Amateur Books

This book is the BIBLE for understanding and building your telescope. An absolute must read.

I am a beginning amateur astronomer, and this book has helped me immensely in understanding how telescopes work and what goes into building a quality telescope. Though I won't be able to afford the optics for my dream telescope for some time, this book is excellent for either the aspiring telescope maker or an amateur like me who wants to understand what makes telescopes "great" vs. "so-so".

The book is well-written and is a very easy read, even though it goes through some fairly complicated stuff at times. I highly recommend it!

This book is available directly
from the publisher for $29.95 at
http://www.willbell.com/tm/dobtel.htm

One of the hardest things a beginner faces when jumping into amateur astronomy is "Where do I start?". That question has been answered in great depth by this book. Considered by almost everyone to be "the bible" of amateur telescope making, if this book doesn't inspire you to start cutting wood, then you need to find yourself another hobby!

One of the authors is responsible for the "Obsession" line of high-end Dobsonian telescopes. This book is almost a step-by-step guide on how you can build your own large Dobsonian, with optics and performance nearly as good as an Obsession. Yes, you probably won't save much money over a purchased 'scope, but the pride of being able to say "I built this myself!" more than makes up for that. Plus, you will know (and understand) every single square inch of your telescope, so modifications and changes won't be as frightening to you as they would if you had to cut into a $3000 commercial telescope.

If you think you're going to use this book and build an 18" 'scope for $500, you're going to be in for quite a shock. The authors in this book both stress the importance of premium optics, and these do not come cheap. Expect to spend roughly $1500, or more, for a good quality 12.5" primary mirror alone. Quality doesn't come cheap, and with the only commercial Pyrex production line in the US shut down for the next several years, expect mirror prices to rise, drastically.

For those who can afford it, a scope like this can last for a lifetime. But if you can't afford such a huge investment, this book also covers construction of an 8", closed-tube Dobsonian (The larger sizes in the book are all truss tube models), which can be assembled for roughly $600.

Right now, several of my friends and I are starting to plan our dream scope, using nothing but this book as a reference guide. We're going to build slowly, completing one major piece at a time. This both insures that the finished unit is as high a quality as we are capable of producing, plus helps to defer construction costs over a longer period of time.

Even if you have no intention of every getting a Dobsonian, you will find many things of value in this book.

Why are you still reading this? Go and order a copy for yourself. Experience firsthand just how well written and useful it really is, and I'll bet you also start dreaming of cutting wood and aligning optics.

If you are interested in building a Dobsonian with professional results, this is the book for you. It even excercises pragmmatic guidance on what aperture should one choose by describing a series of scenarios one would not contemplate before building, but would clearly regret in the after.This is specially useful for those suffering from "aperture fever".

The author wisely leaves aside the craft of making your own optics. He reduces it to one chapter. The reason: if you you want to build a serious and large aperture telescope; buy the optics. This, with time and experience, comes as the best option.

Nothing is left aside on what building a Dobsonian may concern. I honestly didn't look for anything else after this book. (The only thing I surfed the internet for was for more images on Dob designs).

This is a rare book, for it accomplishes to fill virtually every doubt you may have on the subject.

This book has all the information you need to find where the various shortwave stations are located and what will be on at different times. I am happy I got it to go along with the shortwave radio that I purchased.

This is one of the books I included in the present I bought for my 20-year-old grandson along with the Sony Broadband radio. This book is interesting and opening the world of broadband radio to my grandson. He finds it very useful.

I have been reading this book for 10 years, & find it invaluable for any info about new & old equipment.Great info about stations & broadcasts from around the globe & program schedules.Also good info for newcomers to sw. Highly reccomend as a gift for anyone that you might want to share your hobby with.

Exelent, Idon't know why people by brand new books, thers amazon
Jose

.. also full of confusing graphical pages so you can not resolve what is the comercial and what article!

Once again the graphical arrangement of comercial, articles, content for example which you can not find quickly and the the rest of the book is not in accordance with the technical content of the book!

After some time of digging you can find everything what you need but again: it is very confusing book becuse of the similar colours of the comercials and articles!
For stars because of that!

It is more accurate for local frequecies than WRTH!

Enjoy anyway!

This book is not for someone who's never brewed but if you've done it a few times, this book will get you hooked. The methods, ingredients, and everything else about this makes you want to try brewing in ways you probably wouldn't imagine otherwise.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a little adventure in their brewing.

I just started home brewing, and I want more--Randy Mosher's book gives me that. This book gives a full spectrum on brewing, from the history to the chemistry to tons of recipes for creating many different types of beer. This guy has a great sense of humor, and the book is also very visually engaging. This book answered many of my questions about how beer brewing works and what to do and what not to do. Most of the recipes he gives have instructions for beginners and advanced brewers, so this book can definitely "grow" with you. I would suggest brewing a few batches first, before trying the more advanced techniques, and/or purchasing the other books described in these reviews as companions. I was really happy to see that there are so many possibilities for home brew, and the author's enthusiasm motivates me to try them. A great book!

This as my first brewing book and still my favorite. If you get one brewing book, this is the one. While not encyclopedic in brewing details, it shines in inspirational historical insight into what beer IS.
A joy to behold, you will not be disappointed!

This book is fantastic. It has more recipes for extract brewers and all grain brewers alike than you can poke a stick at and each cattegory of ingredient imaginable is placed into a table so you can compare and find out more about what interests you. I found the detailed chapter on hops to be most beneficial to me. There is a chart with all known hop types and how they may be used and what substitutes could be used instead. Well worth having this as a great reference.

I'm enjoying this book immensely. This is my second home brewing book (Papazian was the first, about 15 years ago). Like Papazian, "Radical Brewing" includes plenty of lore in addition to hard core brewing info. And like Papazian this book has lots of humor in it. But Mosher's book is much more current, in terms of both information and viewpoint. And the humor is sardonic where Papazian's humor tends to be more goofy and quaint.
If anything "Radical Brewing" is slightly less practical than "The Joy of Homebrewing." It seems like Mosher focuses on giving the reader inspiration rather than step-by-step instructions, which is very wise considering how individualized each batch of homebrew is. Papazian has a certain recipe mentality, where Mosher is instead setting forth ideas and techniques. Good stuff, particularly for the intermediate or advanced brewer. Highly recommended.

I am a big fan of David Halberstam. Like his other books, this one was well written, but I just could not get into the subject matter. The main characters that he follows were uninteresting and pretty one dimnesional in their rowing obsession. Halberstam seems to worship their dedication to a sport that few care about, but I find their masochistic pleasure in continuous pain and lonely training quite odd and certainly not anything heroic. I think that if I had been a rower at some point in my athletic career instead of a track athlete and soccer player, I would have enjoyed this book more. We've all heard the term "too much inside baseball." For me this book was too much "inside rowing" and did not translate into a broader experience for fans of other sports.

Really well written, but a depressing story. I finished the book without any happy illusions about the sport, or sports in general. Nevertheless, a valuable story about the human spirit.

halberstam is very engaging in not merely following the story of the 1976 Olympic US rowing scullers, but in relentlessly digging into their lives for historical details of their rowing past, psychological stabs at what drives them, and their social interaction with their teammates. this book was quite well known in the 1980's, but seems to have been forgotten by many in the rowing community - what a shame!! i expect every serious rower today would still find this an extremely compelling and interesting story, and for those of us who read it 20 years ago, i can testify that it is very well worth a re-read. and the other top rowing book? virtually unknown and quite hard to find, brad alan lewis' `assault on lake casitas' is just as great as `the amateurs', and a fantastic companion to it!!

For someone who's not a rower, Halberstam gets most of this right - the technique, the atmosphere, the obsessiveness (which is common to all levels of rowing, just intensified among Olympians). In some ways the selection for the '84 Olympics was a crux point in the US rowing system, and Halberstam shows just why. If you want to get a view into a sport most people ignore, written by a top author, this is a good place to do it - same if you just want a peek in the mind of world-class athletes. If you want to really learn about the 84' Olympics selection camp, I'd recommend reading this in combination with Brad Lewis' "Assault at Lake Casitas", for a another viewpoint from one of the main actors (and the '84 doubles gold medalist).

Incidentally, the movie Rowing Through was based on The Amateurs. It's quite divergent from the book, but not too bad if you can ignore a good bit of gratuitous sex and some hardly-Olympic-caliber rowing in the scenes on the water.

I read this book in spite of the facts that I have no interest in rowing and know nothing about it. I read it only because it was written by David Halberstam, and I've loved everything I've ever read by him.

This book was no exception. Even though I still know very little about the sport, I now appreciate how grueling it is, and how much training these guys do.

You can't go wrong with a David Halberstam book, and this one's no exception.

I purchased this book to give to my husband at his retirement party. We are in the process of purchasing a sailboat to live aboard. We have almost no experience in sailing let alone maintenance of a sailboat. At our recent survey, my husband was able to ask pertinent questions, and have his many questions answered as well. He said the surveyor followed the book almost page by page. This book is a 'must have' for any sailboat owner, beginner or experienced. We plan to buy more of Don Casey's books to keep in our onboard library.

If I had to chose one reference manual to help me take care of my sailboat, this would be the one. The best I have read.

While it really is impossible to have one book that covers everything to do with yacht maintenance, this one comes pretty close. Don's books really are remarkable, they have all the info you need, explained clearly and coupled with excellent large diagrams that are a pleasure to study. If you've considered one of the books in his yacht maintenace series, forget it, just buy this compendium of them all, I guarantee you will not regret it.

It would be even better if it will have a bit more details, but it is good anyway.

Don Casey (as usual) has written a definitive book on maintenance for my aging boat and most important to me, tips to help me shop for my next sailboat. Well organized, illustrated and written, the only negative thing I can say about the book is, that it scared me to learn how much important info I didn't know (ignorance was bliss!) Well worth the full retail price, an even better value when purchased online.

Manual transmissions aren't as sexy as some other engine parts that I could think of (like cams, or turbos), but that doesn't make them boring!

This book covers the little-known and little-described topic of manual transmissions. The writer attacks the subject from the angle of a "weekend warrior" mechanic or car builder, which means it's neither dry and academic nor lowbrow.

Manual transmissions, clutches and even differentials are covered in enough detail to be useful without drowning in theory. Unlike many automotive books it's full of meaty details and tips - the chapter on manual transmission diagnosis alone is worth the cost.

Even if you're not a die-hard stick shifter, it's a fun read and an interesting look at the technology behind a manual transmission. If nothing else, you could read it and impress the guys at your local hot-rod spot with your knowledge of gear oil additives.

Besides, where else can you get all the current thinking on manual transmission modifications in one place?

I just got this book and Have to say that it is one of the best automotive books I have ever read. Most automotive Books are either to Dry and Technical or have very little info. This Book is both easy to read and has a ton of information. I'll be referring to this book any time I have a problem with a manual transmission.

Excellent organization and structure. Lots of information on how manual transmissions work, and how to check and rebuild them. Many excellent color photos to go along with the text.

This book is well written and easy to understand with many pictures. It is a good starting point for anyone considering rebuilding a manual transmission.

The book covers material that is common knowledge for professionals, but that is hard to learn as an amatuer trying to learn on his/her own. Specifically in the areas of dianosis of problems, and explicit function of components.

I recommend this book.

This book really presents the work and theory in a straightforward manner. It explains what you are doing and why, and what happens when something goes wrong. It's easy enough to follow lightly as you work, or to read in depth to really learn something. You can easily pull from it what information you need. I would recommend this book to anyone with a technical background, whether already you know what you are doing or just starting your first project, there is definitely something to gain here.

This is a terrific book for a novice who is facing the scary job of picking a contractor, then working with that contractor, to build a house. There are so many things I didn't know, and wished I'd known, but there was no one to ask. This book is written from the buyer's point of view, and so it covers the questions only a novice would have, like 'why does the foundation look so funny?' This really is a peace of mind book, and it should also help you save some money because you know what the contractor is suppose to be doing, and paying -- and you can question what doesn't look right. I sure didn't know, but you will with this book.

I loved this book! It took all the fear out of building a new home. I loved the cautions and special beware's....they will save me lots of headaches. This author really knows how to make life easier!! Anyone getting ready to build a house should have this book in his back pocket at all times!!! A real Keeper!

Blythe Lipman

I have never found a more useful book when it comes to getting a house built. It is the ultimate guidebook and it's worth 200 times it's price! This should be a required purchase for everyone who is building a home...it will save them thousands of dollars!

Wow! The book really took my fears away about building a custom home. It went through every single process in detail and now I know what to expect. It also gave tips on how to save money. My wife and I are now actively looking for land to build our new home.

Although I only plan to build a large garage with granny flat over it this book was a great help. I tend to be a bit of a know-it-all and this book went way beyond what I thought I knew.
I have found it to be very helpfull in about 100 ways beyoud just the simple construction of the structure.

Regards, John V. Southern California.

Dance on His Grave is Sylvia Dickey Smith's first in her Sidra Smart/Third Eye series. This is a mystery with a touch of paranormal, in that the protagonist has a sixth sense about things.

Sidra Smart and the other characters in the book are true to life. This is not to say they aren't larger than life, which they are, but they certainly hold true for east Texas. You could pluck just about any character from Dance on His Grave, set him or her in the real setting and they'd be right at home.

Orange, Texas, is fictional, but Smith creates the town in such detail and with such love that it comes to life - vivid and believable.

The protagonist of Dance on His Grave, Sidra Smart, starts off as a fish out of water, but by the end of the book, she's grown into her role as sleuth and unexpected P.I. If you like character driven mystery with a touch of fantasy, you'll most likely like this book - and will look forward to more in the series.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. Though it's extremely bizarre at times and walks a line of becoming unthinkable, yet it never fully crosses that line. "Dance On His Grave" is suspenseful, engaging and anything but predictable and rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.

As a former native of the area where much of the story takes place, I think the story works because the cast of characters are quite an interesting ensemble. While each new character introduced is appealing enough to catch your eye, Sylvia Dickey Smith doesn't go into too much detail to detract from the main story or main characters.

The descriptions of the place and the people and even the food are detailed enough to give the reader a good feel of the setting and atmosphere. From start to end, it is an interesting tale because the characters are unbelievable (in a good way) and it takes place in an area where anything and everything is know to happen. This area along the Sabine River as it winds its way to the Gulf of Mexico has always intrigued me. From the fantastic architecture, to the culture and people, they are all truly fascinating and Sylvia Dickey Smith paints a picture that is easy to visualize. She has a definitely unique style of writing and I was left wondering how in the world she came up with some of the things that are exposed in "Dance On His Grave." This story totally captures the hot, sultry mood of Orange, Texas, and goes at that pace - any faster and the heat would have caused a melt down. This book is a thrill-ride a minute.

Cliff Johnson
Author, Wrong Side of the River

The Sidra Smart stories carry you right along; they are intriguing and mesmerizing for the reader who likes `real' characters and a puzzle to solve--a good write!

I enjoy getting to know Sid; a very interesting person. I'm very glad to see that she has moved beyond the rules (which are made to be broken) and seen beyond words (which are meant to control). Especially that she had/has the strength (guts) to move/stay out of a relationship that was damaging her and move on to a life that calls to her. All of us are where we need to be at any given time and when the urge to move on comes, it is because we are ready to do just that, even if we don't know what's waiting for us out there.

If studying Zen has done anything for me, it has made me more tolerant of everyone else; allowing me to see that each of us is on our own path and each of us needs different supports and trials at different times and in different ways. It is not for us to judge where a person is but to accept that it is their journey. It only becomes sad when one gets so involved in being `human', they cannot see their way. I know; I've been there.

I don't see either the Zen or Buddhism as a religion, or the worshiping of some mythical creature/person, rather as a way of life--a way to live with the Earth, the Universe and more importantly, with myself.

Thank you for introducing/releasing her.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Mary Higgins Clark and Phyllis A. Whitney, Sylvia spins a tale of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat. It didn't take much past the first few lines for me to know that I would do nothing much except read this book in it's entirety for the next few hours. I have just come into possession of the second book in the series, and cannot wait to jump into it with both feet! Excellent read!

Sidra Smart is 51 years old and recently divorced from her preacher husband. When her brother dies in a motor vehicle accident, Sid, inherits his investigative firm, The Third Eye, in Orange, Texas. Sidra has no experience as an investigator and initially intends to sell the business but is intrigued by a young woman named Jewell, who claims her father murdered a woman 30 years before. Although Jewell was three when it happened, her memories are so intense, Sid can't help but wonder if they're real. She questions Jewell's sister, Emma, who corroborates much of what Jewell remembers. Emma and Jewell confide in Sid their father's cruelty, and both, along with their mother, are suffering mental and emotional sequelae as a result of his abuse. Sid contacts the sheriff of Orange, Texas with the information Jewell has provided, and shortly thereafter, her life is threatened. This makes Sid more determined than ever to bring justice upon the man who has severely damaged so many lives. But someone is intent on stopping her.

Dance on his Grave is a strong start to the Third Eye series and is sure to develop a large reader base. Sid Smart is a compelling character; a woman who lived a sheltered life until she decided she wanted out of a controlling relationship and is now determined to start her life anew, despite antagonistic actions from members of her husband's parsonage. A female baby-boomer as a private eye is a fresh addition to the mystery genre, even more appealing, one with intelligence and maturity. Sid's Aunt Annie is a likeable, albeit quirky character, and Sid's mentor George Leger lends a colorful Cajun ambience to the story. This well-written mystery falls under the category of page-turner and will keep the reader entertained throughout.

This is a great buy for anyone out on their own for the first time, or for those of us who couldn't quite get it right the first time! Since reading it, I can now boast some stellar Hip Girl tire changing skills. And, just about the only thing clean in my apartment are the pipes which I now routinely tend to because of this book. My plumber boyfriend couldn't be more proud!

This book is fantastic! I am sending it for Christmas or birthday gifts to all of my married and single friends. It is so practical - especially the car tips - but also just a great book to read. There is definitely no book like this. Most helpful books are boring "how to" books - but not The Hip Girl's Handbook. These authors were able to include helpful information in a clever way so that this book is witty and fun to read. It also has an easy layout so I can reference what it is I am looking for pretty quickly.

I just wish I had this book years ago when I was first on my own away at college. I would highly recommend this book for any woman (or even young woman) who is, or wants to be, independent!

To a girl on her own for the first time, every small catastrophe is a threat to her burgeoning independence, even to her sense of identity and self. Corny as the title (and cover, fonts, and optimistic writing) may be, "The Hip Girl's Handbook for Home, Car, & Money Stuff" is a godsend and lifesaver. As a perpetually frazzled young woman who has been on her own for a couple years now, I can sincerely tell you that every new, horrifying experience in maintenance has been its own trauma worth calling the police department or landlord over (like the time I smelled gas, frantically called the fire department, and they laughed as they relit the pilot on my stove, for instance). But Jen Musselman and Patty DeGregori take the horror out of the inevitable, giving young women the power and knowledge to take on each catastrophe with a clear head.

The book is arranged just as the title implies: the 'home' section talks about picking out a home, navigating the breaker box, and unclogging pipes--things no girl should have to turn to a repairman or neighbor for. The 'car' section lends comprehensive advice as to the maintenance and repair of every gal's automobile, as well as how to recover control of the car in times of enormous distress (and the section delegated to Road Tripping alone nearly one-ups Cameron Tuttle?s "Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road"). And lastly, the 'money' section pares down managing a checking account, as well as combating identity theft, into equally understandable, dare I say manageable, scenarios.

Not two days after I'd purchased my own copy of the book, I bought one for my best friend; do the same for the gals in your life. This is the one book every girl should keep front-and-center. The information jam-packed into this smiley little reference book is outright empowering: knowing how to take on every circumstance, no matter how wee or how devastatingly harrowing, gives a young woman both the confidence to take matters into her own hands, and consequently the blessing of new independence.

This is an essential for the independent Hip Girl who needs answers quick. A very fast and entertaining read. I highly recommend it!

I bought this book thinking that it would be a nice guide to have after reading all the other great reviews. However, this book is not all that. Most of the stuff in it I already knew. It is a good book if you are completely clueless about this stuff, however, for those that know SOME stuff about the subjects I recommend that you pass on it and find another book.

A sympathetic portrayal of a very admirable young scientist, "Invention" also conveys a sense of the popularization of scientific culture at the beginning of the 18th century. Hamblyn touches on the effects of the emergence of periodicals, societies of (nongentry) scientists, and even the postal system on this new culture. Diverse facts (half-kg hail and volcanic eruptions) balance the overall somewhat romantic tone. Hamblyn was obviously acutely aware of the tension between instrumented science and romantic arts; that is an explicit theme of the book as well as modulating his writing. My only complaints: too many long unnecessary quotes (Goethe!), tables not adequately explained (were Smeaton's data calculated as I think or measured as Hamblyn elliptically suggests?), and the seminal article by Howard was never really systematically discussed (just rather disconnected dribs and drabs).

This book takes you to England of around 1800, when a young amateur scientist managed to come up with the nomenclature we use to this day to classify clouds. The life of Luke Howard is fascinating in and of itself as he goes about his scientific and business dealings. The author also notes why Mr. Howard's system became the system used today, even though it was only one of several major attempts to classify clouds as meteorology became more systematic. The book covers its topic well and would be of interest to anyone interested in the history of meteorology or scientific inquiry.

A young man, obsessed with clouds and their formation, makes a detailed study of them. All this has been done before, but never in such a concise, visionary way, nor with a naming convention as brilliant in its simplicity, expressiveness and utility as Luke Howard's.

His story is dealt with in a series of chapters that digress from the main thrust of the book to outline the history of the philosophical changes that were taking place, in Europe particularly. Almost any cockeyed idea found a ready audience, who were equally ready to dismiss ideas out-of-hand. The trick was presentation. Many of the famous names in science at the end of the 18th century were showmen, financing their researches by giving displays or private shows... getting your name known was half the battle.
Luke Howard was born into a world where being in the right place at the right time meant more than any social connections or political clout.
But, being a Dissenter, he had no formal education, no political clout and no social connections - not much chance for him to get his ideas aired, it seemed. Nor was he a showman - his Quaker upbringing saw to that - so luck, and dedication, came to his assistance.

Philosophical societies and journals were in their infancy, and were ready to embrace anyone who could increase membership or circulation. This was the chance, and in an hour-long presentation, young Howard captivated his audience and introduced a naming system for clouds, which is still in use today, 200 years on. This was what meteorology had been waiting for - a standard method of logging cloud formations. This was invaluable too for poets and writers, who suddenly found a new addition to their descriptive vocabulary. Small wonder that cirrus, cumulus and nimbus quickly entered everyday conversation (the Englishman's main topic being the weather).

The book is very well written, giving us a feel for the social, political and philosophical climate in the Napoleonic era. By various pertinent descriptions of people and events directly and indirectly connected with Howard, we are introduced to some of the greats of the Age of Enlightenment; but none of it feels contrived or beside the point, nor is it ever boring.

This is an enthralling read, illustrating how easily a single person or idea can change the direction and thrust of a science... Well worth reading.

"The Invention of Clouds" is an endearing little book about a generally forgotten moment in the history of science. It seems obvious to us today but until Englishman Luke Howard, a chemist with an interest in the then-young science of meteorology, gave a public lecture on cloud classification in London in 1802, nobody had been able to categorize cloud formations in an easily-understood and consistent manner. The terms we take for granted-cumulus, cirrus, stratus and so forth-were applied by the 30 year-old Howard for the first time. He drew upon his classical education to find suitable Latin names for what he termed "the modifications of clouds." He understood that clouds pass through stages and in his lecture he described the changes they underwent. His audience understood immediately the importance of his lecture and it was published soon afterwards to great acclaim.

Luke Howard became famous throughout the world. It is clear that he must have viewed this with mixed feelings. As a modest Quaker, he did not seek celebrity but as a scientist he was undoubtedly proud of his accomplishment. It is a beautiful achievement. By naming that which was ever-present but unnamed, Luke Howard helped forge the language of meteorology and provided some of the most important tools for weather observation and forecasting. His Latin names speak to the universality of climate and his detractors, who felt that the classifications should have been in English, were soon silenced. The book describes the reaction of artists as well. On the one hand, there were those who believed that clouds, as objects of great natural beauty and a symbol of freedom, would lose something by being systematically classified, as if they were species of beetles, but others, including the painter Constable, used the classification of the clouds as a basis for their art. The great genius of the period, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, completely enchanted by Luke Howard's work and personality, dedicated a series of marvellous poems to him, with each stanza based on one of the new cloud-forms.

But even having poetry dedicated to you by Goethe is not enough to claim enduring fame. Luke Howard seems to have lived a quiet existence, marked by some success in business and a happy family life. He died at the age of 91, remembered fondly by only his relatives. Richard Hamblyn, in writing this book, must have struggled to develop enough material as it appears that the lecture of 1802 was the high point of Luke Howard's scientific life and his attention was then taken up more by commerce and religious issues. Mr. Hamblyn gives us a history of the earlier attempts to define clouds, reaching back to Aristotle. He throws in the story of the Beaufort Wind Scale, which was inspired by but not as readily-accepted as Luke Howard's cloud system. He deals with the subsequent amendments to the cloud classifications and we learn of the International Meterological Conference and its winsomely-named Cloud Committee, which was to produce the International Cloud Atlas.

All very interesting, but it is in the sections about Luke Howard and his contemporaries, fascinated by the rapid progress in science at the end of the 18th Century, where the book is most alive. Richard Hamblyn ably paints a picture of London's crowded lecture halls where science was popular culture, of dangerous experiments and fantastic personalities. Men of brilliant and adventurous minds, often denied higher education due to their religion, could look into the future and stake a claim. The author, in sharing Luke Howard's triumph with us, has written an elegant work brimming with enthusiasm.

Luke Howard was an amateur in the true sense of the word; Luke Howard named the clouds for the love of them. Richard Hamblyn does a fine job telling the story of Luke Howard's life, his naming of the clouds, and Howard's milieu in the book The Invention Of Clouds. Howard, a Quaker and a pharmacist, went from unknown working man to celebrity when he presented his paper "On The Modifications Of Clouds" to the Askesian Society in London on a night in December of 1802. The paper had the right combination of insights, poetry, and luck to insure that the terms cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus [or derivatives] are still being used by meteorologists today. Hamblyn's weave of biography, history, art, and science was enjoyable to read and held together most of the time [Chapter 10: The Beaufort Scale was not as well connected to book as the rest of the material]. The hardback is such a beautiful and unusual book, I shelved my copy, waited for the paperback to read it, and then donated the paperback to the high school library. I highly recommend The Invention Of Clouds to anyone with an interest in meteorology, history, Quakerism, or biography.