Moving Heavy Things Paperback – Illustrated, November 15, 2004

If you pick this book up you can't put it down because it's so fascinating. Gave it to my son, a contractor, for Christmas and he is buried in it!

Quite comprehensive guide to different methods of moving heavy things. Good hand drawn illustrations of different techniques and setups. This is not a detailed guide on each method and additional research will be needed to effectively use any of these methods but this book will get you good ideas on what to look for.

If you are a tinkerer or do-it-yourselfer then spend the $$$ on this book. I learned many things that I have started using and hope to use.Pros:-Well-designed; simple layout, good wording and good illustrations.-Great general info and advice for approaching projects.-Great specific advice about materials, methods and techniques.Cons:-I really wish there was about twice as much info. I would have preferred to pay twice as much for even a third more info. I get the feeling that the author had a lot more to say but decided to keep it short.Overall a great experience, I plan to buy more from the series, starting with the ones on knots.

not much of a 'how to' book. more like 'what if'. really, for the price you get very few practical scenarios - more like a general philosophy. needed 3 or 4 more chapters of real life situations/applications. anyone with an understanding of high school physics would be just as prepared as this book will leave you.

I bought this as a gag after another misadventure that could have been prevented with proper leverage, but it turns out "Lifting Heavy Things" is both an amusing and surprisingly practical read.Now, I’m not saying I’m ready to hoist a grand piano solo, but thanks to this book, I at least know the correct way to pretend I’m thinking about it.

Moving Heavy Things is one of the top "Young Adult" (JR High School and up) books in each of several subcategories of Amazon's "Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works" hierarchy. The simple, yet to the point title has the classic feel of a children's "how to" book, yet the book is far from fluff.The focus is on simple mechanics, and manages to cover a broad range of concepts through explanation and illustration rather than with discussions of vectors, equations and complex formulas. Without mentioning terms such as kinematics or dynamics, it gives readers a feel for what the real life effects of weight distribution, centering, friction, pulleys, and wedges are on moving day to day objects of the larger varieties.It covers everything from block and tackle to enough different knots to impress a Boy Scout. Some of it might be too advanced for many pre-teens, but even older teens and "young adults" might consider it a fun casual read. It's not meant to be a scientific or field manual in any literal sense, but even a non technical adult might be able to walk away with a better understanding of the world because of it. It's not completely free of formulas or calculations either, but a solid foundation of arithmetic is all that should be needed to make sense of them.

Not only are the black and white penned illustrations wonderfully clear in demonstrating how folks once accomplished very hard work, but each picture is entirely lively. It feels as if you could be standing alongside, wondering what they're going to do next. And of course, Mr Adkins shows you exactly that, next.One lovely change of perspective: we wait for summertime to get things done outdoors, starting up generators, renting big machinery. Of old, they'd let things wait til winter. That's when carefully maintained snow beds allowed sleds and sleighs smooth passage, and very heavy things very moved easily. All of Jan Adkins' books show delight in such unexpected sleights of perspective- and how would we know, having not lived then, if Mr. Adkins hadn't looked into old-fashioned ways so carefully?Another pleasant aspect of Mr. Adkins' drawing is his draftsmanship of precise, deftly drawn, believable scenes of olden country days. I usually have a hard time puzzling out the movements signified in most mechanical diagrams. Mr. Adkins seems to divide up the stages of cause and effect into stages perfectly sized for my mind to easily connect them into smooth-flowing chains of action and reaction.I really hope you enjoy this as much as I have. I've bought it several times by now, just to give it away to loved ones who'd appreciate this marvelous visit to the cleverness of our forebears.