5 comments about The Official Overstreet Identification and Price Guide to Indian Arrowheads 10th Edition (Official Overstreet Indian Arrowhead Identification and Price Guide).

1. I am not a professional arrowhead collector by any means but I enjoy learning about them and have been fortunate once in awhile to come across one. This book is excellent for the purpose of learning about the different kinds of arrowheads, lance points, knives, hand axes etc. It includes history of points. There is a choronological gallery of color points in the front, the rest of the photos are in black & white and the book is sectioned into regions to make it easier to learn what is most likely to be found in your area. For those inclined, it also includes what to look for as a collector and the estimated value of your point/s etc. I like this book!



2. A new update from the 7th, 8th, and 9th Editions about Native North American Points which I have in my library. By having the most recent edition (the 10th) you can compare how items have increased in value.
   A host of new material, including new points, geographic area renaming, etc.
   A must for the beginning and advanced collector.



3. Year after year these books are published with the same poor quality binding and paper. Even more disappointing is the same pictures and descriptions are reprinted in each volume. It appears that a variant point or two are added to "justify" a new printing. Don't waste your money. It's 98 percent old and 2 percent "new".



4. 10th edition is like the last 9 editions. But it does have an array of every type variant, albeit many, many variants that really are subjective at best. But as many collectors know. the book has ridiculous price estimates. And as a long time collector/dealer my biggest beef about many of the editions, and I can personally 100% say/witnessed that many of the points are not authentic and only make it into the book to increase their "provenance" and individual value. But that said, the book is on type variations for you and not whether the specimens are actually authentic or not. So its really a catch 22. Many people have made it a popular arrowhead book, unfortunately are the same people that think they have a dozen authentic Clovis points(a rare Paleo, high valued arrowhead) they bought at their local flea market.



5. Outstanding book for those (like me) who do not authenticate points but want to learn about the various types. Includes informative articles on the archaeology of certain points. Lots of beautiful color panels of points arranged by age, in addition to the B&W photos in the identification pages.

5 comments about Customize the Ruger 10/22.

1. As a machinist, and amature gunsmith, I'm fairly well versed on how to modify guns. However, there's no need to reinvent the wheel if it's already been done. Since this was my first 10/22 buildup, this book helped just by being able to see all the different possible combination of parts one could use for a modified 10/22. The accuracy tests with various ammo brands vs. different rifle mods give the new owner a great place to start. If you've been around modified 10/22's for a while, this info might not be too much of a surprise. But for the person getting into this type of gun for the first time, it is very informative, and time saving in the long run.



2. The first shipment was wrong, I returned it with a picture of the cover showing the thumb hole stock. Second book arrived, the same as the first.
   Not the thumb hole stock, but the none thumb hole stock which I had. I want the edition with a thumb hole stock on it, even if it is just a new cover on the one I have.
   Why is it people do not think, read and pay attention to what or why things are returned? I'll go to Barns and Noble at the mall and try there.
   The first book is very, very good if you shoot and own a Ruger 10/22! It has more information, how to, where to find, about the 10/22 than any book I have found to date.



3. This book is a 'must have' if you own a Ruger 10/22 rifle. Very informative!



4. This book was well written and organized. I found it very helpful in answering some questions I had about my Ruger 10-22. It was a good value.



5. Excellent presentation of both text and illustrations. Material very helpful to both inexperienced shooters as well as old pros.

3 comments about Arrowheads and Projectile Points (Identification & Values (Collector Books)).

1. Good overall, although only basic pictures, simple text but get the point across. THis book is really the same for over a decade now, but has updated realistic prices. Lar did great and his son has done well since his passing. Good value price too.



2. Mr. Hothem puts together a book that is easy reading but I wish it had a section which showed exactly what characteristics designates certain points from each other (with a diagram). Otherwise, I found the book to be a nice companion book to other arrowhead books I have.



3. This 223 page's book is an excellent introduction to the world of prehistoric amerindian projectile points and arrowheads. In some very nice photos and inscriptions you could find the "keys" to what you collect, their relative prices, regional classification and chipping techniques. A simple and practical relation describes the U.S. materials used to make arrowheads and blades including all the regional types, edges, shapes, individual characteristics of each piece and instructions to take care with them. Indispensable to begginers and advanced collectors this book certainly attempt the amateur archaeologist's expectation.

5 comments about Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values.

1. I have an old Flayderman's from the 1980s that has been a great source of information over the years on antique firearms. The sheer amount of information gathered in it is incredible and the latest edition is, believe it or not, even better! More information on many of the firearms and more entries makes this edition the best yet. Flayderman's in an invaluable resource for those interested in antique firearms and I highly recommend it!



2. Ever since the first edition, Norm's book has been the standard reference for antique American firearms. No other reference comes close to the breadth of content. Unless someone takes over, this is likely to be the last edition as Norm is getting up there in years.
   
   The index is still difficult to use as it has been since the first edition. It can be frustrating to locate information on a specific, less common, firearm. The prices listed for most items tend to be several years out of date.



3. I have ll the previous books, I have been waiting for this to come out. A must have for anyone who collects antique gun's.



4. As always, Flayderman presents the best in his guides. Well written and explanations are very accurate. A must for gun collectors and dealers.



5. I have bought 5 prior editions of this book. It is the best antique firearms valuation tool out there and full of interesting information.

No comments about The Gun Digest Book of Tactical Weapons Assembly/Disassembly (Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly).

5 comments about The Gun Digest Book of the Glock, 2nd Edition.

1. I have read Vol. 1, and a number of his other books. I found it interesting and was not bothered by the references to the 1911 pattern pistols.



2. Previous reviews appear to be concerned with the first edition of this book. Despite this, the criticisms presented by those reviews are valid for the second edition. A significant portion of the book concerns the 1911 Government Model in its various incarnations. While I can appreciate the comparisons between the Glock and the 1911--I also have a fondness for the 1911--there really is too much time spent in this area. Another point to make is how much of the book is devoted to various competitions. Many books concerning firearms tend to lean heavily toward promoting shooting competitions. Nothing wrong with this if that is your interest, however, if competition sports is not your particular interest (it's not mine), another significant portion of this book will be wasted on you.
   
   Glocks are simple, straightforward firearms that don't allow for much in the way of modification or gunsmithing improvements. If you write a book about them, I suppose you have to digress into other areas of general firearms interests. Otherwise, the book would be rather short. There's not much you can say after saying that Glocks work great right out of the box, seldom stop working no matter how they are abused, generally are easy to shoot well with minimum training and they have been a phenomenon in their acceptance by shooters worldwide. Oh, yeah...you could say they are kind of ugly. That's about the only real criticism you can come up with for the Glock.
   
   I like the book although I admit that I did skip over some sections and I only skimmed through others.



3. I couldn't top the the 3 previous reviews, they were accurate. I have the revised 2003 book which retails for $27.99 and I bought it at a local gun shop for $25.20. I wish I had checked Amazon's prices first.



4. I have read all the books available for the Glock line of pistols and this one is easily the best. The author covers history, maintenance, all the models, and the pictures are excellent.
   
   If you are going to buy just one book about Glocks I highly recommend this be the one, it IS that good.
   
   But beware; if you are not presently a Glock owner you may find, after spending time with this book, that you just have to have one.



5. Pat Sweeney writes the best overall book for the firearms industry. His attention to detail and articulation is some of the best work when it comes to general firearms knowledge. The only other book that covers the Glock this well is the Ptooma Guide to the Glock. This book in comparison to the Ptooma book, well that is kind of hard. Sweeney writes as a general knowledge book, while the Ptooma book was written by guys that LOVE Glocks. Sweeney is a 1911 and revolver man, But who wouldn't trust the word of someone that took 3rd place in World Shoot XIV in Standard Revolver? I think he knows what he is talking about. You need a Glock book? Look no further. You found it.

5 comments about Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It.

1. Did you ever have to write a term paper on something you knew NOTHING about? You'd repeat the title, rearrange it and the repeat it again and then add in irrelevant asides, anything to generate words in a futile attempt to cover up the fact that you had NOTHING to say about the subject.
   
   This book is one of those term papers. "More than a biography" says one of the "top reviewers". How about "where's the biography"?
   
   About the only things I learned about Gatling was his name, that he moved to St Louis and that he got smallpox. That's it for a whole book.
   
   There's lots of sociological waffle about mid nineteenth American territorial and technical development. A lot of talk about how the Civil war was relevant. But there's close to zilch on what is supposed to be the subject of this book - the man and his gun.
   
   I want my money back.



2. I bought this book assuming that it it was a biography revealing details of how Gatling's life developed to lead him toward his many accomplishments. it is not; rather it is nine tenths sociological asides. There errors of fact misunderstandings of analysis, poor and inadequate illustrations and in general was a disappointing and frustrating read. I did read it but not happily.



3. Americans have affection for the inventor, the fellow that builds a better mousetrap or even just tinkers away in the basement attempting to make cold fusion happen. But we are nowadays conflicted about armaments; whoever that guy was who invented napalm we might not hold in much esteem. What are we to make of the man who invented the machine gun? He wrote in 1877, "It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could, by rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies." Whether he was really so naïve, or whether he was deliberately trying to make his machine gun seem a tool of peace (the excuse used by every arms-maker or arms-dealer), isn't entirely clear. What is clear is that his invention made his name, a name you probably know even if you don't know the details of his life or gadget. In _Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It_ (Viking), journalist and essayist Julia Keller tells all about this influential American inventor, and looks at many larger issues in American history as well. "The Gatling gun is a weapon of death," she writes, "but its story is not altogether grim. For it is also the story of a nation on the rise and of a man who, by inventing a new kind of machine, helped propel it in that upward trajectory."
   
   Richard Jordan Gatling was born in North Carolina in 1818. He was a born tinkerer, not a farmer or store owner, occupations he had tried before his first invention came to him. He invented a seed planter that contained seeds in a hopper and dropped them one by one into just the right placement in the furrow, a great improvement over flinging seeds in all directions. Keller believes that the idea of the seed dropping into just the right place was transformed into bullets in a hopper dropping into just the right breach (of six) for Gatling's most famous invention. Gatling's machine, which looks like a small cannon on a tripod, with a circular hopper for bullets mounted above the breech and a "coffee grinder" handle to make the six barrels go around, wasn't the first attempt at a machine gun, but it was certainly the best. It worked efficiently and reliably, and should have been immediately taken up by the Union Army, but it was not. The arms-buying division of the Army was too conservative to experiment. The Gatling gun's most notable use during the years of the Civil War didn't even require it to be fired. There were bloody riots against the draft in 1863 in New York City, and the police stationed Gatling guns on rooftops. The intimidation worked and the mobs backed down. It had real use in the Spanish-American war, and Teddy Roosevelt valued it. Part of the Gatling gun's image problem is that it was bought by many foreign governments and colonial powers to suppress native populations who had no weapons to match the Gatling's efficiency.
   
   So Richard Gatling may have hoped to bring peace, and at times his intimidating device calmed a situation by its mere appearance and not by causing rapid and multiple deaths. He would have liked those instances. His gadget, however, did bring a new industrialization to warfare. He was a decent man whose deadly gun was the making of his fortune and his fame; he went on to patent many other inventions, including a bicycle, a device to control wagon reins, and two years before he died in 1903, a new type of flush toilet. No one remembers those, of course. Keller's informative book, however, convincingly shows that like more famous figures such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Gatling played an important role in changing the rural antebellum America into an industrialized nation.



4. The book should have contained pictures of how the invention actually worked. Diagrams would have been helpful in order to understand why this gun worked and why it worked so efficiently.



5. One of the merits (and there are many) of Julia Keller's Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel is that the book is more than a biography of Richard Jordan Gatling (1818-1903), inventor of the automatic weapon which bears his name. It's also a well-written, well-researched, and insightful reflection on American self-identity and the icons by which we define ourselves.
   
   We think of ourselves as humanitarian, ingenious, curious, mechanically skillful, industrious, problem-solving, determined, and upwardly mobile (the rags-to-riches aspect of the Great American Dream). As Keller points out, Gatling came to symbolize all these qualities. In the last quarter-century of his life, he was frequently pointed to as a man who personified the best of American qualities. His best known invention, the Gatling gun, was enshrined as "a laudable American accomplishment, another example of native ingenuity and craftsmanship and problem-solving acumen: America at its muscular, can-do best."
   
   But as Ms. Keller also points out, there's a certain irony to all this. Gatling invented his gun in the hopes that its incredible killing power would end the Civil War quickly. As Keller says, the gun's "brutal spit-spot efficiency would, [Gatling] hoped, persuade nations of the waste and folly of war."
   
   In fact, however, military conservatism sidelined its use on the battlefield. The only time it was used during the conflict was against civilians in the New York Draft Riots of 1863. It would be much used--some might say over-used--in the succeeding decades in the Indian Wars and by federal troops and state militia against striking workers. Foreign governments bought thousands of the guns to acquire and hold onto colonies, and Teddy Roosevelt, hero of the Spanish-American War, claimed that the Gatling was the decisive factor (along with Teddy himself, of course) in defeating the Spanish. Much like Alfred Nobel and his dynamite, then, Richard Jordan Gatling found his "humanitarian" invention used in quite nonhumanitarian muscular ways.
   
   There's also irony in other aspects of Gatling's life too: after he sold the Gatling patent to Colt, his financial fortunes dipped; and although he continued inventing right up to the end of his life (his patents include a flushable toilet), he would forever be remembered almost exclusively for his killing machine.
   
   America, argues Ms. Keller, has always had an ambivalent attitude to weapons (probably because their use against other humans tends to upset part of our self-identity as humanitarian). In the earliest days of the Republic, statesmen debated about them. That debate was cast in a completely different light by Gatling's invention of his lethal gun, which not only helped change the face of warfare, but also influenced the way in which Americans and the rest of the world thought about the ethics (and aesthetics) of killing in wartime. As Keller notes, killing became more impersonal, less one-on-one. Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel invites readers to reflect deeply on these kinds of issues.
   
   Highly recommended.

3 comments about Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop, Revised.

1. If you want to FORGE a knife this is the book for you....If you want to BUILD a knife===>There are others more suited for that



2. Wayne's first version of this book was the first knifemaking book i purchased. Wayne has guided me and been my mentor and friend from the first (approx 4 yrs ). This latest version is one of the best books a beginner could get. All the fotos and diagrams are in color which greatly helps in understanding the lessons. It has new fotos and diagrams all in color. Although this book has approx same number of pages as the original, it seems to contain 50% more info in it. I would reccommend this book to all knifemakers...beginner and experienced. Definitely a 5 star book.



3. I own both editions of this book. Wayne is a personal friend, and my mentor in knifemaking. It can be intimidating to read some publications and see all the high-tech machinery that some makers use. This book shows that people can develope their passion for making knives without spending a fortune. It is clear and concise, and takes alot of the guesswork out of being a beginner. Wayne learned knifemaking by trial and error, before there were books, magazines and videos on the subject. This book is a must have in the library of any knifemaker. I read mine constantly for reference and inspiration.
   
   Craig "MADKAT"

5 comments about The Craft of the Japanese Sword.

1. Worth every penny. It doesn't go very deep in each subject, but enough to better understand and appreciate Japanese swords. The described forging techniques are detailed enough in my opinion for someone who wish to start trying forging his own blades (most probably knives for beginning). Lots of stuff can't be learned by books, and this one is no exception, but at least you'll learn basic forging techniques instead of starting from scratch, on your own.
   
   It has a great deal of information on Japanese swords, how to identify them according to the era they were made, etc.
   
   I highly suggest this book for every Japanese sword enthusiast.



2. An excellent book, getting a bit old now but still extremely relevant.
   
   Well written with excellent descriptions and photos.
   
   Good to see Yoshindo Yoshihara is still alive, but he looks a bit older than the book photo!
   
   I throughly recommend this book to anyone starting out in Japanese swords.
   
   Steve



3. An excellent book. It has all you need to know to either understand the craft of the sword or to begin your own explorations into the craft. Or both.Craft of the Japanese Sword is well written and illustrated, with an emphasis on the artisanship and detail of each step in creating these beautiful works. Ken wa hito nari.



4. It's a good book, good information!
   Photos should be color, that's the only thing I don't like!
   But anyway, I like it!



5. This book is an excellent introduction to Japanese swordmaking by looking at modern masters and how they make swords. If you are just beginning an interest in Japanese swords and how they are made, this is the book for you. The book takes you through the process of forging the blade, polishing, making the habaki and finally the scabard. This book is highly recommended!

No comments about Gun: A Visual History.