1 comments about The Official Identification and Price Guide to American Arts and Crafts, 3rd Edition (Official Identification and Price Guide to American Arts and Crafts).

1. Like any field of collecting and enjoying antiques, there are numerous books on the market to wade through. The Arts and Crafts movement also gets blanket coverage by a deluge of 'style' books on home interiors, exteriors and so on. This book is a must have for all A&C enthusiasts in terms of providing a quick yet comprehensive look at the movement, collecting subgroups, the top makers, and the range of pieces and prices. The book does not however provide any in-depth coverage of the range of more affordable and more widely available pieces that most people will come across in their antique hunting. Rago is the expert on the high-end and this book is focussed as such. As a reference, it is one to own. I look forward to his newest book due summer '05.

2 comments about On the Road to Yellowstone (The Yellowstone Trail and American Highways 1900-1930).

1. A wonderful "read!" Very well researched; suitable for both the old road enthusiast and the casual reader. Many photos and illustrations.

   Includes the history as well as the details of early auto road development, and tells the tale of the Yellowstone Trail with excellent maps and period documents.

   Made me eager to "hit the road!"




2. On The Road To Yellowstone: The Yellowstone Trail And American Highways 1900-1930 is a unique and highly recommended contribution to American popular history which is enhanced with 276 photos, maps and documents. The focus is on the original and sometimes adventurous development of automobile access to the Yellowstone. The profusely illustrated, "reader friendly", and informative text is a fascinating exercise in specialized regional history and includes relevant federal highway legislation, as well as the creation of west coast and east coast extensions. An introduction, epilogue, and two appendices (Maps of the Yellowstone Trail, 1926 and Yellowstone Trail Road Conditions enhance this informative, meticulously presented and definitive work.

1 comments about Fabulous Fifties: Designs for Modern Living.

1. First off, while this isn't a "bad" book, it is by no means worth the full price (...). I'm a 50s collector and have about all the 50s books out there, and this was somewhat disappointing (fortunately I bought a cheaper used version).

   Here's what I don't like about this book: it's selfishly feminine. 2/3 of the book deals in textiles and women's clothing exclusively, with only a few token pages on men's gabardine jackets and shirts.

   Only the first 1/3 of the book deals with collectible items from the 50s and they are put together haphazardly, as if the book was thrown together or not done in conjunction with a designer. Collage pages of living rooms come across as tacky.

   The prices mentioned in this book are unrealestic. A quick look on Ebay will show nobody is paying $750.00 for gabardine jackets and nobody is paying $50 or more for an individual drinking glass with a cool design. They're so inflated that is just silly -- almost as if the author were trying to get people unrealistically excited about the value of the items.

   If you're female and into textiles, clothing, and poodles you might love this book (nothing wrong with that!). But for males or other folks into more into collectible items, or people into the more stylistic side of mid-century design, you'll be somewhat disappointed.

No comments about Yankee Girl at Gettysburg.

No comments about Classic Tractors of the World (Town Square Book).

4 comments about Pinball Machines.

1. which is OK, if it's clearly labelled as such, which this book is not. The cover also implies that it's up to date to 1999. It's not. There are only a handful of machines from the 80's mentioned and absolutely none from the 90's (which is the peak era of pinball as far as playability goes.)



2. I was checking this book out at Borders. Its really acollection of artwork from pinball games organized by theme (cards, pool, "vacation" - which includes sports like skiing, etc). Not much info here and your not even sure if the prices are for the just the backglass or the whole game. The prices were way too low I thought compared the action Ebay's coin-op auctions. Ugly book with cheap feeling paper...



3. I was really let down by this one -- the title of the book is quite a misnomer.

   If you're expecting detailed pictures of backglasses, playfields, cabinets, and rulesheets, you're out of luck. This book contains only pictures of backglasses and partial backglasses. An occasional playfield shot is thrown in now and then, but there aren't enough to be useful.

   OH, and I should mention that more than half of the pages are in BLACK AND WHITE, making the pretty colorful backglass artwork boring to look at.

   The book gets two stars instead of one for the index in the back. It's nice to now have one place to look when I want to find out what year a particular pinball was made.

   In future editions, I would love to see the index in the back expanded to include rule cards and trivia. Maybe a current price guide also. But most importantly, I'd love to see a crisp top-down picture of the playfield for each machine as well as the backglass. All in full color, of course. This would be an invaluable tool for techies trying to piece together several old ratted out machines into one good one.

   Sorry, but as a pinball/video game collector, I can't recommend this book.




4. This book has alot of pictures and drawings of pinball machines, categorized by subject. There is also an excellent index in the back that lists pinball machines in alphabetical order by the name of the machine. Quite enjoyable.

1 comments about Grab The Brass Ring: The American Carousel.

1. The beauty of the american carousel seems to radiate from the pages of this book. There are some fantastic photographs of carousel animals and machines that are still around, she also has photos of various carousels that have been lost or destroyed over the years. These photos are truly a window into time.

   The only criticism that I have of this book is that there is not enough background information on the carvers and their family history.

3 comments about Primal Love: Reclaiming Love With Passion.

1. "Primal Love" is thoughtful and thought-provoking. It attempts to explain our gender-based differences through the sciences of evolutionary biology and primate behavior. You can learn alot form those crazy bonobos. While this book did not engender quite the "aha moment" that Harville Hendrix's work did, it did give me quite a few insights into my rather conflicting attitudes about money. I found it to be just a tad skewed toward the male perspective. It would be interesting to read something on the same material written by a woman. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to gain more insight into gender-based behavior.



2. Primal Love provides readers a wonderfully informative profile of our human sexuality (as males and females) by focusing not on theory that is based upon psychological "mombo-jumbo" but on the bio-anthropological roots that drive our sexual: desires, behavior and social interaction. For those people trying to evaluate and determine the reasons for their social sexual behavior, this book will give you the "peace of mind" knowing that our (especially male) desires and behavior stem from evolution, and nature's pre-programmed model of perpetuating our genes as a species. Simply knowing the roots driving our human sexuality allows us to better understand and our sexual behavior.



3. Explains the relationships between the sexes in the context of Evolutionary Psychology. I have recommended this book to several of my female friends who want to better understand why men are they way they are. This book provided me with some great insights and comfort at a time I was going through a painful breakup. Much more interesting, believable and useful than "Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus.

No comments about Our Boston (Our ...).

No comments about New and Revised Catalog of American Antiques.