5 comments about Umbrella Mike: The True Story of the Chicago Gangster Behind the Indy 500.

1. The book was a good read on one of the more interesting characters in Indianapolis 500 history. There has been little previous information about one of the most successful car owners in Indy history.
   
   The material was not too in depth, but gave a good account of the Boyle Maserati that won the Indy 500 in 1939-40 with Wilbur Shaw behind the wheel.



2. Great Book, couldn't put it down until I finished it! If you like the history of how a great race car was born and how three special guy's, Wilbur Shaw, Ted Horn and Cotton Henning made the Masarati 8CTF a legend, get this book! This car was a winner in 1939-40, should have won in 1941, and finished no worse than 4th from 1946 to 1948. It was still competing in the 500 until 1951.



3. A fascinating look at mainly preWWII (but some post-war) Indy 500 and open-wheeled racing history. This is a great read if you are at all interested in American open-wheel racing, which was one of the most dangerous forms of motor racing in the world but a unique motorsport art form.



4. Excellent expose by autoracing expert Brock Yates of Chicago gangster Mike Boyle and his dominance in Indy-car racing in the late 20's through the early post WWII period. Yates brings out the links between Boyle and nearly all of the big name drivers and engineers of the day. With Favorite driver Wilbur Shaw, Boyle's Maserati won Indy twice, and became the most successful Indy car in history. But one wonders how much influence Boyle had, through Shaw, in convincing Tony Hulman to purchase the track after WWII? Although not a subject Yates discusses, the implications arre certainly there. The book is marred only by the lack of an index (highly needed) and Yates redundant phraseology about WWII.
   A welcome addition would be a chart showing the links between Boyle and arch rival Joel Thorne. A must for Indy history fans!!



5. I bought this book because of my interest in the Indy 500, because the title was very intriguing, and because I was familar with the author from articles he wrote for a popular automobile magazine. As it turned out, the book was not that interesting and added very little to my knowledge of the "greatest spectacle in racing". I rate a good book as on that I will want read again and again and that also motivates me to find out more on its subject matter. This book does neither.

No comments about The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog, Updated 3rd Edition.

4 comments about MapEasy's Guidemap to Chicago.

1. This is a really unique and interesting map. The map is made of a plastic-type, flexible material, so it doesn't rip or wear easily. It is very sturdy! While it doesn't cover the entire city (just the downtown area and a small overview map of the Chicago area) it lists RESTAURANTS, HOTELS, and other attractions with brief comments on price, etc. It has a lot of useful information, and yet it is very clean and SO easy to read. We have used this map several times when staying in downtown Chicago and it is perfect for those times after a long day of sight-seeing or shopping when you want to know, "Where do we eat?" Also, for those of you who have small children or limited desire for walking long distances, you can easily count the blocks to the nearest McDonald's from your location. This map was perfect for trip planning on the fly and I highly recommend it! (By the way, this map does not have any public transporation information on it, but it does show where parking garages are located).



2. Sorry, there IS information about the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) train system in this map. See review below.



3. I have used this map for the last 6 years. I have purchased and passed on my map to friends and recently bought another copy. It's the best map of Chicago next to the CTA map. Not only is it useful, it makes a nice keepsake of the city.



4. This laminated guide is great for sightseeing use. It includes the Mag Mile, The Loop, and other visitor areas. and the CTA. However, it does not cover the whole city. Different landmarks and businesses are included which is great if you are not familiar with the city.

2 comments about Rand McNally 2008 Chicago 7-County Street Guide: Cook - Dupage - Kane - Kendall - Lake - Mchenry - Will (Rand Mcnally Chicago 7 County Steet Guide).

1. Useful for navigating around the metro area. Pretty heavy book so not quite suitable for walking through the city with it. The new I-355 tollway extension is included in this edition.



2. I find this book very educational and helpful for school. It also helps for geographic purpose.

2 comments about City in Time: Chicago.

1. If you love Chicago, you'll love this book, especially if you are no longer near Chicago.
   We have here 140 pages of pictures of Chicago landmarks, sorted into "then" on the left page and "now" on the right, accompanied by about a hundred words of caption explaining what you are looking at and why it is significant. All are landmarks of Chicago and include at least one spot everybody who has ever been there must have gone by, stared at, gone in, or admired.
   As a graduate of Illinois Tech., I did catch one awful clinker. To have the building on page 109 (the original Old Main of Armour Institute of Technology) called Crown Hall (it is really about two blocks from there) must have had Mies van der Rohe spinning in his grave for at least a month.



2. This book combines history and photography. Many landmarks are featured, including the Art Institute, the museums, the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago, the Sears Tower, Daley Center (formerly the Civic Center), Wrigley Field, and much more.
   
   Chicago inventions are discussed, such as the Ferris wheel, the Chicago-style hot dog, the Hostess Twinkies, softball, etc. Besides, many "firsts" took place in Chicago, including the first man-made nuclear chain reaction in 1942.
   
   Although Chicago is now the third largest city in the US, and is dwarfed by many urban complexes throughout the world, it still is ranked among the top "Alpha" 10 cities in the entire world in terms of its overall influence (p. 11).
   
   A bibliography is provided for further reading about this exciting city.

3 comments about Frommer's Chicago 2007 (Frommer's Complete).

1. This book was really helpful when my boyfriend and I spent a weekend in Chicago. The map that is enclosed is really helpful when walking around and picking up the EL. Please purchase any Frommer's Book if your planning trip. Very informative. I looking into purchasing the Frommers RV and Camping books.



2. My first Frommer's purchase and I was disappointed. Not as much info as I expected. Did like the pullout map.



3. Frommer's Chicago 2007 was useful in our recent trip. The tear-out map is excellent. We already had hotel reservations so didn't need the book for finding a place to stay, but the book was very valuable in finding eating establishments, and knowing in advance what price to expect. We recommend the Russian Tea Time, Heaven on Seven, and Giordano's. For a big night out, try Arun's - probably the best Thai food you'll ever have, and expect to pay $100 -$150 per person. Grab a hot dog at Portillo's, or let the vintage clothing-clad waiters put you down (for good clean fun) at Ed Debevic's. Come to think of it, although the book is good, our vacation was perfect - just try our eating choices, visit the Field Museum and the Art Institute, take the el out to Oak Park to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home and other houses he designed, and spend some time playing on the Navy Pier. Take in a few shows in the evenings and have a great time!

5 comments about White Waters and Black.

1. When your read of other expeditions and how well they were conducted, then you read Gordon MacCreagh's humorous account of a mistake-ridden expedition into the Amazon, and you may wonder how this could happen. Clearly, the leader of MacCreagh's expedition was no Roy Chapman Andrews. Too many mistakes with both men and equipment. It is a humorous, often hilarious account of how not to conduct an expedition into the Amazon -- or anywhere else. I found it to be much better than Peter Fleming's "Amazon Adventure" and somewhat better than Arthur O. Friel's "River of Seven Stars," which has not been reprinted. MacCreagh's sense of humor and keen observations are what place this book at the top of my list of exploration/expedition books. I found it difficult to keep from sharing portions of this book with family and friends...



2. I can't believe you can get this book used! I own three copies and I don't even loan it out. This is a terrific expedition book and a wonderful book about being human. My family was thrilled to know that this book was being re-issued. Like one of the other reviewers, I was brought up knowing who the various scientists were because my father had worked with a colleague. It gave us plesure to know the names, some of whom were quite well known even today. It was also nice to know that at least for the eminent icthyolgist and the eminent entomologist the work that they produced from this expedition was very useful. I have recommmened this book countless times, and get copies for friends I really like.



3. Mr MacCreagh has maganed to write an outstanding book based on a rather unsuccessful expedition. It is the tale of an expedition of eight eminent scientist in the Amazon, who were put together not for their ability in the outdoors, but for their scientific knowledge.
   
   The author is a helper/manager of the expedition. He manages to describe the expedition from its beginning in the Bolivia highlands out to the Amazon plains and to its disintegration. It is quite clear that the scientist were not sure what to expect, and so had not prepared accordingly. Huge volumes of luggage went unused and were a huge burden. Egos and discomfort made the scientist into bickering children and inept explorers. The author masks their names because apparently these were well known figures of their time.
   
   There is a bit of scientific content in the book, but clearly the main reason to read it is for the good humor of the author in describing the situations they get themselves in. One learns more about people and how they behave when taken to extremes than one does about the Amazon.



4. I am enjoying this travel account very much. It's like Bertie Wooster goes to the jungle.



5. Over the Andes and through the jungle to ineptness we go. A quite humorous account of science gone jumbled. But not all is lost here.
   
   In 1923 eight scientists plus the author venture through the South American mountains and rainforests to make further discoveries in their respective fields of study. Touted as, "The most perfectly equipped expedition that has ever started to explore South America", it quickly unfolds into a blundering journey with many problems and mishaps.
   
   Thanks to MacCreagh's sense of humor and wit we see how every imaginable incident went from bad to worse. One by one these scientists quit the expedition to forsake the author and one other to travel up the remote Uaupes and Tiquie Rivers meeting face to face with hostile natives. What transpires is a remarkable short term study into the culture of these indigenous peoples.
   Entertaining read.

2 comments about Explorers of the Amazon.

1. I have read and re-read this wonderful account of the history of Amazonian exploration since the hardcover edition first came out in 1990. Anthony Smith, an inveterate science writer, writes with warmth and humor as he describes the very first European travels down this mighty waterway, those of the Spaniards Don Francisco de Orellana and the notorious Lope de Aguirre (the subject of Werner Herzog's 1972 movie "Aguirre, Wrath of God") and the Portugese navigator Pedro Teixeira. Next came the scientists, including la Condamine and von Humboldt followed in the latter nineteenth century by a bevy of entrepeneurs who expropriated rubber and other commodities from the rainforest. A well-written book on a fascinating subject!



2. The Amazon has always been a source of dreams and threats to European explorers. In this volume, Anthony Smith selects a few explorers and adventurers who have sougth fame, honor, fortune or knowledge in the banks of the Amazon. The selection is a bit random with some characters, but overall provides a very interesting and readable collection of great men and women.
   
   Devoting about 30-40 pages per explorer, the book covers the following:
   1) Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil. He was never to the Amazon, so it is a bit unclear what he is doing in this volume.
   2) Orellana, the first Spaniard down the Amazon, the first man to report seeing the Amazon women.
   3) Aguirre, the madman who went down the Amazon in a murderous rage only to turn back and try to conquer Peru again.
   4) Teixeira, the man who asserted Portuguese possession of the Amazon, sailing against the current up the Amazon.
   5) Condamine, the first scientist down the Amazon.
   6) The Godin's, one fo the greatest love stories in the world, where a woman, separated for 30yrs from her husband, goes down the Amazon to meet him.
   7) Humboldt, the last renaissance man, does most of his scientific discoveries in the northern Amazon, including the famous Casiquiare canal.
   8) Spruce and Wickham, two botanists and robbers of some of the wealth of the Amazon - cinchona and rubber trees.
   9) Arana, the great and evil character of the Putumayo, where some of the greatest atrocities of the rubber boom were committed against indians.
   
   These stories are well told, though some important characters are not listed -- Wallace and Bates, for example. Highly recommended though, as a door to finding out more about this great region and its history.

4 comments about Chicago Neighborhood Map Second Edition (Maps & Atlases) (Maps & Atlases).

1. I love this map! I'm so glad to see it on Amazon.

   In the early 90's I moved to Chicago, where this uniquely detailed map helped me learn my way around my new city. You can't understand Chicago without understanding its neighborhoods, and this map is the best way to learn how this great city fits together.

   Now that I live in California, this map is a reminder of the many happy times I spent in Chicago: a friend I met in Ukrainian Village, a girl I dated in Bucktown, the many Cubs games I watched in Wrigleyville, and so on. I can even see the south-side birthplace of my great-great-grandfather.

   I even enjoy the little mistakes: this is a hand-drawn map, not a cold computer-generated map, and tiny errors and corrections add to its quirky charm without diminishing its utility.

   If you live in Chicago, or if you used to live in Chicago, this map is a treat! I'm buying my second copy and framing it.




2. This item is deceptive to say the least.It's hardly a map, it's just a patchwork of color blotches, hand drawn, unprecise and definitely ugly looking. Useless: don't throw your money away.



3. To talk about Chicago to a Chicago native you have to speak in the language of neighborhoods and this map is the Rosetta stone to that language. I moved to the city in the late 80s and found that street maps were fine tools to navigate my way to a place with an address that I knew. But all the conversations with natives about that place were about the neighborhood. And neighborhoods can be elusive to define or even locate.
   
   Standard street maps show little or no explicit neighborhood identification but this map shows all that you need. Note that this is NOT a thorough street map but that's not its purpose. The street info here is for reference to locate borders of the neighborhoods that all natives use to talk about and navigate in Chicago. This is an entertaining and useful tool to learn about a fascinating and complex city.



4. I still have not received these posters yet. At the time I purchased this item there was no mention that it would take over 3 months to receive these items. It even took 6 weeks for Amazon to email me to say that it would not arrive within a 4-6 weeks. After that email I have only received emails wanting me to buy more things from Amazon and have yet to hear if I am ever going to get these posters ($50 I believe although it's been so long that I can barely remember). Why would I want to buy something from Amazon when they don't get things to you on time and have minimal contact about when I will receive my product subsequently. I will have a very difficult time buying from Amazon in the future or recomending anyone to do the same.

4 comments about Traveling Route 66: 2,250 Miles of Motoring History from Chicago to L.A..

1. Don't let the size of this book fool you. Approximately the height & width of a post card, it is packed with vibrant full color pictures and information. Archive photos, current conditions of Route 66 icons and roads, and text that is very well written. Even regional culinary receipes from the Mother Road! What more could you ask? An excellent book for both actual and arm chair Route 66 travelers.



2. It's small but its got it all. Rather than turn out another normal size book on Route 66 the publishers had the great idea of making it pocket size, four by six inches, landscape and with FOUR-HUNDRED all-color pages. I predict that this will be the standard book for those who want to make the trip. Each of the eight states that 66 goes through has a chapter, they start with a simple map, comments about landscape and climate, then the text details what to look for along the way, with the help of historical and contemporary photos, a linear map with places and mileage goes across the top of all of these pages.
   
   Between all the route pages are some lovely spreads of Route 66 Americana which repeat themselves throughout the book, Route Food (pages 174-175 has Red-Hot BBQ Beef Ribs) Transport (168-169 has a 1936 Harley-Davidson) Music of the Road (Woody Guthrie on 156-157) and Famous Sites (Wigwam Village, Holbrook, AZ, on 294-295). The books production is excellent, good choice of photos, well laid out pages (a tip of the hat to designer Phillip Clucas) with colourful graphics behind the text on most of them. The back has a book list, useful resources guide (including websites) and index.
   
   I recently reviewed 'The Final Cut Route 66' by German photographer Gerd Kittel. Eighty-three wonderful photographs of what he saw along 66 and I think it is the perfect book to complement Nick Freeth's travelogue. Kittel has the knack of producing really good color in his photos. Both books do justice to a unique and fascinating bit of America.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



3. This book has become my introduction to the Mother Road legacy and it was unforgettable experience! Perhaps, its most thrilling feature is in a "stereoscopic" layout of the pages where vintage and contemporary photos neighbor "native" food receipes and period vehicles. Now that I have sensed ambience of the past and have get my kicks I can readily recommend reading this book before, during and after a real trip.



4. Compared to other Route 66 books, this one rates far below them. I can appreciate the love for the mother road in it, but there's too much fluff. I don't care about what songs the author recommends, or the cars. There's also some glaring mistakes, which could throw you off. If you want to travel '66, this is NOT the book you want to use.
   
   For a "look see" book, OK, but your money would be better spent on something like "Route 66: The Mother Road" by Michael Wallis.
   
   If you want to travel the route, spend you money on "Route 66 Adventure Handbook: Updated and Expanded Third Edition" by Drew Knowles or "Route 66: EZ66 Guide for Travelers" (best choice) by Jerry McClanahan.
   
   If I had it to do over again, I would not have purchased this book.