Amateur Books

Berry is a terrific main character, a former copy-a patrolman, not a detective-with a strong relationship to his family and friends. I enjoyed the secondary characters but a weakness was that his girlfriend Susan seemed unsympathetic in this book, so you didn't quite understand the ending. The sense of place is well done, there's good tension and a couple twists along the way. I particularly liked learning about the Montagnards of Viet Nam, about whom I had never heard. This is a very good series, well written series and is perfect for those who like some action but nothing overly dark

In Gainesboro, North Carolina, just before dying from cancer Montagnard expatriate Y'Grok Eban informs Boston cop Kevin Malone that the "Raven has come home" scaring the street tough police officer though he is not totally sure why. The brave Y'Grok saved many American lives during the Viet Nam war, but the exile never went home once he fled for the Carolina hills. Now a grand funeral befitting a genuine hero is planned that has caught the attention of the national media.

However, someone enters the Clayton & Clayton Funeral Home, knocking unconscious director Barry Clayton before apparently stealing the corpse of Y'Grok. Barry's friend local Sheriff Tommy Lee Watkins is upset for personal reasons because four decades ago Y'Grok saved his life when he served in Nam. Kevin, coming south for the funeral, joins forces with Tommy Lee and Barry an ex-cop to locate the body, learn the meaning of Y'Grok's last cryptic message and find out why something that happened forty years ago suddenly haunts those still living today over an ocean and a continent away.

Using a contemporary mystery, Mark de Castrique provides an intriguing look (through the memories of those gathering for the funeral) of the Viet Nam War in which the Montagnard served as loyal allies to the American troops. The search for the stolen corpse and the efforts to break Y'Grok's enigmatic last words turn into a strong investigative tale that spins into much more as the war still haunts these men while they each reflect back to try to define what the final words of their late brother in arms meant. FOOLISH UNDERTAKING is a fabulous thriller that grips the audience from the moment the corpse is purloined and never slows down until Raven comes home.

Harriet Klausner

This book was invaluable in our bathroom project. First it gave us the confidence to get started, and then it answered all our questions during the project. With the aid of this book we ripped our bathroom out to the studs, and put in a completely new bathroom. The book covers materials, techniques, helpful hints, and cleanup. Just as an example, after we got the tile off the walls and were faced with a 300lb cast iron tub, we checked the book and found that we could smash the tub into pieces with a sledgehammer for easy removal. Problem solved.

Now we're thinking about doing the kitchen.

An excellent book for beginners. Like Nikitas's other books, I found this one thorough, and clearly written. The projects are laid out just in the right order for an on-again-off-again home improvement dude like me to follow. I tried a mortar bed for the first time and it came out amazingly well: this goes in my reference library.

I read that book. It's a very nice for pratice for Ham Radio. I use this book in classrooms. These studants loves it, because in the test for habilitation they was facilites a lot. I have a first edition and I buy that book in the ARLL. The ARRL is a very old league for Radio Amateur in the word. That book is a manual for beginner's and advanced, with many aids about kinds of kinds for pratice in the "aether", for the Ham's. I love this book. Is my best book for Radio. It's easy.

I read that book. It's a very nice for pratice for Ham Radio. I use this book in classrooms. These studants loves it, because in the test for habilitation they was facilites a lot. I have a first edition and I buy that book in the ARLL. The ARRL is a very old league for Radio Amateur in the word. That book is a manual for beginner's and advanced, with many aids about kinds of kinds for pratice in the "aether", for the Ham's. I love this book. Is my best book for Radio. It's easy.

This is the only home repair book I have found that shows you how to repair your oven, how to light pilot lights, maintain air conditioners, and fix your dishwasher. It is easy to find books that show how to do carpentry and drywall. It is a rare gem that gives excellent illustrations to take care of your major appliances. This book paid for itself with my first repair - I fixed my own oven. Put it on your bookshelf next to the Reader's Digest Complete Do-it-yourself manual. You can fix anything!

This book is a Must have book for any homeowner. I already own several kind home improvements, but so far I prefer this book much better than my other books.

An indispensable guide to home maintenance, repair and project for the easily intimidated.

Mag tackles each project with a "you can do it" attitude and a somewhat warped sense of humor. Sort of like what Home Depot would be like if you could find anyone to help you, they were knowledgeable, and not brain dead. A really warped sense of humor, I might say. I found myself "guffawing" out loud. My wife kept asking me what's so funny about a home repair manual. I get Mag's humor a lot because it's like mine. But my wife would not; she doesn't even let me watch Red Green unless she's already asleep (did that make sense? she's asleep, how's she going to stop me?)

But enough about the humor. A lot of projects written up in a few pages will give you the information you need to fix that squeaky door, or whatever.

I read 'How Hard Can It Be', and then bought 7 copies as gifts for my grown daughters.

Save thousands of dollars and build your own deck. This book will show you step-by-step how to plan and build your own deck. The book is very informative and well written and is realistic.

Very Goo

"How to design, build, & test complete speaker systems" is one of the best speaker design books I've ever read. This book gives all of the crucial information on building a stereo system. It gives all of Thiele's alignments, useful tips on building your enclosure, pros and cons of properly made bass reflex and plain closed boxes. It contains the tables, charts, graphs, equations and general information needed to completely build a system. It also covers experimental enclosures. The only problem with this book is that it was published in 1978 and talks of outdated amplifer technology, equalizers, etc. But over all this is a book I'd highly recomend to anybody building a set of speakers.

"How to design, build, & test complete speaker systems" is one of the best speaker design books I've ever read. This book gives all of the crucial information on building a stereo system. It gives all of Thiele's alignments, useful tips on building your enclosure, pros and cons of properly made bass reflex and plain closed boxes. It contains the tables, charts, graphs, equations and general information needed to completely build a system. It also covers experimental enclosures. The only problem with this book is that it was published in 1978 and talks of outdated amplifer technology, equalizers, etc. The methods are not, however outdated. Over all this is a book I'd highly recomend to anybody building a set of speakers.

If you are interested in dressing Salmon Flies, this is one of the originals. It is available in the used market and the copy I just obtained was in excellent condition. It provides a number of color plates and technique guides - but Pryce-Tannatt was more than merely a technician. The history and prose of this fine book make it a perfect addition to any fly fisher's library and for those of us silly enough to try to create these complex little flies, it is yet another reference to assist us in pursuing the fine art of Salmon Fly tying.

T. E. Pryce Tannant was the last of the old masters in the golden age of salmon fly tying/development. This book is a great reference for those interested in the historical nature of tying fully dressed salmon flies. Price-Tannant's recipes for patterns, first described buy Francis, Kelson, Hale etc., were often among the most complex. Tannant also made the greatest use of, most notably, florican bustard in his dressings. This book, along with those of the other authors mentioned, is a must for those interested in the history salmon flies.

I purchased this book to learn the details of quality home construction. I do not plan on building a home myself, but I am interested in how my home is constructed. This book is extremely well-written, and explains the entire process from digging the hole for the foundation to interior trim. Sticky points are discussed, as are tricks for speed, efficiency, and build quality. Quite simply, this is nothing short of a home construction encyclopedia. Armed with tools, inginuity, and a good strong back, one could use this book as a primary reference for home construction. Highly recommended.

I found this title outstanding.

After reading my fathers copy of Mr Blackburn's "Illustrated Basic Carpentry" (1976), my first search and purchase at Amazon in September 1998 (Amazon only sold books at that time! ) included this book.

I was completely satisfied, it included actual topics like the basement construction, Electrical Wiring details I didn't expect to find. This was a finding because his first book I read was completely traditional carpentry and now he was treating "modern" subjects.

Still, tips and stories on American traditional house building are nicely treated with tales like Mason trick to ensure payment after their job was done.

Beautifully hand illustrated by the author, with clear explanations as in "Illustrated Basic Carpentry", there is also a nice reproduction on carpentry I didn't expect just at the beginning of the carpentry section, a 1548 representation.

Recently I had the chance to show this particular book to an experienced American architect who conducts restoration mostly on public buildings in USA and his word were the title of this comment: An Art Job.

After this nice encounter I also bought " Traditional Woodworking Hand tools", Furniture by Design" and Year -round house care" by this same author, Mr Graham Blackburn.

Actually I'm expecting the delivery of his "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ships, Boats, Vessels and Other Water-Borne Craft" which after reading it, and finding it includes what I expect to, I am sure I will choose to be an excellent gift for my cousin-in-law Harriet, who's actually studying to become a US Naval Officer.

I hope you enjoy your purchase and Amazon as much as I have!

Sincerely,

Eudoro.