Amateur Books

Excellent book for the beginner or amateur woodworker. Well written, simple explanations of all the basics with hundreds of great, clear drawings and diagrams (the excellent illustrations in this book really makes it stand out over the vast majority of books of this type). Also included are instructions for eleven different interesting furniture projects.

The Bob Villa's and the Martha Stewarts certainly have their place in the literary world, but Andy Pargh takes a giant step forward by taking a giant step back. I like to do projects around the house and the Gadget Guru's book is filled with basic repair techniques even I can use and understand. And I have 2-left thumbs. I don't need expensive tools and advanced skills to do a project from this book. I can fix a sink, re-wire a lamp, or choose the correct fastener for hanging a picture on dry-wall. I enjoy his appearances on the "Today Show" and I think he has successfully taken his easy-going and humorous tv demeanor and translated it to the page. Gotta go now, my dryer is making noise and I think the drum belt needs tightening. That's on page 213. I agree with Andy, his book IS for the rest of us

I really enjoyed this book. Kathy Sheldon has a nice easy style of writing and makes her book informative and pleasant to read.

The book covers just about every question that one might have on the subject of different kinds of garden barriers. There are six chapters: FUNCTION & DESIGN - Discusses your particular needs. WALLS - Different types of material to use, stone, brick, concrete, or timber. FENCES - Various kinds of fencing, board, lattice, basket weave, post & rail, bamboo, stick, wattle, chain link, and woven willow. HEDGES and TALL PLANTINGS - Making border divisions by using bushes, flowers and trees. PLANTS and BORDERS - Choosing the right plants to go along with your wall, fence or hedge. ENHANCING BORDERS - Ways to decorate your garden walls and fencing.

There are color pictures on almost every page, and instructions for building the various walls and fences are written and then illustrated with drawings. Even if you already have some type of fence or wall, this book provides a lot of ideas about how to enhance an already existing border. I liked reading about the living willow fence which sounded like a an interesting project to try. Also, the unusually named ha-ha wall provided a little history. It's an ancient design that was used around large estates to enhance the view, but keep the farm animals contained.

These days tube users include some musicians (especially guitarists), audiophiles, antique-electronics collectors, and repair personnel. Any of these types of users could find this book beneficial if he has a familiarity with basic electricity.
The book does not include any introduction to electricity or electronics. Knowing the difference in triodes, pentodes, etc. will help a reader follow this book. The author occasionally uses terms like Class A amplifier, as well. Even so, with just a minimal familiarity with resistance, capacitance, inductance, Ohm's law, and the basic functions and components of tubes (e.g., heaters, cathodes, grids, and anodes), the reader can "get by." Readers can accrue real benefit without understanding everything presented.

The book has a chapter on tube testers that will interest many. The author's position is that testers can identify certain classes of performance anomalies but can't, in general, predict in-circuit performance or project life expectancy. He never makes an assertion without a technical explanation and an example. He covers desirable tester features and offers an interesting review of the four classes of testers as defined by the EIA.

The following examples of subjects covered will illustrate the levels of breadth and depth offered by the book: glass failures, heater failures, arching, getters, spurious emissions, inter-electrode leakage, pin-to-electrode interface resistance, cathode depletion, correlating measurements, quality control, design tolerances, standardization and reliability, hum/microphonics/noise, "why so many tube types" (historical perspective), life expectancy as a function of class of application, many causes of tube stress, how tube testers can stress and even damage tubes, and methods for lengthening tube life. Again, these are just examples. After reading this book, I immediately wanted to modify some of my own electronics, because I realized that a few changes could prolong the lives of some very expensive tubes!

While this book is not the easiest to read, it offers by far, the most in-depth treatment of tube failure modes that I've ever seen. I have a Ph.D. in physics that I acquired during the transition period between tubes and transistors. I still have my "Electronics in Engineering" textbook that was published in 1961, one year after this book. I've worked in areas of physics closely related to the physics of vacuum tubes, and I found no glaring errors in this book. I've been a life-long audiophile, and I'm a small-time antique electronics collector. This book has vastly increased my knowledge and understanding of the details of tube failure. I have to give it five stars, because it is definitely "best in class." It may well have an impact on tube electronics design in the future. Tube users owe a debt of gratitude to the Audio Amateur Press for reprinting it.

An outstanding book for a beginner or more experienced woodworker. I am truly impressed. I am a fairly experienced woodworker. I own many books on the subject. Glen Huey has produced a very fine book on period furniture.
Another very excellent book is Lonnie Bird's: "Period Furniture Details" I would reccomend buying both books.
This book is more step by step and informative than many.There are five main projects:1.block front chest 2.Massachusetts high chest{high boy}3.Pennsylvania chest on chest 4.Pennsylvania tall case clock 5.New England desk and bookcase{secretary} All projects are thorougly covered with step by step construction instructions.The book is easy to use in the shop with its spiral binding.There is an accompanying D.V.D That is by itself worth the price of the book! Every project has full cut lists and sources for specialty hardware.The D.V.D {82 minutes} has detailed demonstrations on: making cabriole legs,stickered miters,dye finishing,ogee feet and more. There are printable full size patterns for all curved or special parts for all projects on the D.V.D. [One negative the book like many is printed in China and in my opinion the picture and printing are not as good as many others] If you want to build one of these period pieces this is the book for you,you can do it!

This book tell you everything you need to get started and how to do everything from buying part to soldering techniques to printed circuit board etching. Here the chapter run down.

Chapter 1 "Setting up Shop"
Chapter 2 "Filling the toolbox"
Chapter 3 "Electronics Test Equipment"
Chapter 4 "Buying Parts"
Chapter 5 "Electronics and Safety"
Chapter 6 "Eliminating Static Electricity"
Chapter 7 "Schematics"
Chapter 8 "Batteries"
Chapter 9 "Component Identification"
Chapter 10 "IC pinout diagrams"
Chapter 11 "soldering tips and techniques"
Chapter 12 "Breadboards"
Chapter 13 "Circuit Board Layout"
Chapter 14 "Printed circuit board etching"
Chapter 15 "wire wrapping"
Chapter 16 "repairing electroic circuit boards"
and more....

This book is an absolute classic! All sorts of magic tricks are discussed. It is a joy to read if you are interested in magic, even if you don't do magic tricks yourself. Some of his descriptions of tricks are models of the "conjurer's art."

This book (2nd & updated edition) is about "Green woodworking". What is this? It is working on freshly cut wood, which has a lot of advantages (e.g. the wood is softer). The wood is also not sawn along its length, which results in much greater wood strength (no fibres cuts) and makes it less prone to deformations following variations of moisture. If thin pieces of wood are required, then they are obtained by splitting the wood along its fibres (grain). However, as the author honestly admits, it does not allow to build some styles of furniture that one can make with conventional woodworking (but I can imagine a combination of both kinds of woodworking should be possible for making at least all kinds of traditional furniture.)

But, as the author makes clear at the beginning of the book, green woodworking is much more than a mere technique. It is first of all a tradition : a know-how transmitted from generation to generation in traditional places such as the European countryside, since ages. Being a real tradition it is also a natural, green way of life: it requires using one's muscles in a natural manner (no need for "fitness" or diet), does not pollute the environment (no production of electricity required nor burning of gas). As it does not involve any dangerous machines, nor motor noise nor production of cancer-giving wood micro-particles, it does not imply a high risk of harming the woodworker's health as is the case with conventional (modern) woodworking. And is more pleasant : no need to wear ear protections or a particle filter... but instead using traditional, charming tools and performing those same gestures our ancestors have performed for so many generations.

It is nice to read that the author learned this tradition in the correct manner : from an old woodworker (in spite of the language barrier!), in a remote place high in the Swiss mountains. Throughout the book, I discovered that he also learned, although not directly, from other branches of traditions, such as Mennonite woodworking or Indians.

The major part of the book is about how the techniques themselves : materials (wood in general and different kinds of woods), knife-work, hewing, riving (splitting), shaving, boring, bending, joinery. All of the this is very seriously exposed, with many practical details but also some theoretical background. However I think he should also have covered working with wooden planes, such as the excellent planes manufactured by the German traditional company E.C.E.
The book teaching also various things, such as making a shaving horse, and covers also more than woodworking, showing how to use bark to make some kinds of Indian sacks, or how to use the inner bark to make the seating part of a chair.

I found this book excellent. It could have been even better if the author knew German (what a pity it does not, you really need to know German for such a subject), as the tradition of green woodworking has remained alive in Germanic countries. Some German books have parts on green woodworking, allowing one to know how it was slowly supplanted, starting with the early medieval times, by the fashion of using sawn wood, but remained alive among farmers living in forest areas. BTW I can recommend to those in Europe a practical and well exposed book available(...): Tove Yde's Grünholz Schnitzen (translated from the Danish).

The present book ends with a topically-arranged bibliography (unfortunately covering only English books). I highly recommend this seriously written book, as it is packed with information, may save you some money on power tools and may also help you preserving your health : a good alternative to our pollution-based societies...

This book is an all-time classic on this subject.

While designed for the amateur, it also takes you beyond that level, in detail. Great advice and instructions for fantastic wines, beer, and also champagne. All in one neat little package, easy to read and use.

Also perfect for novices who don't have a lot of space.

Dover (publishers) were particularly good at this type of book, and have the reputation for quality.

My favorite chapters: "The Showing and Judging of Wines" and "Your Queries Answered."

Highly recommended, as a real bargain investment, for all new-comers, hobbyists, students of brewing, and beyond.

It was the first book I read about homebuilts, and it got me hooked. Bowers writes very well, with a terse, precise but unassuming style.
Being an aircraft designer himself, he knows what is he talking about and he provides pros and cons of his arguments.
The listing of designs he recommends -as well as the many photos included- should be totally outdated by know, but a new edition
would take care of that.
There is also an intriguing and tempting chapter where Bowers easily leads the reader over the process of designing a homebuilt of his own.
As a primer to the subject, it certainly does the job; it deserves a reprint.