Important things.

I will now discuss several of the books most important to me. I will list them in chronological order, from earliest to most recent. Based upon when I first came to possess them. First, and most important, is "Comparisons", by The Diagram Group, 240 pages. . Published 1980, I've had my copy since approx. 1982. As an aside, the condition of the book in the scan is bad. But I have since done a fairly through (if amateur) repair/rebinding of my book, including reinforcing the spine, especially at the corners. Also, dog-eared/curled page corners have been flattened and pressed. It is still not as nice as I'd like, but is much better. I recently found out there is an older version of the book in hardcover. I will have to get one someday.

Anyhow, This book is simply amazing. It consists of many pages of wonderful graphic representations of relative speeds, distances, sizes, capacities, etc. The illustrations are great line drawings as well as graphs and charts. At chapter breaks, it includes reproductions of historic diagrams/engravings or photographs. My copy of the book (with my childhood name written in the inside cover) was literally in many pieces until my recent repair. This is simply my favorite book of my childhood. I dearly wish there was an updated edition, as many of the human-achieved "records" (speed, depth, altitude, distance) are no longer accurate. Nevertheless, I will keep and treasure this book forever.