Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Weapons: From World War II to the Present Day

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

 

 

I have read many books on small arms and this is the best. Unlike some books that are all specs or all pictures, this has a good blend of both, plus it contains entertaining and illuminating anecdotes about many of the weapons. The most popular weapons have extended treatments.

The pictures of the weapons are in color. Black and white pictures of the weapon in action accompany many of the articles. There are color drawings illustrating usage of some weapons. In a few important cases, there are detailed drawings showing parts. The book is intelligently organized with a good layout.

This is truly an encyclopedic work. It covers all of the models of each weapon, noting important differences. Origins of designs are given. Key specifications, such as caliber, weight, and rate of fire, are listed. Multiple country usage is indicated along with current usage, where relevant. Pros and cons of a weapon are often given, including production changes that either improved or degraded the weapon.

If you like military history or weaponry, you will find this an enjoyable book to read and a useful reference.

This is a decent book on weapons, if that is your interest, but take the information with a grain of salt. This title is loaded with flaws. As with other "Encyclopedia Of ..." books from this publishing house (a British firm), it is loaded with nationalistic bias. For example, any weapon designed by Great Britan is fantastic, any U.S. weapon is good but fragile, any German weapon is durable but over-designed and hard to manufacture and repair, and any Soviet weapon ( with the exception of the AK series)is poorly made, heavy junk.

As another reviewer points out, some of the photographs are misplaced or poorly captioned. An example of this is the section on the Barrett Light 50 sniper rifle; the photograph shown is of a different sniper rifle entirely. Surely, there must be photos of the two Barrett sniper rifles out there, considering their popularity with the U.S. Special Forces amd the U.S. Marine Corp in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Finally, one sentence in the book seemed to sum up the shoddy editing. In a discription of the FN 2000 modular assualt rifle, they discuss how the rifle comes with a 1.6 power scope, "large enough to help you aim, but not so large that you need both eyes shut to aim." BOTH EYES SHUT? You'd miss for sure, and so did this book. Buy it only because of the large number of weapons that it covers (from handguns to light artillery) but watch out for its accuracy.

Nice cover and an acceptable content. However, the data and the layout could be more detailed and better designed. The large book format is also a disadvantage when you look for a reference to use on a day-to-day basis. The most commonly used weapons are listed, but interesting details are missing and a more extensive list of weapons is desirable. Ok reference to start with, if you have no or limited knowledge within the area.

I just got this book to fill an order for a gift card I have had for over a year. I have just flipped through a few pages and have noticed many inaccuracies mostly with pictures and their captions. As an example on page 262 the article on Chinese type 56 shows some girls that are each obviously holding a SKS and the captions says they are type 56 carbines. This is just one of many I have noticed and I have just flipped a few pages.

It is a nice book for anyone who wants to know some things about small arms and artillery from WW II to the present day (like the title suggested).
But this book is not a complete one, especially on small arms informations. Informations about small arms inside this book really need to be added and be more detailed, because it's just too small and incomplete to become an encyclopedia. At least that's what I think.

Very comprehensive. It includes most NATO and WarPact smallarms, but fails to mention anything about the M240 general purpose machinegun. It does mention the the FN product from which it was liscensed, however.

This was a gift for my son who has a great interest in weaponry. He loved it.