Richard Langston's book is best summed up by the title of this review. His historical and informational references are effused
with his personality and wit. I enjoyed reading the beginning of this book so much, it left me wanting for more. The early days
of the cutlery industry in the United States, and Upstate New York in particular, were a fascinating time. To read about this
history from the perspective of someone who has been an enthusiastic student for most of his life, is a gift not often discovered.

In The Collector's Guide To Switchblade Knives: An Illustrated Historical And Price Reference Richard Langston draws from his immense expertise and personal collection to present a fully updated and completely reliable history of the switchblade knife in American history. This comprehensive, "reader friendly" guide will enable novice and experienced collectors alike to identify all kinds of automatic knives from museum-quality antiques to the knife in the back of the bureau drawer gathering dust for the last decade. Using a dual grading system, dealers, owners, and collectors are provided with a reference offering an honest appraisal of more than 160 automatic knives based on manufacturer, tang markings, condition, availability, functioning, opening mechanism, hand, and blade materials. The Collector's Guide To Switchblade Knives is especially recommended for switchblade enthusiasts, collectors, dealers, historians, and writers seeking background authenticity for their stories involving an form of automatic knife.

Considering the enormous popularity of switchblade knives, there is a pathetic dearth of credible literature on the subject. Nearly all the books, and certainly all the major ones, were written long ago and have been out of print for many years. Not only has Rich Langston corrected this, he has surpassed his predecessors in doing so.

Beginning with the premise "that automatic knives are a definite part of history and deserve to be studied," Mr Langston thoughtfully explores and elaborates upon that history. His well-documented, friendly style facilitates that deserved study. Actually, friendly is understated. This book is a labour of love, yet the author's love of the subject is disciplined, not indulgent. His presentation is as clear and objective as it is enthusiastic.

The largest section of the book is the illustrated gallery of over one hundred fifty automatic knives. From the modest to the magnificent, with values of from two figures to four figures, each knife is shown, photographed in close detail, followed by its description, commentary and value. The particular knife, the one pictured on the page rather than that model in the abstract, is graded and valued. This approach is inspired and will prove especially helpful to collectors.

This book compensates for the lack of extant material on switchblade knives, easily filling that void. In relative terms, it is the best work of its kind. In absolute terms, it is an excellent book, written by a man who has an uncanny understanding and appreciation of his subject and who succeeds splendidly in sharing his knowledge with the reader.

This book is fabulous. I can't begin to say how many times I have read it and flipped through the pages for information. It is clearly written and the information is presented in such a way that even the novice collector can easily find details from glaze color and dating to prices. Price guide being located in the back is rather annoying (rather than the value being listed directly with the photo) but this a small price to pay for such a fabulous resource. For the more advanced collector, I recommend Scott Nelson's "A Collector's Guide to Van Briggle Pottery".

This is a great book. It contains just about everything a collector of van Briggle might need to know, with the exception of a truly accurate price guide. Online auctions have rendered price guides in most reference books of this type obsolete, so this isn't really a flaw. It gives one a jumping-off point, but be aware current values online are often less than those listed here.

That being said, this book is very effective at providing information about this wonderful art pottery. The authors provide us a history of the potter and his work, with a number of historical photos. There is an extremely useful section showing various marks (backstamps) used, allowing one to identify and date pieces. There are hundreds of well shot photos of pieces, giving examples of techniques and glazes used. All in all an excellent value and sure to please.

This reference provides a history of the Van Briggle Pottery, with a focus on the early history. The tips for dating pieces by glaze color, clay texture/color, and bottom condition are invaluable for new collectors. This is a must-read for anyone interest in Van Briggle, especially since it's really the only reference book on the market!

This is a fascinating book. The places are real (and some are rather creepy) and the stories are supposedly true. Every story will draw you in. The history and research the author did was extensive. This is a book you could very well (regretfully) finish in one sitting.

I was born and raised in Kingsport and I even met the author of this book when he came to my high school in 1996. The name is a little hokey but the book is extremely well written and the research is very good, it even includes some newspaper clippings. This book is well worth the price and the read!

This was a very suspenseful book. It has many short stories in it and all are suppose to be true. Many are folklore that was passed down and most have some eyewitness testimony. My favorite was the one called "A Part Of The Dark Is Moving". Every story takes place at real place in East Tennessee. This is a must have for anyone who likes old fashion ghost stories or folklore.

From the author of IMPORTED MILITARY FIREARMS 1866-1899:

I wish that all such books were as good as this one-- including mine! Everything is laid out logically, with good pictures, so that it is very easy to quickly find your piece without knowing much more than "its an S&W". All the stats are there plus a lot of minutia, which might bore the average reader, but if you happen to have one of those things, you just can't get enough of it. Also, the irreverant writing style goes a long way towards offsetting the dry nature of a reference.

There is not much I can add beyond Mr. Irwin's review except to say that Supica and Nahas have written a highly thorough, readable, and entertaing text that S&W collectors and fanciers will find very useful for years to come. It only goes up to late 1995 however, so certain newer guns like the model 696 are not covered. I would still say that it is a treasure trove of good information, but for S&W company history, Jinks is the undisputed authority. This book is more of a product overview, so keep Supica and Nahas right next to Jinks on your bookshelf.

The first comprehensive treatment of Smith & Wesson handguns since the publication of Roy Jinks seminal history of the company, Supica and Nahaus provide a wealth of information on model variations, factory production codes, serial numbers, and values.

Supica and Nahaus also add information on many of S&W's other products; training aids, ammunition, police supplies.

While it has a few flaws, its excellent black & white photography and glossary of terms make it a must for just about any Smith & Wesson collector or afficionado.

This subject matter of this book has long been overdue in the collecting world. Until now very little had been published on Victorian advertising paperweights. This is certainly one of the most under appreciated and overlooked niches of collecting advertising memorabilia. The book is jammed with pictures of hundreds upon hundreds of examples. Many of the paperweights pictured are so rare that only one or two copies have been found. I have been collecting since the 1970s. I wish this had been published twenty-five years ago. This book is a visual feast for the novice or the experienced collectors alike.

A brand new year 2002 delight of a book featuring 192 pages filled with very large, outstanding, beautiful, sharp full color photos to delight any ad paperweight collector. There are few collectibles books whose photography and printing surpass this guide. Collectors will be in awe of this work. There is a nice introduction to the collectible, a list of manufacturers, and a section on "questionable" paperweights. The book covers glass, celluloid, figurals and others. Pricing is current. A beautiful, beautiful book.

Richard Price is one of America's greatest authors. He is the millennial link between literature and cinema. And it is a sin that this book, the missing link between his early personal, cinematic works, and his later, directly cinematic social treatises, should be missing. The "Mickey's Monkey" scene alone is a classic.

"The Breaks" is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I've read interviews with Richard Price where he calls this book and his other classic, "Ladies Man", his early "bad" efforts. No way! In "The Breaks" you get several novels for the price of one---all of them great! There's the protagonist's hilarious adventures with depression after college(really!); his earnest but hapless return to his college town; his not-quite-successful romance with a woman a few years older and several decades smarter than him; his sudden urge to be a stand-up comic; and his scary/funny rivalry with his girlfriend's ex-husband. I've owned "The Breaks" for about ten years, and I still reread it periodically when I want a laugh. Mr. Price, you have at least one enthusiastic fan of "The Breaks"!

Coincraft has a series of catalogs and related information. This particular Catalog as described in the title is more than just a price guide. It features:
•Hammered and milled patterns
•Collecting Hints for each series
•Quick-Index-Charts
•Over 700 pages, with illustrations & line drawings
•Over 50,000 prices
•Numismatic Glossary
•Introduction to coin collecting
•History of British Coinage
•Notes on grading
•Mysteries explained
•Index of Engravers & Designers of milled coins
•Comprehensive general index

It is time to dive into collection and what can be more intriguing than the coins that you see and hear about in old English movies. Add to that coins that represent historical events and people. It is always safer to have some for knowledge and this is the book to give it.

While it is not as comprehensive as the "Seaby" catalogue, it does have some very useful features such as the rarities of the different mints and line drawings of the many different types of the Henry III, Edward I and earlier, making them easier to identify.

It does not include the Anglo-Saxon coins of before 1066, but is a very helpful resource for any English collector.

Screenwriting gurus are forever trying to define "great screenwriting." And screenwriting students are always asking the gurus: What is great screenwriting? I would advise guru and student alike to CUT TO the chase and pick up this book...it's a fine example of GREAT SCREENWRITING. Lean, to the point, and always moving forward.

Richard Price is among the most talented of Hollywood screenwriters working today. His ability to infuse characters with even the smallest unique trait infuses them with depth and reality that few other writers are able to capture.

His recent rewrites of such scripts as "Shaft" and "Ransom" prove the level of quality he is able to bring to even the most mainstream films.

I was not sure what to expect when I picked up the book, but for [the price] why not check it out. It was much better than anything I expected or have read in similar titles. The author gives the reader a solid foundation for entering and exiting low priced stocks. The book is filled with lots of good examples of the right time to buy beaten up stocks. The primary focus of his selection technique is technical analysis, although there is a fundamental bent thrown in. If you are thinking that there are bargins to be had after the past 2 years in the market, this is a title well worth checking out.

Very helpful in determining what, where, and when to buy stocks that have experience significant correction. Since the latest 2000 correction in the market, one would think that people will pay more attention to this type of thinking rather than simple momentum investing.

Excellent details, charts, graphs and explanations of how to chart the beginning of a turnaround for stocks that have been corrected or depressed.

The title of this book is a bit misleading in that it mentions the words "hidden values" which are usually associated with fundamental analysis. In fact, this book advocates stock trading based on charts. Everybody knows that we should "buy low and sell high". But when is the price of a stock "low"? This book will give you an answer.

"The Godfather" is one of the VERY rare examples of a movie (and sequel) that are actually better than the book they are based on. Upon first release, the book was a massive bestseller, more because it is an easy read than because it is great literature. What it is primarily useful for now is as a means of filling in details that the first two Godfather films didn't have time to cover even with their considerable length. Such detail includes the background story of Johnny Fontaine, the Frank Sinatra-esque entertainer who is a loyal Godson. Also fleshed out are the characters of the loyal hitman Luca Brazzi and of Sonny's mistress, who would become the mother of Michael's eventual successor as Don in "Godfather Part 3." There is also more information about Moe Green and the feud over the Corleone move to Nevada.

Puzo is an effective storyteller and he keeps things moving along at a snappy pace. The Don of the book doesn't seem larger than life the way Marlon Brando does in the movie. "The Godfather" is often described as a "trash" novel, but reading would be a lot more fun if all such novels were as good as this one.

In Mario Puzo's The Godfather, he uses the crimes of a family and their Italian heritage to show how it affects a large loving family. I thought this was an excellent book, because the plot sequence was amazing with constant twists and suspense. The irony of this book comes through the crime boss Vito Corleone who is a kind-hearted and loyal friend of all who come to him with a request. However, he makes his living off of corruption and death which really doesn't affect the reader's attitude towards this loving character. The vicious side of the mafia comes through Vito's son Sonny. Sonny's rage leads to the death of many mob-related characters as well as to the his own death which is another irony evident in this novel. The Godfather uses masterful description of each member's life and how mob-life affected them. Another example of irony in The Godfather is the youngest son Michael's situation. At the beginning of the novel, Michael is returning from World War II and has no part in the family business. However, when his father nears death after gunshot wounds, Michael is drawn into the family business and chooses to pay back the antagonist Solozzo by spilling his blood for the sake of the family. Michael becomes the leader of the family after his father and Sonny die and he returns from Italy after things die down about his assasination of Solozzo. This transformation from an upstanding servant of the country to a crime boss looking out for the wellbeing of his family alone is the ulimate irony in this novel. Women and children are not major characters in the novel, because Puzo uses them to show how the mobs goal was to keep the innocent free from encountering their violent troubles. Puzo incorporates the lives of everyone involved in this crime family to show how much love and loyalty lead to their success and rage and deceit lead to their downfall. After reading the novel, I gained a greater appreciation for the movie which I had seen earlier and an understanding of how loyalty leads to power in the world.

The 1970's novel and hit motion picture The Godfather by Mario Puzo was quite possibly the best piece of literature in America as of today. It's thorough description of how a Sicilian mafia operates leads one to realize just how organized "organized crime" is. Puzo showed ohw much family is worth through his book an movie by his skillful use of the third person objective point of view. In every paragraph Puzo gives the reader a chance to feel like they are a, Don Corleone, Luca Brasi or a Tom Hagen. The plot was exceptionally good because after every page turn the plot thickens. One page could be describing a wedding reception and the next would portray two adulturers in lust. Puzo modeled the book to have a series of climaxes before the major plot line climax. This was done to pump the reader up and stretch one's mind so one could comprehend the situtaion. The conflicts also were many. Michael Corleone's internal conflict with himself was the biggest in the book. When he went off to college and then to World War II it was planted by society that his family's business was the most immoral work one could do. Besides Michael's internal conflict there is a big conflict with the Corleones and the Tatalias. After the Corleone's Don was shot the plots conflict thickened from water to syrup. Overall Mario Puzo worte an American Classic, which was true in the 1970's and will remain true always and forever.