Average customer rating:
- No more than common sense
- Just Plain Fun
- ZOOOOM!!
- Backyard Ballistics
- fun and easy
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Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices
William Gurstelle
Manufacturer: Chicago Review Press
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The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery
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Whoosh Boom Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building Projectile Shooters
ASIN: 1556523750 |
Book Description
Ordinary folks can construct 13 awesome ballistic devices in their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple—a match-powered rocket—to the more complex—a scale-model, table-top catapult—to the offbeat—a tennis ball cannon. With a strong emphasis on safety, the book also gives tips on troubleshooting, explains the physics behind the projects, and profiles scientists and extraordinary experimenters such as Alfred Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton. This book will be indispensable for the legions of backyard toy-rocket launchers and fireworks fanatics who wish every day was the fourth of July.
Customer Reviews:
No more than common sense.......2007-08-26
Nothing particularly creative in that book that anybody with some common sense wouldn't come up with.
Just Plain Fun.......2007-04-24
Being a parent and a science teacher, I really love this book. It takes me back to my younger years when it was fun to launch anything more than 10 feet and still have all of your hair intact. What fun this book is! Gurstelle is great!
ZOOOOM!!.......2007-04-13
If you like launching projectiles at incomprehensible speeds, making very loud noises, or launching more projectiles at lightning speeds then this book is for you it includes a few types of spud guns, a kite that you light on fire and the hot air slowly lifts it off the ground, three rockets two of which dont use fire making them relitively safe and some notes on safty (how not to blow yourself up) and a bunch of other stuff
great book!!!!!!!!!!
Backyard Ballistics.......2007-03-09
This an entertaing book. It would be excellent for anyone with kids. If more children and parents worked on these fun projects the kids would get an education, get out of the house and away from Video Games.
fun and easy.......2007-01-10
We have tried the tennis ball cannon from this book so far and had great success with it. It was a great weekend project that was cheap and easy with great results. Great for summer time fun with the kids.
Book Description
What are the single most important variables in racquet performance? What racquet and string features combine to provide the most control, comfort, and feel? How can a player create maximum spin? This informative primer answers these and other elusive equipment and performance-related questions that perennially plague hackers and experts alike. A simplified, layperson's companion to the authors' previous work, The Physics and Technology of Tennis, this conveniently sized guide to selecting racquets and strings includes bite-sized explanations of the possible expectations of equipment choices.
Customer Reviews:
Truly technical.......2007-03-27
Technical to a fault, but exacting. Provides interesting, sometimes counter-intuitive information, e.g., on how the tennis ball bounces, and how racquets really perform.
Overhyped.......2007-02-20
This book really wont change your game or provide any revelations. It even has some inconsistences.
Good to know.......2007-01-11
For the serious tennis player or anyone trying to learn more about tennis it's great.
An excellent update to "The Physics and Technology of Tennis".......2006-09-21
A few years back I did read "The Physics and Technology of Tennis." Even though this was a sensational book that gave me the physics knowledge to moonlight as a racquet development consultant, "Technical Tennis" is a great update. "The Physics and ..." consists of a collection of papers that were published in TennisPro magazine between 1993 and 2000. Meanwhile, "Technical Tennis" was published in 2005. Tennis technique and technology have changed since the mid nineties. The authors thoroughly study these changes. They do a great analysis of Sampras second serve that remained a standard even for today's pros. They also analyze Federer's forehand that is a marvel of versatility, speed, and accuracy. Nobody hits a forehand using Federer's technique. But, maybe thanks to this book more tennis players and especially pros will emulate it.
The authors' opinions have become more complex and nuanced over time. In "The Physics ..." they stated unequivocally that heavier racquets gave you more power, control, and felt better all around than lighter ones. Now, they indicate it depends somewhat on your playing style. And, they come up with an all around "ideal" weight of 342 grams or 12 ounces. That is heavier than most recreational racquets sold in store. But, it is not heavy vs what the pros use. On page 55, they also indicate that to reduce the force on your arm there are five things you can do:
1) Use a heavier racquet;
2) Use a head heavy racquet;
3) Use a more flexible racquet (not a widebody one);
4) Lower the string tension;
5) Use a softer thicker grip.
These are different recommendations than in "The Physics ..." book. Back then they recommended a stiff racquet.
The authors also study in greater details the relationship between racquet weight and ball speed. And, how the relationship is different for serves vs groundstrokes.
If you read "The Physics ..." book, you have to read this one to update your knowledge. If you have not, you don't need to read it, and can jump in straight into this one. It will provide you with all the physics you care about. This book is really not dummed down much. Be ready for that. At times the physics discourse gets pretty dry and challenging. But if you digest it, it's pretty interesting stuff.
Read this book before you buy a racket or take a lesson........2005-10-26
This book cuts through all the marketing hype and gets to the physics of rackets, balls, and courts. Explains what matters when selecting a racket. Helped me find a racket that helps my tennis elbow. The previous book was very long. It also was redundant and contradictory in places. This book solves those problems.
Of particular interest is the section on how to deliver spin. Two things were very interesting:
1) most modern forehands get their topspin not by swinging dramatically upward, but by swinging fairly falt but closing the racket face.
2) There are no topspin serves, only slices. Also, the swing is dramatically outward from 8 to 2 oclock. this greatly simplifes the overly complex instruction that is commonly proferred.
GREAT book.
Book Description
A novel about a man getting in touch with his emotions…spite, jealousy & revenge.
For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete.
But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever.
Part love story, part thriller, a gloriously rich mix that only Stephen Fry can dish up to us, The Stars’ Tennis Balls will leave you happy and replete.
Customer Reviews:
a true wordsmith and storyteller.......2006-02-08
To be honest, I am anything but a fan of Steven Fry the comedian. I find his humour to be well, schoolboyishly undemanding. How is it that when sitting at his typewriter he is able to pen works of such quality and originality? This is an excellent read. The storytelling is gripping, the wordplay and constructions used conjur up images and provoke feelings on several levels. For those of us of a certain age, this book is at times gratifyingly embarrassing as it takes us back to those moments which, when recalled are ear-stingingly painful but at the time made so much sense.
Read this book. If you enjoyed "Perfume," you will probably enjoy this one too.
A fun read!.......2005-10-27
Stephen Fry in the past has written some brilliantly original books that are so overflowing with humor and wit that they are can seem almost too clever. This however, is not 100% original, in that it updates the classic The Count Of Monte Cristo to the modern day. (I should point out that TCOMC is my favorite book of all time, and one that I have read many times in many versions).
The way Fry has transplanted the characters and applied the dot com touch to it, must have been like untangling a huge stubborn knot of string--but he succeeds.
The story touches most of the main points of the classic, each central character from Dumas' book has a Fry counterpart, and while there are changes, they are changes that are in keeping with a contemporise adaptation of the story.
Even though this is a very clever re-telling of such a classic story, and while I enjoyed it, I must say that this lacks the original's grace.
Perhaps the era in which the original story was set had in fact more grace to it, but the conclusion to this version seemed very abrupt and stark.
Dumas brilliantly showed us some of the inner torment that the Dante's character was suffering, while Fry showed nothing like that from Ned Maddstone, leaving a rather one-dimensional feeling in relation to the character. In fact, it was in some of Maddstone's "victims" that you were given greater insights to, especially leading up to their final scenes.
All in all, a fun read very cleverly composed, but nothing more...but I'm sure Fry being the frighteningly clever man he is, realized that his version would suffer in comparison.
Armchair Interviews says: Well worth the read.
Twists and Tricks.......2005-06-15
One of my favorite authors, Fry is wonderful! This book definitely lingered with me- made me rethink those thoughts on revenge and trust...
CLEVER BUT WHAT IS IT?.......2004-11-04
The title 'The Stars' Tennis Balls' looked promising, and the author was well known to me from television. Stephen Fry is the soul of imperturbable urbanity and enlightened sophisticated wit. I have heard him compared, with just a little hyperbole, to Oscar Wilde, a likeness helped by his large corporeal dimensions. When I actually read the book I found wit indeed, and sophistication, and enlightened liberal attitudes. I found a great deal else too. In particular I found myself baffled as to what Fry thought he was doing in writing let alone publishing a story like this.
The title turns out to be taken from Webster's Duchess of Malfi, where it is meant in dead earnest - `We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded/Which way please them.' This is much the same sentiment as in Housman's `mortalem uexantia sidera sortem' - the stars that blight our human lot - suggesting that we are helpless pawns at the mercy of blind uncaring fate and chance. I am completely unable to relate this smart and eye-catching title to the story, which is one of the most improbable I ever read. There is nothing wrong with that in an appropriate case - Gulliver's Travels is not very probable on the face of it. The personae of this drama, far from being buffeted by remote eternal forces, are themselves the agents and victims of brilliant and outlandish human ingenuity, although one early catalyst of what happens is admittedly a wildly flukish coincidence, the kind of thing on which bookmakers' odds would be hard to compute. The various transformations that the main character then goes through are the stuff of legend not reality as most of us would understand the term, more like a modern Arabian Nights. Above all what puzzles me is the complete disproportion between the ostensible and humdrum reasons for ill-feeling towards the `hero' and the inferno of horrors that he first endures and then inflicts. Apart from anything else, it all takes place in a world apparently devoid of any law-enforcement.
Two ways occurred to me to make sense of it all. One was to try to view it as fantasy, an outlandish backdrop to a display of Fry's pet dislikes, mainly petit-bourgeois snobbery and conservative and traditionalist outlooks. These outlooks certainly get short shrift from the author, in a manner familiar from a certain type of enlightened and bien-pensant English intellectual. However what it really suggested to me was the bloodthirsty imaginings of an 8-year-old boy who has taken offence at some of his schoolmates or playmates and who in his mind calls down on them supra-biblical and ultra-Dante horrors. On seeing the name Cade among the cast of characters it crossed my mind that Fry might have got some of his inspiration from Cape Fear, but what the final sequence reminded me of more than anything was some of the Vincent Price movies of happy memory, such as The Abominable Dr Phibes.
I shall own up to mildly enjoying it, but at nearer 400 pages than 300 I recommend reading it quickly. Put it down for too long and you're not likely to pick it up again.
The Stars Tennis Balls, or the Count of Monte Cristo.......2003-10-14
I read the book a week before watching the 1970s film of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, with Pleasance and Chamberlain. I don't want to give anything away but there were so many similarities of plot that I wondered why the book wasn't advertised as an updating of a timeless classic. At the risk of boring you, I found (1) The two heroes carry a letter to an unknown (to them) character who politically is dangerous and are dealt with by an influential policeman who knows the addressee, whom he wants to protect, personally. (2) Both almost marry a woman whose son "could have been" theirs, and who attempts to avenge their actual fathers. 3) Both these actual fathers, rivals for the woman's affections but only able to marry her when the hero conveniently vanishes, have committed rape in Africa, and in both stories the victim comes back to confront them shortly before their deaths. (4) Both heroes meet mentors during their long absence from society, and these mentors educate them in all kinds of ways, philosophical and practical. (5)Both heroes take their mentors' place in identical situations. (6) The heroes, armed with information from their mentors which will make them multimillionaires, come back to take appropriate revenge on each of the four who have destroyed their lives and counts them off each time. (7) The heroes end their tales avenged but unfulfilled and heading back to islands.
Average customer rating:
- Tennis Debauchery
- Great Book...exceptional journalism.
- Great!
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Hard Courts
John Feinstein
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0394583337
Release Date: 1991-08-13 |
Book Description
The new edition of this bestseller in hardcover features never-before-published, all-new inside info on the money, personalities and politics of pro-tennis: Jimmy, Monica, Boris, Martina, et al. Now in paper.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Tennis Debauchery.......2002-02-07
John Feinstein is such a fascinating writer and sports critic that someone should recognize his work in some way, shape or form. "Hard Courts" is a microscopic scrutiny of the men's and women's tennis tour throughout the entire 1990 calendar year. Though a bit outdated, it is a book for all ages and all sports fans. Feinstein's writing message is as effective as his many inteview appearances on National Public Radio. He is blunt, obsessed and even subjective, but also well-informed, uncontradictory and fair, and most definitely, never arrogant. Enjoyable reading!
Great Book...exceptional journalism........1999-08-19
I have copies of two books by John Feinstein...Hard Courts and A Season Inside. Both are fantastic. A fascinating look at a year (1990) on the professional tennis circuit. A must read for any follower of the game.
Great!.......1999-01-06
Read the book in 2 sittings, even though I've never picked up a racquet in my life! Feinstein brings characters to life and provides great insight into the Pro Tennis circuit. Good read for any sports fan.
Book Description
Coaching Youth Tennis is an excellent introduction to youth coaching and teaching young tennis players valuable skills. It provides all the information you need to coach effectively and help 6- to 18-year-old athletes learn and enjoy the game.
This third edition features the games approach to coaching tennis, which makes practice more fun for the kids and teaching more effective for you, the coach. Also included are chapters on communicating with athletes and parents, planning and conducting practices, and coaching during games.
Developed by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), the nation's number one coaching education program, and with the USTA, Coaching Youth Tennis provides volunteer coaches with both an explanation of their role and concrete instructions on fulfilling that role.
Customer Reviews:
A good baseline..........2000-03-29
I was interested in a book to learn tennis basics to help my daughter the love of the game that my wife and I both have. This is the one! Not only were the tips helpful to my daughter but we also learned a few things as well. This book should be in any tennis parents library.
Average customer rating:
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Rookie Coaches Tennis Guide (ACEP Rookie Coaches Guides)
American Coaching Effectiveness Program
Manufacturer: Leisure Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0880114207 |
Average customer rating:
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101 Ways to Have Fun with a Tennis Ball
Christopher Dunkley
Manufacturer: Open Door Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1902322053 |
Product Description
This report was created for global strategic planners who cannot be content with traditional methods of segmenting world markets. With the advent of a borderless world, cities become a more important criteria in prioritizing markets, as opposed to regions, continents, or countries. This report covers the top 2000 cities in over 200 countries. It does so by reporting the estimated market size (in terms of latent demand) for each major city of the world. It then ranks these cities and reports them in terms of their size as a percent of the country where they are located, their geographic region (e.g. Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Latin America), and the total world market. In performing various economic analyses for its clients, I have been occasionally asked to investigate the market potential for various products and services across cities. The purpose of the studies is to understand the density of demand within a country and the extent to which a city might be used as a point of distribution within its region. From an economic perspective, however, a city does not represent a population within rigid geographical boundaries. To an economist or strategic planner, a city represents an area of dominant influence over markets in adjacent areas. This influence varies from one industry to another, but also from one period of time to another. In what follows, I summarize the economic potential for the world\'s major cities for "badminton, paint ball, racquetball, squash, and table tennis equipment and traditional and clamp-on roller skates and related equipment" for the year 2007. The goal of this report is to report my findings on the real economic potential, or what an economist calls the latent demand, represented by a city when defined as an area of dominant influence. The reader needs to realize that latent demand may or may not represent real sales. For many items, latent demand is clearly observable in sales, as in the case for food or housing items. Consider, however, the category "satellite launch vehicles". Clearly, there are no launch pads in most cities of the world. However, the core benefit of the vehicles (e.g. telecommunications, etc.) is "consumed" by residents or industries within the world\'s cities. Without certain cities, in other words, the market for satellite launch vehicles would be lower for the world in general. One needs to allocate, therefore, a portion of the worldwide economic demand for launch vehicles to both regions and cities. This report takes the broader definition and considers, therefore, a city as a part of the global market.
Product Description
This study covers the latent demand outlook for badminton, paint ball, racquetball, squash, and table tennis equipment and traditional and clamp-on roller skates and related equipment across the regions of Greater China, including provinces, autonomous regions (Guangxi, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Xizang - Tibet), municipalities (Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and Taiwan (all hereafter referred to as regions). Latent demand (in millions of U.S. dollars), or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.) estimates are given across some 1,100 cities in Greater China. For each major city in question, the percent share the city is of the region and of Greater China is reported. Each major city is defined as an area of economic population, as opposed to the demographic population within a legal geographic boundary. For many cities, the economic population is much larger that the population within the city limits; this is especially true for the cities of the Western regions. For the coastal regions, cities which are close to other major cities or which represent, by themselves, a high percent of the regional population, actual city-level population is closer to the economic population (e.g. in Beijing). Based on this economic definition of population, comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a citys marketing and distribution value vis-à-vis others. This exercise is quite useful for persons setting up distribution centers or sales force strategies. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each region and city of influence, latent demand estimates are created for badminton, paint ball, racquetball, squash, and table tennis equipment and traditional and clamp-on roller skates and related equipment. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.
Product Description
This study covers the latent demand outlook for badminton, paint ball, racquetball, squash, and table tennis equipment and traditional and clamp-on roller skates and related equipment across the states, union territories and cities of India. Latent demand (in millions of U.S. dollars), or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.) estimates are given across some 5,000 cities in India. For each city in question, the percent share the city is of its state or union territory and of India as a whole is reported. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a city vis-à-vis others. This statistical approach can prove very useful to distribution and/or sales force strategies. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each state or union territory and city, latent demand estimates are created for badminton, paint ball, racquetball, squash, and table tennis equipment and traditional and clamp-on roller skates and related equipment. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.
Average customer rating:
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Madman of Ch'U: The Chinese Myth of Loyalty and Dissent
Laurence Schneider
Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0520036859 |
Books:
- Balthus Catalogue Raisonne of the Complete Works
- Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares (Step-Into-Reading, Step 4)
- Buenos Aires
- CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
- Chemistry in Focus: A Molecular View of Our World
- Chimneys in the Desert: Industrialization in Argentina During the Export Boom Years, 1870-1930
- Courage Tastes of Blood: The Mapuche Community of Nicolás Ailío and the Chilean State, 1906-2001 (Radical Perspectives)
- Cyclops (Clive Cussler)
- Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution
- Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh
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