[rating:4/5]

This book is, without question, an exemplary work on the fascinating topic of kites. This work explores their history in detail and should certainly be in the library of anyone who is interested in the subject.Sadly, there are some problems with this book that are certainly unrelated to its content but, due to their ability to interfere with reading it, must be mentioned here. Never, and I mean this literally, have I ever read a book which was published using such incredibly small type and my vision certainly isn’t that bad. The type used is so small that it’s almost impossible to read much without getting distracted. Furthermore, the type used for captions to the many great photographs and drawings is even smaller. Then, to compound matters, the ink used for text reflects light in such a way that one can only read the book when positioned properly. According to the cover pages, the book was printed in China and, I don’t know if they used poor printing techniques or where just trying to save money but this book is, without question, the most poorly published I’ve ever come across. About my only criticism regarding the content of this book is that it could use a quick edit as there are few items that get annoying very quickly; in particular, the author’s (or editor’s) decision to use the metric system (nothing wrong with that, per se) but that those measurements are consistently then provided using the imperial system with that number being preceded with the word “say.” For example, the kite measured one meter (say 1.09 yards), etc. The strange use of the word “say” (which often appears several times on a page) gets to be really irritating.

Granted, this review is rather different but the poor publishing and editing decisions greatly interfere with what would otherwise be an incredible book.