5 comments about Complete AR-15/M16 Sourcebook: What Every Shooter Needs to Know.

1. Nice history and overview of the rifles development, but weak on assembly instruction, maintenance, cleaning etc. A nice historical reference book really.



2. I was new to the AR-15 pattern rifle. This book was informative and still a great read. Provides a full history of the design with info about competing rifles. It could use some updating to cover newer accessories.



3. I enjoyed and found the information useful. If your new to the AR15, this is
   a great way to get up to speed on the subject. The author knows his subject
   and communicates it well. There's a lot more that could have been covered
   but for that, one is well advised to visit www.ar15.com
   You'll find answers there to questions you probably haven't even thought of.



4. The Complete AR-15/M16 Sourcebook: What Every Shooter Needs to Know keeps with its title. Well, somewhat. The book is a very detailed SOURCEBOOK. Do not buy this book to find out what you can do to accessorize your rifle. This book goes into detail about the origins of the AR-15/M16 beginning with the early years and including some photos and text on early models and models that did not make it. The book talks about some of the larger companies that make the AR-15/M16, and has pictures of most of the variants by company. It is a worthwhile read if you desire to learn about the history of the rifle, but is by no means what every reader needs to know.



5. The Complete AR-15/M16 Sourcebook: What Every Shooter Needs to Know keeps with its title. Well, somewhat. The book is a very detailed SOURCEBOOK. Do not buy this book to find out what you can do to accessorize your rifle. This book goes into detail about the origins of the AR-15/M16 beginning with the early years and including some photos and text on early models and models that did not make it. The book talks about some of the larger companies that make the AR-15/M16, and has pictures of most of the variants by company. It is a worthwhile read if you desire to learn about the history of the rifle, but is by no means what every reader needs to know.

No comments about Antiques Price Guide 2008 (Antiques Price Guide).

5 comments about Standard Catalog of World Coins 1701-1800.

1. It's a complete and very informative book about world coins. I used it everyday as a price reference and getting the right description of old coins.



2. My collection of 18th century coins is virtually non-existent and their value is so low that this catalog cost me much more than they are all worth. But I did not buy it to see how rich I am or how wisely I invested my money. I treat this book as a very special history book. I read it every now and then, starting from a state I have never heard of to discover some new information from the past. This is the imperfect but only source to dig into the history of minute Italian, German or Indian states which often had nothing but minting rights which they excercised profusely. About sovereigns who believed themselves mighty enough to have their profiles struck on multiple thalers only to disappear from annals of History within just a few years. About political plans, expectations and pretences of which we can't remember anymore but they were all detailed on coins.
   Coin-collecting is not a way of investing money (it well may be though in most cases it is rather by luck than wise planning), it is a life-time of studies. You have to invest your time, and coins will start speaking to you. Half-worn faces will become flesh and blood individuals from the past. Strange letters will mean their might and their dreams. You will probably never have too many of these coins (even if you have the money, actually) but this is the kind of book which can give you knowledge. And knowledge, in time, may turn into wisdom.



3. Certainly this is the book for 18th century coins, unless you are mainly interested in one country like the UK or France -- in that case you would find more information more attractively laid out, along with other centuries, elsewhere, usually more cheaply too. But for its coverage of the world, including hugely complicated countries like Gemany, Italy and India, it is unbeatable. This 3rd edition is an improvement over earlier editions, because more pictures (especially of the smaller coins) and more obscurities have been included.
   
   For users in countries which do not speak English, the conversions such as VF = TTB = BB =MBC are very useful !
   The book is not difficult for foreigners to use.



4. I need a guide so I just do not blindly pay big bucks for cute pictures. There are a lot of good guides and some more specific on particular eras and locations such as Westphalia. But as you do a coin search you are bound to run across something you are not familiar with and need a guide. This guide is a great place to start; it is easy to navigate and gives cursory information on particular locations and times surrounding the coin's production.
   
   Keeping in mind that this is just a guide, there are holes and the coins are not displayed in color. On the other hand the coins shown are in actual size; size is hard to translate form internet pictures.
   
   With all the electronic references today it is nice to have something tactile, static and transportable. This book meet al those needs.



5. This is the best guide to world gold coins dated
   after 1600. Before 1600, look for Friedberg's
   "Gold Coins of the World" which has gold ancient coins
   and gold coins up to year 1600.
   Clark Smith
   www.coinvault.com

5 comments about Ty Beanies Tracker Third Edition.

1. This book is very accurate, informative and well put together. For some time now I've been looking for an up to date beanie list and price guide and this book is it! It's a great item for all Ty collectors!



2. This book is my bible when buying or selling TY beanies accurate price list, interesting facts and is a must for TY beanie lovers that love to collect these little guys.



3. Few 20th century collectibles have had as huge a success in the popular culture as those small plush toys known as Beanie Babies -- as well as Punkies, Pinkys, Girtz, and more!. Now in an expanded and fully updated third edition, "Ty Beanies Tracker" under the deft editorship of Beanie Baby expert Karen Holmes provides collectors, dealers, and the general public with a unique, comprehensive, illustrated reference and price guide for these popular toy collectibles. Featuring more than 4,000 color pictures comprising the complete Ty product lines (including variations and rare items), "Ty Beanies Tracker", with its Note Pages, Daffynitions, Attic Treasures, and NASCAR Beanies, is a simply indispensable addition to personal, professional, and community library Antiques & Collectibles reference shelves.



4. This new edition of Ty Beanies is a complete, very informative source for all "Beanie" collectors, old or new, excellent reference!



5. Beanie Babies were one of the truly remarkable pop culture phenomena of the last 15 years. I can still remember the first time McDonald's offered the Teenie Beanies and my wife and I spent the better part of the weekend trying to track down as many of the little critters for our son as we could. Beanies, however, suffered the same fate as many other collectibles such as comic books and sports cards, two hobbies I was very familiar with. First, it quickly became driven by speculators trying to make a quick buck. Next, corporate greed too over as Ty began churning out more and more product and started to try and manufacture collectibles with special releases. Today, we go to garage sales and Flea Markets and see people dumping their Beanies, often for as little as a buck each.
   
   Yet for its core collectors, those who got into it for the love, and not necessarily the promise of future value, Beanies are still around and viable. If you don't think there is still an active market out there for trading Beanies, just check out eBay. As I write this review there are over 21,000 auctions underway in the Ty category. The speculators have long since dropped out, prices have righted themselves, and Bangzoom has released the 2nd edition of their indispensable guide. The guide covers the Beanie scene right up through the beginning of 2006 and in its review of the marketplace it makes no bones about it...now is a great time to buy, but not such a great time to sell.
   
   The book provides a history of Beanies and their hang tags. A picture of generation's unique tag is included in the book with notes on variations and changes. The book also lists several different Beanie related websites that feature news, accessory sales, trading posts, and other information. The book lists Beanies alphabetically, and lists their birth date, introduction date, retirement date (if applicable) and their hang tag poems. The generation(s) is also listed as well as a current price. But you'll find more than just Beanie Babies In the guide...it also covers Beanie Buddies, Kids, Boppers, Teenie Beanies, Jingle Beanies, Pluffies, Punkies, and more, over 1500 different TY items. The back provides a handy index and checklist.
   
   While the craze of the mid-90's may be over, there are still millions of Beanie collectors and lovers out there and there is simply no better book on the Market than the Ty Beanies Tracker from Bangzoom.
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson

5 comments about Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey.

1. I would have never expected that something so tragic as what happens in Don't You Dare Read This Mrs. Dunphrey happens to kids in high school. This book is written as a high school girls journal and it starts on August 28 and does not end until September 15. Tish is a girl who lives in her grandmas old apartment with her little brother Matt and her mother. Her dad had left them when Tish was a little girl. Tish's teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey, gave the class an assignment to write in journals about their daily lives. When she gave this assignment she told the kids that they could mark the entries do not read and she would not read them. Noticing that they could do this Tish decides to write about all the troubles she is having at her house. Before most entries though, Tish marks them do not read. With Tish's problems at her house and at school she explains everything in her journal not letting Mrs. Dunphrey read what she is writing. This is a fiction novel that I believe would be mostly suited for teens and adults. I enjoyed this book and it taught me many things that happening life that I did not know about. "I thought he was going to throw one of Grandmas old flower pots at me." Tish writes this in her entry on page 39. I believe everyone should know that this happens to people.



2. I liked this book overall, but I didn't like that the girl in it didn't really interact with anyone else much. The other good part is that the journal entries were short which made me, also, not want to stop reading.



3. I just finished this novel and I'm very unsure about what I think. I am a language arts teacher who believes that journaling is very important. I don't believe I could offer my students the option to write, turn it in, and not read the material. My heart broke for Tish as I read the story as my heart breaks for some of the students I have. As a teenager I think I would love the novel, as a teacher I'm not sure Mrs. Dunphrey met her legal obligations by not reading the journal.



4. An English teacher, teaching high-school sophomores, requires her students to keep a weekly journal and write in it at least four times over the course of the week. She has said that if students write "do not read this" on any entry, she will not read it; she will simply make sure they have written something and give them credit.
   
   This book is the journal of Tish, a student in this class. Tish is living with a mother who is mentally ill and a brother who is eight years younger than she is. Her abusive father left a couple of years ago. Tish is initially reluctant to write anything meaningful or personal in this journal, but after she tests her teacher and makes sure that she really isn't reading the entries marked "do not read," Tish begins to let her feelings show in her writing.
   
   Through these journal entries, we get the full story of Tish's life and her struggle to be the adult in her family, to take care of her mom and brother. When Tish's father shows up after being gone for two years, Tish's journal entries get scarier and scarier, and it is increasingly disturbing to see that she is not sharing these stories of her life with anyone who could help her.
   
   I liked the journal format of this story, and I felt like we got a good idea of what the other characters were like just by reading Tish's point of view. I felt sad for Tish and her brother, and I was disturbed that nobody realized what was going on in their lives.



5. This book is about a teenage girl who takes care of her bother. Her mom is still there; she just works a lot. She had a good life until her dad came along and ruined it. Now she is writing in a journal that her teacher assigned her. One year later her mom finds him driving around the road. So she invites him to the house, and ruins her life. Would she live?
   
   I love this book because it shows me how other people think and what their life is like. It also makes people want to think twice about things and how they are blessed that their mom and dad love them. Another thing I like about this book is it's a journal and it's a good way to keep your secrets in because its in your brain. Writing is a good way to let it out because you can let your mind be free, but you don't have to write secrets that you don't have to share. I think I would give it a five!

5 comments about Traditional Mexican Style Interiors (Schiffer Design Book).

1. What a beautiful book. One of the best I have seen. I live in Mexico and will be using many ideas.



2. Excellent photo's to plan off of. They give ideas to maintain a modern design and still keeep the traditional flow of true Mexican and Spanish feel



3. This is definately a well layed out book, with really nice high quality pictures, my only question is why are at least half of the picture in this book of houses in the United States? Granted they are in the Southwest where there is a obvious Mexican influence, but I refuse to believe the best examples of Mexican interiors are found in Tucson Arizona! And of the interiors in this book most of the ones from Mexico are from San Miguel de Allende, or Guanajuato which are two towns a hour apart from each other. There are extraordinary colonial gems in Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Puebla, México City, ect, ect, that could have easily been included in this book instead of some American's house in the Southwest... I would have liked to have seen a book on Mexican interiors that were 100% Mexican. The book MEXICOLOR, though not entirely consisting of interiors is a far more authentic book.



4. We were looking for ideas for our outside patio area, especially colors, and this book is great for various decors with vibrant colors. You will find yourself looking through it again and again.



5. I was looking for a reference book to guide my Mexican-style remodeling and redecorating efforts, and this is the best I've found yet. (I have about a dozen!) Gorgeous pictures, and plenty of them. Each section discusses a particular room type (kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc.) and each room type gets a good amount of attention. Something I dislike about other books is their tendency to look only at the courtyards or living rooms of Mexican or adobe-style houses -- not so useful if you're considering how to tackle your kitchen. This one covers it all, including touching on gardens and indoor-outdoor spaces that are such an integral part of Mexican living.
   
   Definitely pick up the companion volume, "Traditional Mexican Style Exteriors", while you're shopping. Together they paint a vivid picture of the colorful and vibrant style of Mexico.

5 comments about Samurai Sword: A Handbook.

1. mr. yumoto's work is very descriptive and pictures fill the pages more than text does.
   
   "Samurai Sword a Handbook" lacks an analytic quality that would bring togheter the social, historical, technical and martial dimensions of the nihonto.
   
   last but not least, such an important - and relatively undocumented - subject as care and maintenance of japanese blades is simply and vaguely evoked in two pages that make up a ridiculous chapter.
   
   all in all, yumoto's work is too old to be satisfying to comtemporary readers in search of a meaningful, concise handbook which would explain rather than describe.



2. A PERFECT SOURCE WHO WANTS TO LEARN ABAUT JAPANESE SWORDS AND THEIR HISTORY



3. I finished reading it yesterday. It is too much for beginner and not enough for intermediate or even expert...
   
   It is definitely usefull for future reference in terms of finding more about your sword or swords you want to buy and using some of the criterias. Photos are B&W and crappy and references text-to-drawings are badly organized.
   
   What is strongly missing is types of sword damage, how to eveluate type of damage and find it on blades etc...
   
   I dont know when book was written but some information also seems bit obsolete...
   
   If the book was hardcover, had two times more pages, colored photos to go with drawings, better organized and have more information, I would give 5. Now I give 3 of 5.



4. This is a good, short overview of the basics of Japanese Swords. Recommended.



5. This is an awesome book for anyone wnating to know more about samurai swords and speaking as a beginner myself, I found that this book explained everything clearly and concisely - I now know a lot more about swords than i did before :)

5 comments about Master Pieces: The Curator's Game.

1. Stimulating book - took me back to days as an art student. Enjoyed very much.Purchased as a result of borrowing the book from the local library.
   Excellent.



2. Thomas Hoving was the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade (1967-77). He presents the humble public with this shining book/game with obvious love and appreciation of its contents.
   
   He starts off by recounting how every week during the long coffee breaks at the MET, a select person would bring in photographs taken of certain details from various famous (and not-so famous) works of art. It was then the pleasure of the art buffs in the room to discern just where it was they'd seen those images. There were easy details, there were mind-bending details. They came to call this the "Curator's Game."
   
   Equally as entertaining are Hoving's assorted thoughts and interesting side-notes on the works. He never shies away from providing his own opinions. For instance the clue from a Renaissance piece on pg.28 reads that the artist's women "had a softness that his rival Michelangelo never achieved."
   
   The first half of the book has all of the details along with their respective clues. You'll find angels and men, dogs and instruments as it winds down to incredibly difficult background images. The second half houses all of the paintings from which the details were taken along with a brief description and examination of them. And don't fret, if you fear you won't be able to find them all, Mr. Hoving has been kind enough to provide us with an answer key.
   
   As has been written by others, this would make a wonderful gift. It also proved a great way to pass the time on a rainy day. Recommended for my part.



3. Former curator of the MET introduces us to the "classic" curator game of showing small samples (pieces) from famous works of art and trying to determine the artist and name of the piece. The curator who won (the master of the days pieces) would get a free cup of coffe for the week. We only get the satisfaction of knowing our art. Along with the satisfaction though is the honing of your art identity skills and an overall increase in your awareness of art. From Giotto to Hockney the 'test' covers 57 masterpieces from 700 years of western art. The pictures are used more then once so you really need to know your art to get them all right. The end of the book has a quick bio and review of the masterpiece.
   
   My only complaint would be the book is a little small, Hoving talks about using the book to study the details of the pieces yet some of the pictures are only 2x3 inches, makes seeing the detail tough.
   
   Strongly recommended for anyone interested in western art. As this book assumes a basic knowledge of art, I would not recommend for an art novice looking for an intro to art.



4. This is a wonderful book for art buffs and and novices alike. As Hoving says in the introduction, it's based off of a game that curators often played together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each identification "challenge" comes with a brief biography of the artist and unusual fact/perspective on the piece or its depiction, and the book's unique format helps me remember (and want to share) everything I learn. It's great for dinner parties, long car-rides, or just curling up with on your own to sharpen your eye for art. It makes the perfect gift-- I'd recommend it to anyone!



5. Pick up this book for fifteen seconds and you won't put it down. It immediately got me involved with its "curator's game" of showing small details of great art-and then challenging me to match the details to a famous artist and the complete painting. Where had I seen those haunting eyes before? What story is being told by the reflections in the small mirror? When you turn to the complete paintings in the back of the book, and see how the piece fits into the masterpiece, you learn a lesson that will stay with you for a long time. The lesson: Look carefully at all parts of a painting instead of just standing back and admiring the work as a whole. It's true that "God is in the details," so this book encourages you to relish and delight in those details.

3 comments about Cartier.

1. A history and analysis of Cartier : jewels in modern time. The world impact of Cartier's creators. Images of the best neclaces, tiaras, rings and horloges. A piece of art in itself. Very well written. manoel barros da motta



2. This is in my modest opinion the best book about Cartier. Amazing photos with fine text. Much more than the classic coffee table book. Offers insight into the most important periods of Cartier, the designs and the artistic talents of their creators. Biographies of the artists of the famous jewelry house, recent history, famous clients and how the businesses got started. The photos are wonderful; I only wish there were more of them. A MUST!



3. I think that this book is a great resource for anyone who is a jewelry student or just in love with very fine jewelry. While the book does focus more on the lives of the three Cartier brothers, there are many great pictures of their jewelry as well. I think this book is well worth the money.

2 comments about Gemstones: Understanding, Identifying, Buying.

1. A pretty good book, especially the opening sections about the history of gemstones and the methods used to identify diamonds.



2. If you need a book on Gemstones, this is the one. Awesome pictures and great detail on discribing the many different gems around the world. If you are a collector of gemstones, this is a MUST HAVE!"