avoid bad habits and teach you simple but effective strategy that makes you a better player than anyone would expect.

Bucci's competition tips will give you an "equalizer" over more experienced adversaries, showing you where to look for their weaknesses and how to lose your own. He gives useful advice on individual as well as team strategy, and also devotes some time to the ins and outs of managing a successful and fun team of your own.

Tim has done the hard work for you and distilled his years of experiences down into a compact, fun read that informs while entertaining. He takes you from buying and maintaining the right equipment all the way to running a team in league contests, with interesting side-trips into theory and strategy that help you put the game in perspective. I found it very comprehensive, without becoming dull or preachy. The writing is unpretentious and clear, probably reflecting his technical writing experience. Finally, he never forgets that it's always about having fun, even when the competition is serious. If you're a neophyte, or Bullshoot-bound competitor, if you can't bring an expert to the bar with you, spend an hour with Tim's book and see your game come alive.

This book gives some good suggestions on needed improvement in the MLB organization. During his speech at the Speaker Series he mentioned that a lot of the points that he brings up have been fixed since he wrote it back in 2000. I don't know baseball well enough to know what has changed, but I think that it is still obvious that there are franchises that cannot compete because of the amount of money demanded by the superstar/high quality players. Even though I am not a huge fan I remember when the Royals were highly regarded. Now, you hardly hear mention of them. This book is still relevant and some of Costas' points still need to be discussed and incorporated.

I am one of those fans of baseball that has left the game. My exodus started after the strike in the early nineties and the gradual decline continued over several years. I don't believe that I have watched the equivalent of a complete nine-inning game on television over the last year. Although I have enjoyed watching a few games played by the local minor league team.
Major league baseball simply has not learned any lessons from its past or from the other major sports leagues. The NFL and NBA, albeit after some serious difficulties, adopted a revenue sharing policy that will keep the league competitive over the long term. The franchise that is the butt of jokes this year often makes a playoff run after a few years.
However, for several major league baseball franchises, there is little hope that they will ever be seriously competitive. Smaller market teams such as Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Minnesota may make some occasional noise and surprise the baseball world, but the routine is to be at or near last place every year. Who can blame the fans if they lose interest when this is the reality?
Costas is the cream of the crop when it comes to the broadcast business because he not only understands the game; he truly cares about it. In this book he explains what is wrong with the game and what needs to be done to correct it. He places the blame on both the owners and players, showing that each is determined to pursue their own short-term interest while ignoring what is being done over the long term. I completely agree with him in his assessment of the wild-card playoff spot. That policy has destroyed the concept of a pennant race, where you must win to continue, so each play could be the difference between victory and defeat.
He also comes up with some real solutions and it is the hope of every true fan that those who are running major league baseball will finally understand what needs to be done. Without some form of true change in the structure, there are several franchises that will slowly wither and die. As they die, even the teams at the top will lose, for in a league, they all live or die together.

A well written, concise book about the problems in baseball today, Fair Ball is a book that is now old. Baseball has changed in the past six years and these six years of history has validated some of Costas' points. The main points of contention in Fair Ball are revenue sharing, salary cap, divisional alignment and the playoff wildcard. What drives Costas to desire change in baseball money comes from what he calls a "competitive imbalance." Since the book has been written, baseball has seen the Arizona Diamondbacks, Anaheim Angels, Florida Marlins, Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox win World Series. The years that they won the world series the Arizona Diamondbacks had the 8th highest payroll, Angels the 15th highest , Florida the 20th highest, and the White Sox the 13th highest. This is a big change from the late 90's when the World Series almost always went to the top 5 paying teams. I believe the last five seasons have shown that the competitive imbalance is not quite as bad as Costas claims it is. However, there are still teams that have no chance thanks to their minuscule payroll. As lucky, or well coached as teams like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals are, they will not threaten to compete for the playoffs let alone a World Series. I believe something needs to be done about that, and some of Costas' ideas that he came up with in 2000 can still be used in today's game.

As far as his views on the wildcard, I am skeptical. He has a good point that I had never thought of, the wildcard takes some drama and worth out of the pennant race. It is sad that the regular season means so little to the Red Sox and the Yankees because they know that the loser of the regular season will be granted a pass to the playoffs with the wild card. On the other hand, this year (2006) presents a very interesting wildcard race in the National League which still includes most of the teams. My Atlanta Braves had a horrible start and have virtually lost the NL East, but they are only 5 games out of the wildcard race. As a fan I can still hope.

All in all, the book is a great baseball book. Bob Costas not only knows his sports, but he has a passion for them and this book is his attempt to see baseball brought to its best. Even though it is a bit dated, I would recommend this book to any baseball fan.

Kostas critiques baseball and proposes several common-sense changes. He attacks extended playoffs, and shows how the current revenue disparities make it difficult for many small-market teams to compete effectively. Kostas also calls for a combined salary cap and salary floor. Actually, a decent salary floor makes lots of sense, and probably should be applied to the minor leagues, where (unbeknownst to many) lots of players and umpires barely make enough to live on. But I was surprised by the author's call for taking the players down a notch, and the last couple years have seen some teams with modest payrolls (Minnesota, Houston, White Sox) attain success.

This is a concise and readable book, a bit dated, but clearly an intelligent look by one of baseball's most thoughtful fans.

This book is only really slightly dated as MLB baseball is slightly different now - A) the "luxury tax" system penalizes big money teams who go over a certain limit (and the system is set up to funnel more money to the low payroll teams as the big money teams stay over the 'cap', but then some of those teams promptly mismanage those funds), and B) there is now an unbalanced schedule, where teams play division foes much more often than other teams in the league. Nevertheless, these are SMALL developments and the big problems Costas discusses still exist. So, it's still relevant. Bud, Gene, Don - read this!

Costas' passion for baseball is evident, and it's clear that he's given these problems a lot of thought. Let me move through the book and offer my thoughts on some of his thoughts.

Chapters 1 - 3 discuss the nature of the situation we are currently in (the debacle of 1993), as well as what sports leagues actually are - they are atypical organizations that rely upon quality among all participating businesses (clubs), which is qualitatively different from the capitalist model.

Chapters 4 - 7 discuss a VERY REASONABLE revenue sharing plan, together with "floor" and "ceiling" salary caps. The whole thing stands or falls on its own, and frankly, I can't see how it wouldn't work. Of course, the union probably would still sabotage it even though its benefits for the average MLB player would be much improved. What will it take for the union to agree to such a sensible plan??????

Chapters 8 - 9 discuss realignment. Thankfully, nobody is talking about 'radical re-alignment' anymore. Costas' plan is to move Houston to the AL West, thereby having 2 15 team leagues and one interleague match going on through the season. This makes sense!!!! As he puts it, why do we have to some big "Mardi Gras" of interleague play!!!! I used to mull over these realignment possibilities myself, but never thought of moving Houston over. IT is so clearly the best!!!

Chapter 10 - 11 discuss pennant races, the 'wild card' system, and Costas' alternative for playoffs (division leaders play, with the best record team getting a bye). I'm not sure I buy all of what Costas is selling here. Wild card possibilities do increase interest. And with 3 divisions, an AL East team that works its tail off, creams most of their other opponents, but still comes in second in the league should not have to sit home while some second-rate AL Central team gets in to the playoffs again. My fix to the 'wild card problem' would be to simply make the WC play all of its first round games away, at the park of the team with the best record, whether they're from the same division or not.

In Chapter 12, Costas discusses the minor issues (and they are minor issues) such as the DH, commercialism, Pete Rose, etc. Thoughtful discussion, and I agree with most of his stances.

He then concludes, and you can tell, his really is a "fan's case for baseball".

MLB - listen! Respond!

This is good book to learn a bit more if you do first steps in traditional archery. It is interesting to read, and gives very clear step - by step advices.

like most instructional books, "become the arrow" will not answer every question you might have. i agree will the other reviewers who said there is a lot of biographical info that doesn't help the beginner much. what this book does well, however, is explain - with a lot of illustrations - proper form for the traditional archer. how you should hold the bow, what your sight picture should be, and how to adjust for distance shooting are all covered in detail. my only complaint, other than the "filler" material, would be that he doesn't say much about equipment, especially arrows, which as he describes his method he says is the most important piece of equipment. i would like to see more info and recommendations on different weights, spines and fine tuning arrow selection. "traditional archery", by brian sorrells does a better job explaining arrow selection, and other equipment, but doesn't explain technique as well. these two books together, can answer almost every question a beginner might have.

Best archery book I have read. My shooting has improved so much that I recommend 'Become the Arrow' to anyone starting to hunt with traditional archery equipment.

This book is a quick read which can help you improve your archery skills. Having read everything I can find when it comes to shooting traditional equipment, Byron does a better job than most describing his technique. Actually practicing and mastering a "new" method of shooting is a completely different subject. The book also contains tips on hunting as well as several accounts from Byron's hunting and exhibition shooting career.

The book was just too short, without enough information. If you cut out the part on hunting, the biography (both are parts I"m not really interested in as a 3-D target shooter), their wasn't a great deal left. Good information on tuning and the author's technique I guess, but he could have added a lot more to clarify. It's like the book didn't have an editor.

I am an experienced Vermont hunter and I not only enjoyed this book but learned from it. I recommend this book to everybody I know as a learning tool. If you hunt deer the hard way ,"in the big woods", you need this book. I read it again before each season as a primer. Yes - I read Larry Benoits book every year too. But honestly, this one has more useful information for the average hunter. Hal covers all the tricks of the Northern hunter. We can all aspire to hunt like Hal Blood.

This was the most enjoyable deer hunting book I ever read. This is a how to book on how to hunt whitetails in lightly hunted remote northern forests. However, there is plenty of practical knowledge that applies to all of whitetail hunting. The author does a particularly good job of mixing in short interesting hunting stories to illustrate his points. These stories by themselves would be worth the price of the book. This is an excellent book both to learn something about whitetail hunting and just to read for enjoyment.

I liked this book alot . As a tracking book it's as infomationaly complete as any. I personally like "Big Bucks the Benoit way" better. The chapter " Track him down" in this book is worth the price of the book. As with the other tracking books I have found the sign reading info is relivent most anywhere. Hal Blood, The Benoits, R.G. Bernier are pure deer hunters. They hunt the toughest areas in the toughest conditions. They are going to be successful on big deer anywhere they choose to hunt. Not just on a high dollar lease's and guided hunts like alot of the "experts" are. I have picked up alot up info in there writing.

This book really seems to cover the most effective hunting tactics for those of us in the colder climates. It deals with tracking (especially in snow) quite a bit. It also deals with deer behavior and the probable reasons for this behavior. I have learned a lot from this book and plan on using the tactics explained and looking for bucks in places covered here. I love how the lessons learned are interspersed with good hunting stories to back up the lesson. Not all the stories are success stories either. Mr Blood does a good job explaining the hunt and respecting it, whether it leads to a harvest or not.

As a twenty plus year hunter of big woods Bucks in northern Minnesota I held high hopes for this book.
It was a disapointment from start to finish!
It proposes to provide insight and strategies into hunting Northern whitetails and only offers sporadic stories of various hunts Hal Blood has participated in.
Look elsewhere!