Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the best and most comprehensive millitary vehicle identification book I have ever read. I'm an M1A1 tank driver for the US army and I was impressed with the amount of information in this book. I actually used this book to point out flaws on our Vehicle ID test. Now that I have it, all my fellow tankers want a copy.

I'm a big fan of weapons encyclopedias. This is one of the best. If you're into AFV's, you can't live without this wonderful resource. Containing over 900 different AFV's from 1915 to current vehicles, they are smartly seperated by country of origin. I was surprised to see the numerous weapons systems that are currently in development. Very contemporary and in touch with the world of AFVs. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Military History, Fighting Vehicles, and scale modelling.

I'm a big fan of anything Chris Foss writes, publishes or edits. His facts aren't always spot on - his deadlines for publication obviously have him rush and cut corners. I purchased this book in December 2003 and have spent many hours flipping the pages. Overall - I enjoy owning and reading this book.

If you are a hobbiest, enthusiast or historian of armored vehicles - this book is a lot of fun - filled with enough data of historical development and progression of armored vehicles - from every country imaginable - that you can lose many hours turning the pages.

I do not keep this book at work. As a defense contractor, historical data more than 40 years old is useless to combat simulation modeling (unless we're looking sub-Sahara Africa or Central Asia). There are many other unclassified pocket guides, and books that are more handy to use to identify and collect performance data - and to do my real world computer modeling.

Overall - I enjoy this book for it's historical data - it's a pleasure to read - and "re-discover" obsolete vehicles I used to operate - or commanded units of. Looking back across the years - one wonders what would have happened if I would have met my Soviet counterparts with their T-54/55 and T-62, T-64 or T-72's - with my M-48A3/5s, M-60A1 and M60A3 models.

Buy the book to enjoy and learn the history of every country's armored vehicle development programs. The historical prospective given by this encyclopedia gives one data to strike up conversations with military veterans and counterparts of all nations and compare data. Gives a good foundation to understand the combat results each of these vehicles gave the countries that utilized them in war!

A great (big) book better suited for the coffee table at home than the bookshelf at work.

As was indicated in a previous review, if you need up-to-the-minute data on modern Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs), this is not the book for you. However, that is just about its only weakness.

This superb volume is ideal for everyone from the casual 'military historian' to avid model builders and those who just want solid information on AFVs of all types from all nations.

Written in a no-nonsense style meant for the layperson, the text is informative and authoritative without being boring or overwhelming. Major design improvements are carefully pointed out, as well as models that fell flat on their tracks (or wheels).

The book is presented in encyclopedia format, with the largest division being country of origin. The AFV designs are then sub-divided into Armored Cars, Tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers and Self-propelled Guns. Each entry includes important data such as armament, weight, speed, crew, year of introduction and major variations. The vast majority of entries include at least one photograph.

As of the writing of this review, I have owned my copy of The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles for slightly less than two years. I need a new one, because this one is worn out.

Whatever the reason behind your interest in AFVs, this book will entrall you. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A must-have for students of World War I and II tanks.

After having purchased hundreds of reference books on AFV's over the years, this is the book I keep going back to the most. From WWI up through modern, the sheer amount of information included is staggering, especially considering it features many designs you will not find in even more focused collections.

As an all-around resource on the subject, it simply can't be beat, if you can locate a copy, grab it while you can, as they are getting harder to find.

I think this book is good, but it could have been great. It is clear that the editing could have been more rigorous. I have found both technical errors (some of them painfully obvious) and typos in the text. Mediocre editing aside, this book is a good value compared to other reference volumes (Jane's for example). The author does omit some vehicle characteristics that I think should be included (like ground pressure). I hope that future editions will be scrutinized a little more before hitting the press.

Book is for begginers in the armored vehicles domain rather than experts who want to enlarge their knowledge. I found numerous minor errors in the book that could of been corrected like the BMP-1 and BMP-2 crew capacity who are wrong. A great book if you don't have or have minimal knowledge in the domain.

very good, concise and fairly exhaustive book coverign almost all of the tanks produced in the 20th century. a must have book.

only improvement would have been more on the main sub-versions of each model that was mass produced (i.e. Pz III, IV; sherman, T-34, etc.)

but a great book to own for any military history affecionado