Iron Horses: The Illustrated History of the Tracks and Trains of North America

Rating:
Summary: Great photos -- poorly written/edited
Review: The saving grace of this book is its photo content, both the historical ones selected by the author and those he took himself. The text suffers from poor grammar and even worse editing. For example, the same person's name is spelled two different ways in the same paragraph and the verb tenses shift wildly throughout. There are also faults that appear related to poor proofreading. For example, text that appears to merge two sentences, with words left out. The frequency of these errors (typically two or three per page) significantly detract from the ability to read and enjoy the historical research Del Vecchio reports. Buy the book for its wonderful photographic record of steam in America and skip the narrative.

Rating:
Summary: Great photos -- poorly written/edited
Review: The saving grace of this book is its photo content, both the historical ones selected by the author and those he took himself. The text suffers from poor grammar and even worse editing. For example, the same person's name is spelled two different ways in the same paragraph and the verb tenses shift wildly throughout. There are also faults that appear related to poor proofreading. For example, text that appears to merge two sentences, with words left out. The frequency of these errors (typically two or three per page) significantly detract from the ability to read and enjoy the historical research Del Vecchio reports. Buy the book for its wonderful photographic record of steam in America and skip the narrative.

Rating:
Summary: Great Photos - Tough Reading
Review: This book has some great photos and tons of useful information. The info on some of the currently operating lines is very helpful for those looking for a real live train experience. Unfortunately most of the text in the book is set in a font that is extremely difficult on the eyes. I know, I'm getting older and these bifocals aren't the greatest, but I have never come across a book where trying to read the body text is such a chore.

But then, thats my opinion. Other than that, the book is great.