MOVING HEAVY THINGS PA [Paperback]

Jan Adkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1991

Demonstrates a variety of techniques used to move heavy objects.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jan Lee Adkins was born on the Ohio River in West Virginia and raised in Wheeling. He attended public school in St. Clairsville, Ohio. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Sandpiper (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039560284X
• ISBN-13: 978-0395602843
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,098,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jan Adkins was raised in West Virginia and Ohio, around Wheeling. He spent a lot of time wandering the woods around his home with a .22. He was at Ohio State University for many years studying architecture, first, then literature. He worked as a draftsman for one of Eero Saarinen's senior designers, W. Byron Ireland. Married, he moved to his wife's wonderful hometown of Wareham, Massachusetts, which is still home for him. Many of his books are set in New England waters where he sailed up and down the coast with his family.

He has three children: Sally lives with her husband Patrick in Gainesville, Florida, with grandsons Max and Luc; Sam is a chef in DC with his lovely partner Aphra; Web and his Cyn live in Seattle with grandchildren Alder and River.

He moved to Washington, DC, to be an art director for National Geographic Magazine for almost nine years, living in DC and then in Annapolis. He's written for Smithsonian Magazine, Cricket and Muse Magazines, Harper's, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, WoodenBoat, Maine Boats Homes & Harbors and others. He also works on museum exhibits with Eisterhold Associates out of Kansas City.

For several years he taught editorial illustration, history of illustration, and graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design and at Maryland Institute, College of Art. He misses teaching.

He writes books of non-fiction for young people, his special audience. He also writes humor and feature articles for several magazines. He has illustrated for all his books and for dozens of mainstream magazines, especially on marine and technical subjects.

He lives presently in Novato, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he hikes, cooks, sails, skis, plays tennis, and writes every day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written & illustrated gem of useful and clever tricks!, January 27, 2003

By 

cgagnon (Crescent City, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MOVING HEAVY THINGS PA (Paperback)

I have owned and used and loved this book for years, and have given copies to good friends because I knew they'd love it too.

The anecdotes the author uses to explain the ingenious tools and techniques people have come up with to "move their heavy things", are so well written and sometimes humorous you'll find yourself reading them just for entertainment, even if you never have a need to move anything. With drawings as witty as the writing, this book honors the ingenuity of our forebears, before the age of the hydraulic brutes that do all our work for us today. Farmers, sailors, pioneers, builders of all kinds, have solved these problems, and this book passes on this clever heritage.

The pen and ink drawings are entertaining, and illustrate clearly how these tools and techniques work. One beauty is the trick of standing a tombstone up on ice cubes to facilitate positioning it over its base stone as the ice melts... without a scratch!

Adkins outlines a number of principles our grandfathers followed to arrive at elegant solutions, while minimizing sweat and risk of injury. Two of my favorites are "Applied Sloth" and "The Geezer Ploy". I could go on, but why give away too much? Treat yourself or your favorite "mover of heavy things" to this little gem. It's worth every penny! I tried to buy a copy a few years ago, but was told it was out of print. I'm delighted to see it available again. I have a few more friends in mind...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Inquisitive Minds of Any Age, February 8, 2007

By 

Mashurst (Cameron Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Moving Heavy Things (Hardcover)

This book presents knowledge that is uncommon in our power tool saturated world. I think the greater value however is in the way that it encourages the reader to think outside the box that modernity puts us in. It includes a good foundation of technical information on the subject of moving heavy objects including the use of leverage, wedges, and rope etc. But it also emphasizes the use of creativity in solving problems that inspires the reader to cast off any assumptions of infeasibility and find the way our grandfathers would have gotten the job done.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful CHILDRENS book for Jr Scientists, December 3, 2008

By 

Loren Tripp "mamazebra" (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moving Heavy Things (Hardcover)

This is a charming "physics 101" book for CHILDREN who are interested in moving heavy things. I'm surprised that the other reviewers who HATED this book didn't understand that the audience is CHILDREN, but don't let the nay-sayers deter you if you are buying for the intended audience. It's a charming, brief look at the history of power-schlepping simply written and nicely illustrated for the under-12 set. My son is interested in science and has found this to be an entertaining book. Most importantly, it is as much information on the subject as he requires at 9 years old. I recommend this book!