The Lighthouse Encyclopedia: The Definitive Reference

Book Description

Who was Augustine Fresnel? What is a clamshell lens? When was the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse moved inland? Where were screw-pile towers used? What is a daymark?

Lighthouse lovers and anyone interested in maritime history will find the answers to these and hundreds of other questions in The Encyclopedia of Lighthouses. This one-stop resource offers an amazing wealth of information about the history of lighthouses, key people associated with lighthouses, lighthouse technology, lighthouse organizations, and specific lighthouses.

Organized in traditional encyclopedia style, this predominantly A-to-Z compendium of information allows readers to easily find the historical fact, famous lighthouse keeper, or lighthouse mechanism they are looking for and then read the pertinent details about that topic. Following is a small sampling of entries covered:

Breakwater light
Caisson
Hyper-radiant lens
Winslow Lewis
Lightships
Mercury bath
Stephen Pleasonton
Rear range light
Steamer lantern
Eclipsing light

In addition, a directory of more than 150 lighthouses throughout the world provides key data--date built, tower height, elevation, type of optic, when automated--about each lighthouse plus full details about the lighthouse's history, wartime significance, and current restoration.

Hundreds of beautiful full-color photos of the lighthouses enhance the text, and fascinating archival images of lighthouse keepers, famous lighthouses as they looked in their early years, hurricane wreckage, and other events of historic significance help bring to life the dramatic lighthouse story. Sidebars on subjects such as lighthouse preservation, lighthouse collectibles, and photographing lighthouses also enliven the main text.

This authoritative, visually lavish reference is the only one of its kind and an essential resource for anyone interested in lighthouses.

Customer Reviews:

A MUST.......2006-11-10

Colorful & informative. If you like or love lighthouses this book should be in your collection. If you don't, buy it, place it on your coffee table (if you don't have young children) - and let others that visit your home enjoy it.

"You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine.".......2006-11-08

Lighthouses have fascinated me for over 60 years. Although never seriously smitten by these structures,I will always go out of my way to visit one whenever I get the chance. I grew up in Nova Scotia which seemed to have a lighthouse around every bend in the roads along the coast.They are always an excellent place to stop for a picnic lunch. I lived in New Jersey for a few years and again many lighthouses were nearby.My favorite was the Highlands Twin Lights in Navesink,which I visited often.I now live near Toronto,and my Birding trips often lead me to lighthouses which ring lakes Ontario,Erie and Huron.Other Birding trips along the East Coast ,Cape Hatteras,Southern Florida and California are continually providing new and exciting lighthouses. I have never made a list of all I've seen;but the total must be well over 100.I often thought it would be fun to photograph,or maybe even draw them as a hobby;but just never get around to getting serious about it.
So,when I come across a "Lighthouse" book,I am always interested;and there are many around.
This book is very different for several reasons.It is more than just a bunch of pretty pictures.As its title says,it is an encyclopedia.It covers many aspects of lighthouses,including,history,preservation,lots of technical information,examples from many countries,hints on photographing them as well as their present status.Of course, any one of those subjects could fill numerous books. This author alone,has written 14 books on lighthouses, so one can't expect everything about all lighthouses to be found in this one book
With that in mind,I have the following comments;
The quality of the paper,printing and overall construction of the book is top of the line.
The photographs range from mundane to excellent.This hit me as surprising.For instance Robert's photo of the Crisp Point Light on page 174 pales in comparison with his supurb photograph of the Dunkirk Light on page 177 .Again, we see the same thing with the Pigeon Point Light on page 222 and the Point Area Light on page 223.Then, we get those amazing photographs by Jean Guichard.You gotta wonder if he ever took a poor or average snapshot.Then again,I must admit ,the photo of the Peggy's Cove Light left me cold.Is this the best of the millions of photos taken of this super-famous lighthouse? Quite a few photos are attributed to magazines,the Coast Guard,Harbour Lights,etc.,which are very average.Again,there is the excellent photograph of the Port Bill Light,England ,courtesy Harbour Lights on page 235.The otherwise great shot of the Portland Head Light,on page 236, by Roberts,makes one wonder if it was Roberts or someone in the editing room who lost the top of the lighthouse.
I was also somewhat disappointed over the part on "Lighthouses around the world".There were none that I can recall from such coastline countries as Russia,China,India,Japan .

In spite of my comments,this book is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in lighthouses. It would be a good companion to "Lighthouse Spotter's Guide" by Michael Rhein which I have already reviewed.

Average customer rating:

So cool!

Terrific resource

Good display of acrylic painting styles

Acrylic Painting Techniques

The North Light Book of Acrylic Painting Techniques
Earl Grenville Killeen , and Leah Raechel Killeen
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Painting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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The Acrylic Painter's Book of Styles & Techniques

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An Introduction to Acrylics (DK Art School)

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Acrylic Painting Techniques

ASIN: 0891348972

Customer Reviews:

So cool!.......2003-09-11

I like this book. The techniques are awesome. This is a good book for a beginner, or one who wants to explore other ideas that they may not have thought of. What I like is that it is focused on acrylic only. There are not many books on just acrylic. Many painting books seem to cover oil techniques and claim that the techniques can be applied to other mediums. But, you can only go so far, becuase oil and acrylic have two different characterisics.

Terrific resource.......2001-04-12

This book gives a wealth of information on different techniques, materials, and styles. The step-by-step lessons do a great job of showing how the work evolves, and how that evolution varies according to the style chosen by the artist. Just as important, at least to me, is that there are so many color photographs of so many really good paintings. Often, books like this have mostly mediocre work. This is a book am I sure to revisit a lot.

Good display of acrylic painting styles.......2000-06-03

If you have ever read any articles from The Artists Magazine then you will be familiar with the style of demonstrations of acrylic painting that this book offers. It is quite good at showing a diversity of painting styles - from airbrush photo-realistic to very thick impasto and impressionistic.

The book examines 23 different acrylic artists and shows some photos of each one making a painting in their unique style. I loved this book for the sheer number and quality of styles it displayed. The chapters ranged from discussions of the paints to the various mediums to airbrushing to abstract work.

For inspiration and over-all examinations of how-to in painting in acrylic this is a good book. It does, however, have one major flaw. Just like the magazine it doesn't give detailed instructions on EXACTLY how to practice any of these techniques.

For example, in my acrylic painting I am trying to learn how to blend. I know it is possible. I've seen plenty of other acrylic paintings that show excellent blending. I bought this book with the hope that it would show me how they got those blends. Nope. Blending only gets a page and a half in the entire book. You get statements such as "For blending colors, Kooluris Dobbs finds that her fingers work very well."

Well Ok. So fingers work well - so show me a photo or two of her ACTUALLY blending like this. But the book never does. And it uses generalized statements like the one above for practically every other technique mentioned as well. So if you are looking for a book that gives actual detailed step-by-step instructions for a technique this book won't do it. In spite of this flaw the rest of the book was so good and so inspiring I gave it a 4 when otherwise I would've given it a 3 (seeing as I find the over-generalization in a book that purports to be about acrylic techniques as a fairly big shortcoming).

I still think this book is worth getting despite the drawbacks. Everything else about it was high quality and the many beautiful paintings are inspiring in and of itself. If you paint with acrylics this is a good book to have on your reference shelf.

Acrylic Painting Techniques.......2000-02-13

found this boook extremely helpful in learning the techniques of acrylic painting

The North Light Book of Acrylic Painting Techniques

Average customer rating:

The North Light Book of Acrylic Painting Techniques
Earl Grenville Killeen , and Leah Raechel Killeen
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JCAJMS

Book Description

A lavishly illustrated, full-color guide to tornadoes, one of nature’s most exciting phenomena, this book documents the experiences of two storm chasers who have lived through tornadoes. Myths and misconceptions pertaining to tornadoes are integrated with touching human stories of survival. With hundreds of color photographs and illustrations, this book offers an exciting tour of the sky, explaining what to expect before and during a tornado, and showing the devastating aftermath. Strange occurrences such as “green sky” and “the roar of a tornado” are explained. Safety tips, a guide to rebuilding for communities, and suggestions to help people cope with the effects of a tornado round out this exceptional resource.

Customer Reviews:

The best book ever written about tornadoes.......2003-10-22

Interesting, enlightening and useful are only a few of the adjectives that describe this book. It has everything from exciting stories to amazing facts. While the book includes many incredible photographs, they are intended to educate rather than just inspire awe. Whether you are interested in storm chasing or just want to recognize and protect your family from dangerous weather formations, this is the book for you. It truly has truly something for just about everyone from the light browser to the seasoned chaser. This is a book that everyone in tornado-prone areas should have as a reference!

Great for beginner storm chasers or Midwest residents........2001-09-06

Well, it's not quite everything, but if you live in the Midwest you should really consider getting this book, whether it be used or new. It offers many different images as far as storm structures, tornado structures and clouds.

Diagrams are offered for 1) viewing the inside of a "worst-first" thunderstorm, 2) viewing the inside of a "worst-last" thunderstorm, 3) inside a tornado, 4) two pages of drawings of different "breeds" of tornadoes, 5) damage paths with debris location, etc.

There are small side notes on almost every page including "weird" information, myths, quick reference, highlights and checklists.

As for beginning chasers or settled chasers with bad luck (such as I), this is a great book to get started with. Aside from Arjen and Jerrine talking about one specific storm that spawned two tornadoes, you'll also learn about "The Storm Environment" (p.68). The Storm Environment explains the different types of clouds that are present with storms and what to expect with them. This section lasts two pages. The "Weather Words" section will get you up to date on your vocabulary used throughout the book. Although there are no scientific words that you'll never understand written throughout the book at all, it does contain words like aloft, updraft, downdraft, inflow, outflow and core. If you're unfamiliar with these words (or you simply think you know what they mean) this could come in handy. A small section is given to weather offices, such as SKYWARN and CANWARN.

This book will also describe to you the difference between a tornado, twister, funnel, funnel cloud, wall cloud, etc. Some of them have no differences at all, even though they are thought to have different meanings.

So far, I have only gotten through the two chapters focusing on Severe Storms and Tornadoes. I'll be back to update the review after I've gotten through the entire book. Enjoy!

Pleasantly written, diverse & well-illustrated tornado tome.......2001-07-04

Although the authors are Canadian, and aim the book at an audience north of the U.S., American weather enthusiasts and anyone wondering about tornadoes will soak this up. "Under the Whirlwind" is a solid work overall; and for a self-published book, it is amazingly informative and accurate. Readers may be as surprised at the Verkaiks' insight into severe storms issues, since they are not meteorologists. However, their devotion to learning scientific concepts, combined with their extensive storm observing experience and conversational writing style, allows them to succeed with this book. Although the reading is light in a purely technical sense, I found only a few typos and insignificant errors. More important are the clear messages of practicality, realism, education and compassion in the book -- which includes numerous suvivors' tales as well as segments on insurance coverage and helping children to deal with storm-related tragedy. The authors convey a wise message of safety and responsibility as well, for example: "After damaging tornadoes strike there are usually calls for better alert systems -- more bells and whistles.... But the best warning you can have comes from keeping your eye on the sky."

The illustrations are numerous and excellent, without peer in popular severe weather literature. Their deep artistic and educational appreciation for the wonders of a stormy sky pours forth in the form of dozens of full-color photos -- many consisting of spectacular storm structure scenes taken on their forays to the American Great Plains. These aren't presented just to show off the Verkaiks' mastery of storm photography, but to aid in interpreting cloud features. There are also several interesting, high-quality, contributed photos of Canadian tornadoes which never have been published before. The Verkaiks richly endow the volume with drawings, tables and color graphs as well, including numerous inset trivia boxes scattered throughout the book related to debunked tornado myths and tornado oddities.

Because this hasn't been a widely advertised book or peddled by a major publishing house since its 1997 debut, it may go under the radar, so to speak. But it is well worth the cost for students and general audiences curious about the mysteries of tornadoes.

It was the best book I have ever read on the subject........1999-05-01

Under The Whirlwind is, one of the best books about tornadoes available. By reading the book, you will gain an amazing amount of knowledge, and be able to look at the sky with amazement and knowledge about what you see happening. It explains everything you ever wanted or need to know about severe weather and tornadoes, and it is written in understandable terms. Buy this book, and impress your friends with your knowledge of the stormy sky!

This is the best Ontario tornado book out there!.......1999-04-17

I am very pleased with this book. It gives great in-depth detail about what a victim goes through during a tornado, how to read the stormy sky, about the tornadoes in Ontario, and what to do after a tornado. I have personally met the authors.

~Laura Duchesne (Storm Chaser)

Book Description

All Lina and Gourry want is to enjoy a delicious seafood dinner at a world-famous restaurant. But when a vicious sea monster prevents fisherman from catching fresh and tasty fish, Lina and Gourry decide to take matters into their own hands.

Customer Reviews:

TERROR, TREACHERY & TENTACLES.......2005-06-30

Slayers is a parody about parodies, and Slayers Premium is no different. When Lina and Gourry enter a village famous for octopus they receive more than their famished intentions. The group of octopus that reside in the sea can't take the heat of the frying pan and turn against the villagers by resurrecting a sea monster connected to a curse. The same curse happens to turn everyone into octopus-the first sign being talking in "octopan," a bizarre gobblegoop language.

All the characters are true to their zany personalities and giving the story the comedy that Slayers always is. Also, the art by Tommy O is awesome. I really liked this one --no heavy handed plots, just Slayers silliness from beginning to end.

Book Description

In 1930 two novice paddlers--Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port--launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in York Factory on Hudson Bay--with winter freeze-up on their heels. First published in 1935, Canoeing with the Cree is Sevareid's classic account of this youthful odyssey. The newspaper stories that Sevareid wrote on this trip launched his distinguished journalism career, which included more than a decade as a television correspondent and commentator on the CBS Evening News. Now with a new foreword by Arctic explorer, Ann Bancroft.

Customer Reviews:

How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation?.......2007-08-01

2250 miles in a canoe - a great adventure and a book worth reading. I can't add much that isn't already perfectly described in this book.

At the start of the trip during a brief stay in Fargo, North Dakota, a friend and doctor named Frederick Gronvold sets the boys on their journey in a proper frame of mind. "Don't let anyone, no matter who he is, convince you that your trip can't be completed. You have youth and strength, and courage too, I hope, and with a little common sense you can do it."

When the journey finally ends and the boys share their tale with the adults at York Factory, they are asked why? Bud responds simply, "Oh, for pleasure, I guess." A journey simply for the sake of the adventure. It is an idea lost on some of the adults listening to the boys. "Pleasure! What a jolly funny kind of pleasure!" Better yet, maybe the idea isn't lost. Colonel Reid continues, "Oh well, that's youth. Things look different when you're young, I suppose. My word, I almost believe I envy you."

Enjoy the beginning and the end; enjoy the pineapples and everything in between. Enjoy the journey simply for the journey; it's an adventure that is perfect for any reader of any age!

amazing recounting of a determined trip.......2006-11-02

Enough youthful daring and preparation on a wonderful journey which showed the better nature of people for the exploits of two tough and bright young men. A wonderful journey, with some historical photo's that help illustrate the accomplishment. A wonderful quick read.

A Must for Northern Woods Canoeists.......2005-12-16

There's really only two things worth doing in Minnesota: One, canoeing the Boundary Waters/Quetico during Spring, Summer, and Fall; Two, THINKING about canoeing the Boundary Waters/Quetico during Winter. For the latter, this book is the gateway to paradise. Sevareid and Port have the true spirit of adventurers, the love-bug for the North Woods and her bevy of streams, rivers, and lakes, and Sevareid effectively tells his now-classic tale of how he and his friend drank deeply of all her treasures--complete with the axiomatic mistakes, mishaps, surfiet of discomfitures, and, alas, irresistible beauty that she provides to all who avail themselves of her wonders. Like St. Augustine, let us "Take up and read."

The Insanity and Necessity of Adventure.......2004-09-08

Walter Port and (Arnold) Eric Sevareid took an amazing trip that they started by skipping some of their high school finals so they could get the boat they could afford. Though the project appeared to have been Port's pet, it was Sevareid who came up with the way to fund it: writing about it for the Minneapolis Star. It was clear that once the project began both of them were truly enthralled by it and could not be put off. The tale is told simply, but with a clear affection for all of the people who helped them try to reach their goal, even though few of the people who helped were confident that these young men could make it or were even very encouraging.

The book is written from the journals that were kept along the trip. It is clear that this is a book of its times written by a man who was still quite young. While I would strongly encourage any teens to read this book to realize that they too can give themselves a goal that is worthwhile if only for being difficult, I would also encourage their parents to be ready to answer some questions about the wisdom and risks of such adventures and about some of the attitudes of the past. There is a casual acceptance of the bigotry against Native Americans that was common at the time and Sevareid was not yet the mature thoughtful man that we may remember from the CBS Evening News.

Still, the fact that a reasonably literate student was able to take, and appreciate, such a grand adventure while trying his best to bring it alive for us was a remarkable feat. Twain, at his best, gave us better feel for river adventure, but he had the advantage that he could embroider the story whenever necessary, while Sevareid was already writing and thinking as a journalist. This is a quick read that almost anyone, from a child in middle school to an adult whose days of imagined adventure are long past, can enjoy.

canoeing with the cree.......2003-01-31

I thought that this book was a great wiild life adventure. It's about two boys going aginst their odds in a canoeing trip from St. Paul Minneapolis all the way to the Hudson Bay. Nobody thinks that they will make it. The two young boys come close to death many times. They almost get lost and find their way thanks to many kind people that help them overcome the impossible and they make it. They encounter Indians and some very nice people, and this makes their trip much easier even though they really struggle through all those miles. That's why I think this book was a good book.

Average customer rating:

Canoeing with the Cree
Eric Sevareid
Manufacturer: Minnesota Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q2EY40

Average customer rating:

Canoeing with the Cree,
Arnold E Sevareid
Manufacturer: MacMillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000872RDS

Average customer rating:

Canoeing with the Cree

Manufacturer: Minnesota Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: B000DCNJ5S

Average customer rating:

CANOEING WITH THE CREE
Eric Sevareid
Manufacturer: Minnesota Historial Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NBZ1WS

Average customer rating:

Canoeing with the Cree
Sevareid Eric
Manufacturer: Minnesota Historical Society Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LCJJVI

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