Miniature Books

As a longtime miniatures wargamer who has been involved in the hobby for 25 years, I didn't really NEED this book as I'm already quite familiar with wargaming. But I love to collect and read books on wargaming; and as a game designer, I find that there are always ideas to be gleaned from examining different approaches to gaming. Plus, there are very few books of recent vintage that give a good, general overview of the miniatures wargaming hobby. This book by Neil Thomas does just that.

This is not a deep history book by any stretch of the imagination, but Thomas provides a solid overview of warfare & tactics in various periods (from ancient times to modern). The book is divided into multiple sections (Ancients, Pike & Shot, American Civil War, etc.), with rules provided for each specific period. While the game rules provided are pretty simple and have an "old school" feel to them, they're perfect for folks just getting into this wonderful hobby -- sensible, not too complex, and play in a reasonable amount of time.

This is a book that newcomers should find very useful as a jumping off point into a rich, deep, fascinating hobby, and I would recommend it to that audience.

For veteran wargamers, this book isn't a necessary purchase, but I do feel it has 3 uses.

First, if you're looking for a simple set of rules to play at a convention, or just like to study other rule sets to gather ideas, this is a worthwhile book in that regard.

Secondly, if you want to introduce new friends into the hobby, loan this book to them. It's approachable and not overwhelming, and you can fill in the missing details.

Thirdly, if you're like me and enjoy collecting general books on the topic of miniature wargaming, this book is a nice addition to your collection.

If you enjoy this book, you will probably also enjoy "Ancient & Medieval Wargaming" by Neil Thomas as well. It's founded upon the same basic rules system used in the intro book (with some tweaks), and provides more depth and richer army lists throughout the Ancient and Medieval periods (my preferred era of historical wargaming).

This book is a colorful, readable overview of figure wargaming across the range of available wargame periods, from ancient battles of Greeks or Romans to the most modern battles. There are examples of different army organizations and uniforms. The sample rules for each period are easily used, although should the reader decide to seriously pursue the hobby, he will want to find more sophisticated rules designed for his particular period. The photographs illustrate figures from the various periods and show various wargames in progress. Great for youth readers and people who are just curious about this special hobby.

Although I have collected toy soldiers for years, I had never really gotten into the world of wargaming. Once I decided to do so, I picked up this book and was blown away by how good it was. It is the complete package, as it provides everything first time wargamers need to know. Thomas also provides a full set or rules and army lists for six different periods (Ancient, Pike and Shot, Napoleonic, American Civil War, Skirmish and World War II). These rules are excellent, and can be slightly tailored to meet the requirements of other conflicts not covered, such as the Crimean War or World War One. To be sure, I did find the Second World War rules a bit difficult at first, and it will take a little bit of practiceto master these, though the other rules are more straightforward.
Overall, this is an excellent wargaming resource. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into this hobby.

I'm not the world's biggest Winnie the Pooh fan, finding the quality of the products inconsistent, but this book is just wonderful. Each letter of the alphabet has a beautiful one-page (and sometimes two-page) illustration with a four-line poem, for example:

A is for Acorn

"From atop an oak tree/In the Hundred-Acre Wood/A little acorn fell/Right where Pooh Bear stood"

with a picture of an acorn bouncing off Pooh's head. This is a book young children learning their alphabet will love.

Children's book Winnie the Pooh's A to Zzzz is a very useful book for learning the alphabet. Each letter has been introduced by one of the famous Disney's characters so kids can easily relate to it. Additionally, book is a very colorful and it has a humorous touch. Winnie the Pooh and the other Disney's characters make book everything but boring. It is full with comic situations and I would recomend it for pupils that start learning alphabet.

Of the overwhelming number of ABC books on the market, I'd recommend this one to any parent. It's not too artsy or convoluted for children to understand. It features familiar characters that help draw them in. There's a little rhyme which accompanies every letter/picture, so you get more on each page than letter and word. As our children got older, the younger child would work on saying the letters; the older child, who already knew the alphabet, would recite the verses by heart. Our crumpled, taped-together edition will retire lovingly to the baby keepsake box.

Very simple yet beautiful blank journal for writing down thoughts and meditations and anything zen. Highly reccomended.

The "Zen" Personal Journal is a blank journal filled with Zen quotations and teachings. The cover is a striking red with Kanji characters. This is perfect gift for either a man or a woman.

Simply beautiful.

So beautiful, I am relunctant to write in it.

When the moment is Zen, I will.

The games in this book are exciting and beautiful, and the annotations are informative and entertaining. The players (relatively unknown Soviet masters) rarely make obvious mistakes, and their games exhibit a very high degree of creativity and imagination. This is a charming book to have, a great addition to anyone's chess library.

Many thanks to Dover Publications for an inexpensive, attractive reprint of a terrific game collection!

I first read this book in 1972 or 1973. Seeing that it was back in print, I bought a copy last month and had just as much fun with it as I did the first time I read it. This time I went through all the games with a strong computer program. There are 100 games in this book, and there are around 300 major analytical errors, but they don't detract from the enjoyment of the games, nor from the overall high quality of the writing.

I enjoyed this book, Harry Pearson and I are roughly the same age and experience toys and growing up at the same time. Though my toys where slightly different as I grew up in the US.

The book is filled with tidbits on the history of wargaming, and game design mixed in with Harry's personal experience with playing wargames, and being with wargamers.

Mr Pearson's experience of fellow wargamers is a little less pleasant. He seems to enjoy the concept of wargaming more than the actual games. Thus he has become a figure collector, not a player.

But still a good read, and the parts of his boyhood play adventures and becoming a wargamer are lots of fun. Some of his descriptions of toys and their backgrounds had me in tears.

The book gets less interesting, when he decides he dislikes the people (other than a very select few) he has to play with, and descends into a bit of a rant about people who play games (like himself). But he makes his peace and finds his niche in the hobby.

The worst thing about this book is that it ends!

Harry Pearson's autobiographical musings about growing up in Northern England during the 60s and 70s are hysterical and insightful. Although some of the references will be lost on American audiences, anyone who grew up in England between 1965-1980 will instantly recognize the comics, books, TV shows, toy soldiers and wargames that Pearson refers to.

The book was an absolute delight to read, particularly for those of us who lived through the 60s and 70s alongside the author. If you ever read Commando comics or Leo Kessler novels or played with Airfix toy soldiers or model airplanes, this book is a warm and wonderful trip down memory lane.

These photos are simply marvelous. Having been the owner of many cats these past twenty-seven years (and a few kittens when young), I have taken many photographs over this period of time. None, however, can compare with these. It makes your heart glad to look at the lovelies in the different poses and stances. Cats are highly intelligent and know exactly how to pose under different circumstances. Recently, I needed a ride to the vet to get Star's yearly shots and checkup. She heard me say "All we need are her shots, so it shouldn't take long." She hid under the bed until almost time to go, forgoing her tuna lunch, and I had to hytail her out to get ready for the trip.

Lillian Jackson Braun has made a fortune writing about the cats 'who' and had this quoke, "Cats never strike a pose that isn't photogenic." Some of her enormous supply of these books include THE CAT WHO PLAYED BRAHMS, THE CAT WHO TALKED TO GHOSTS, and THE CAT WHO TALKED TO THE BIRDS (which Amazon did not have listed, so perhaps it was listed in her Cat short stories).

Cats are independent but lovable creatures who love you and make good companions for all ages. And the best thing is they don't bark,.

It's a beautiful little book that sums of the wonderment of the cat. The illustrations are great. I'd like to find out more about the illustrator, Derold Page. His cat paintings are fabulous.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I ordered this book, but I'm not disappointed. There is a lot of history and great information! Just not quite what I was looking for!!
The book is heavy on history and information with line drawings. Lots of information about the exterior with little about the interior or furniture. There is a small but very nice kitchen roombox in the back!
If you are looking for Tudor tutorials, especially furniture and accessories, for a doll's house, this may not be the book for you. There are other books with more specific doll's house or miniature accessory related items available.
Overall, this is a great book for my library and I have referred to it often when building my Tudor doll houses!

I love the historical accuracy in miniature settings. This book is a must for anyone who has an interest in historic tudor/ half-timbered houses. Whether miniaturist or not.

In addition to the houses themselves the author also discusses period furniture.

This book deserves more than 5 stars in my opinion

This book grabs the childs imagination from the start. Gabriel is playfuly drawn which makes him adoring to young readers. My children just love this book and they love Gabriel too. We need more books about this little mouse and his buddies.

this book, bagel mouse is perfectly written and crafted for handling by small children.. The illustrations are particularly well done and are beautifully executed to appeal to both the adult reader and to the child being helped. Very good for preschool or just beginning classes.

The Codex Vidobonensis 2554 is one of the first of a relatively large number of Bible Moralisée. The exact date of its creation is currently a topic of historical debate however, but 1215-1230 is an accurate range. These bibles were not called Bible Moralisée until a century later. They are also vastly different than the average medieval illuminated bibles in that very little biblical text is written and a substantial number of biblical stories from the Old and New Testament are left out. Each manuscript page has eight roundels (circles with illuminations). Four of the eight roundels contain illustrations of the biblical scene. Each of these four have a corresponding illustration of the contemporary spiritual significance of the scene. This "spiritual significance" often contains a moralistic interpretation of the biblical scene - hence the name, Bible Moralisée.

For example, the illuminators and theologians believed that the Cain and Abel story spiritually signified the evil nature of the Jews. Adam's elevation of Abel above Cain signified Jesus Christ who "held the Christians and put the Jews beneath Him, outside the Holy Church." The accompanying "spiritual interpretation" scene depicts Jesus Christ standing in an outline of a Church, facing the Christians to the left welcoming them while casting out the Jews to his right. The Jews throughout the volume are distinguished for easy visual comprehension by their money sacks, pointed noses and disfigured faces, and pointed turbans. Entire books have been written about the depiction of Jews in these bibles for these texts are treasure troves of contemporary Medieval cultural information.

This edition is a top notch smaller sized facsimile of the original. The extensive introduction covers all pertinent information and the translations of the Old Medieval French are supplied. I had the chance to talk to one of the experts in the field of Medieval French Bibles and she disliked the translations, however, my knowledge of Medieval French is up and coming so I cannot really pronounce judgment on that aspect of this otherwise wonderful book.

Gorgeously printed images and translations and explanations of every line and image. I would personally consider this a collectors' item because it is such a beautiful book. I used it as a major resource for my art history Independent Study on 13th Century French Manuscript Art.

Easy for a new Bonsai enthusiast to go thru this and see how things are done. Pictures are wonderful, and information is easy to understand. Great size, too.

Bonsai Miniatures offers a refreshing alternative to the fairly large bonsai that often require two people to move them and an equally large porch or patio on which to grow them. The miniature bonsai (some as small as two inches in height) depicted in Zeko Nakamura's book open a whole world of possibility to those budding bonsai aficionados who have only a small deck on which to grow plants and who don't want to launch into a major undertaking.

Aside from creating miniature bonsai out of the standard bonsai plants such as cypress and Japanese maple, Nakamura suggests looking at other possibilities: a common houseplant, a garden perennial or even a dandelion. In this 62-page book, just enough information is provided to successfully create miniature bonsai, yet without overwhelming the reader with a lot of technical detail; the diagrams are equally sufficient. Finally, the numerous color photos (31 in all) found throughout serve as inspiration