This book was good in theory but fell short on performance.

Finally, a packet of information with which I can actually do something with. The McGruff ID Armor package has all of the forms that I need to send to my creditors, marketing associations, and even the big bad credit report agencies (Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian) to prevent my personal information from being sold to other parties.

Only time will tell to see how effective the forms really are, but I think this is a step in the right direction! All I had to do was fill in the pre-written letters and sign them. Nice and simple. It's much better than a book with only reading material. Thanks!

Of the three books that have been published about "The Fugitive" television series (my favorite of all time), this one I would rate as the most flawed. "The Fugitive Recaptured" by Ed Robertson and "The Official Fan's Guide to The Fugitive" by Mel Proctor are both much better.

Cooper's book is largely a series of summaries of each of the 120 episodes in the four-year series. The problem is that careless factual errors pop up again and again. And I am basing this on checking the summaries of only the 60-odd episodes (just slightly over half the total) that I'm familiar with. Who knows about the others!

For example in Episode 27, "Never Stop Running," the author doesn't even get the name right for the character played by Claude Akins. He said it was Jim, when in fact it was Ralph. In Episode 63, "Crack in a Crystal Ball," in which a wife of a phony clairvoyant drives Kimble to a certain destination, Cooper says, "She leads him (Kimble) to believe that she is in trouble and asks him for help....They arrive at the agreed-upon location, but Mrs. Mitchell tips off Kimble and he escapes before the police arrive." Wrong. She drove Kimble because she said she had a lead on the whereabouts of the one-armed man. SHE was the one doing the helping (or so she claimed). She also did not tip him off. She just dropped Kimble off and drove away. He learned about the trap from a friend on the phone.

Sometimes the errors are small, but they still count as errors. In Episode 25, "Taps for a Dead War," the book says, "The police arrive. Joe and Millie hide Kimble in the house." I just saw that episode recently on video. In fact, he hides behind a tree outside.

Perhaps the most egregious example of an inaccurate summary is Episode No. 53, "The Survivors," (one of my favorites) in which Kimble secretly visits his financially troubled in-laws. The book first says Kimble wanted to help them find "a savings passbook, part of his wife's effects." In fact, what he was looking for was any information recorded on paper about a forgotten bank account. Eventually they find some hand-written notes inside a regular book. Cooper also says that Kimble's father in law "believes him innocent." Actually the father in law is uncertain.When asked about his opinion on Kimble's guilt, he says, "I don't know." Also Cooper says that at the end of the story "Mrs. Waverly (is) now thinking that perhaps Kimble is not guilty of murdering her daughter after all." There is no hint of this in the story. The ONLY reason Mrs. Waverly helped Kimble was because she was trying to heal her damaged relationship with her daughter.

Another example: in Episode 14, "The Girl From Little Egypt," a story that starts with a woman hitting Kimble with her car, the book says, "When he awakes, Ruth sneaks him out of the hospital." Not true. They left openly together.

I think John Cooper should do a second version of this book with the various errors corrected.

Why the Men-At-Arms series continues to put out these overly broad volumes is beyond my fathoming. Yes, the information is good ... up to a point. The problem is that in creating such broad portraits, the best you get is a stereotyping of the era. And as this volume is not graced by Angus McBride's illustrations, it falls to a lower notch yet.

Venice was a power in the Middle Ages and through part of the Renaissance. Even when dominated by foriegn powers, it was a player on the international scene, especially when dealing with the crumbling remains of the Byzantine Empire. This book does show that Venice was a force to be reckoned with; unfortunately it is covering a period of over 450 years, so anything said in the book must of needs be of a broad perspective.

Many people buy the Men-at-Arms book strictly for the center colour illustrations (yes, I've seen you, you fighters of the SCA!). There is nothing at all wrong with this. I might warn a potential purchaser, however, that the illustrations in this volume are rather flat and might not give you the wealth of detail you might otherwise expect. They are not /bad/, but sometimes the proportions are a bit off, which might convince you to lenghthen a hauberk where it is unnecessary.

I can only hope that Osprey will someday go back and break up several of these "long era" books into smaller chunks. We would be far better served then.

Harris has an interesting story to tell, 'exotic' but also a bit tiresome as far as its characters. This reads like a poor man's Durrell; Harris's prose style is simply bad, as if he were writing quickly but in retrospect. Neither novel is in any real sense distinguished by literary merit, but those who enjoy historical journeying romance might get a kick out of them.

I bought this book at full price, (NOT FROM AMAZON) and that is why I am here now. ...a lot of the directions are hard to follow and the author seems to want you to intuitively feel your way into how to make mail.I've read better directions on the web.

Pass on this one and save your money to buy Brian Price's book....it will give you more insight into how armor is made to SCA standards.

For a book that is supposed to be a "how-to-book" this book is missing the point.
1. Some of the photos are blurry and it is hard to tell what a the "weave" looks like.
2. It only covers a very small selection of weaves to try.
3. Instead of the book showing you the correct way of making mail it shows the shortcut versions of already simple patterns. This in turn makes the mail look cheap to the trained eye.
4. The names of the patterns are inconsistant with the terminology being used by most mailers around the world. What is called chinese chain 1 in the book is actually a box weave, what is called a chinese chain 2 is actually a byzantine weave, and a 6 in 2 is actually a Japanese Hex.
5. When mail is done correctly it should seem to flow together and rest on the wearer as if were a second skin. Unfortunately, many of the items in this book seem to be pieced together with many "seams" visible.

If you are interested in learning about mail armor I DO NOT recommend this book. Learn from the people who's passion of mail armor shows in their work. You can find great information on the internet by doing a simple searh for Chain maille.