Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines [Hardcover]

Robert Coker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2002

More than 150 awe-inspiring images of the world’s most terrifying rides put readers in the front seat of the largest, fastest, steepest, loopiest coasters ever built. From fifteenth-century Russian slides to the original Coney Island Cyclone to modern-day steel gigacoasters like Cedar Point’s Millennium Force, this breathtaking, fabulously illustrated guide offers a wild trip through the evolution of roller coasters. Inside, there’s coverage of 200 individual examples, including wooden wonders and steel marvels, inverted coasters, floorless coasters, suspended coasters, and modern hypercoasters. Profiles on coaster engineers and an in-depth look at the ever-evolving technology of coaster design and construction round out this fun survey.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Packed with great color photos and breathless "you-are-there" narration, this is the book for coaster fanatics. It starts slowly with the history of these unique thrill rides and then takes off with vivid descriptions of great machines, from classic "woodies" like The Beast ("heaving and lurching with animalistic rage") to innovative steel coasters like Nitro ("all that's between us and the cold, bare earth more than 18 stories below is a whole lot of nothing") and the record-breaking hyper- and giga-coasters with drops of at least 200 or 300 feet, respectively. The volume concludes with a tantalizing glimpse of rides to come and an appendix of amusement parks in the United States and overseas for readers compelled to match the author's poetic prose with the real thing. Roller Coasters leaves readers panting, a little shaken, and, like a great ride, wanting to go again.
Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The archetypal amusement park rides are the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster, and one is for wimps, and the other isn't. This big, square book contains a little roller-coaster history and a lot of rider's-p.o.v. gushing about the most, uh, satisfying coasters, mostly in the U.S. but really throughout the world. The Russians got the concept first; as a little stereotypical thinking should suggest, their original versions involved plunging down iced wooden ramps on blocks of ice, soon replaced by sleds. In the early nineteenth century, the French started sending rolling stock down ramps, hauling it up beforehand with a cable system, soon replaced by the chain lift. There are two kinds of coasters: "woodies," which pioneered the basic styles of coaster, and coasters of steel (which are not called "steelies") whose malleability allows a host of big and little variations. But the heck with info. Glom the color pictures, and chug Coker's gee-whiz descriptions of some of the world's best coaster-coasts. This is browser heaven, and all for only $15.98. Jeepers! Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: MNST (April 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402713339
• ISBN-13: 978-1402713330
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Return of ...!, May 7, 2002

By 

Thorsten Janke (Bochum, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roller Coasters: A Thrill-Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines (Hardcover)

A Book that makes you love or continue to love rollercoasters. After his successful website ..., Robert Coker returns with a wonderful book that offers detailed ride dessriptions, beautiful pictures and helpful background on construction firms.
A book from a rollercoaster-lover to rollercoaster-lovers.
Those who were familiar with the content of ... will quickly recognize, that Coker has put the coasters he introduced to his website readers in detail into this classic book fomat.
The book is divided into five chapters:
1. coaster history
2. wooden coasters (Shivering Timbers, Cyclone (the master's favourite), GhostRider, Lightning Racer, The Beast,
3. steel coasters (Riddler's Revenge, Alpengeist, Medusa, Batman & Robin: the Chiller, Volcano: the Blast Coaster, Stealth)
4. extreme machínes (Steel Force,Nitro, Goliath, Son of Beast, Millenium Force, Steel Dragon 2000, Oblivion, TA2000, Superman: the Escape, Tower of Terror, Let it Ride High Roller)
5. aftershock (X, ArrowBatic, Deja Vu, Air, Tilting Coasters)
the last chapter is a look into the future (as far as the book was written (it does not contain pictures of the last rides, just giving small introduction of what (at the time of writing the book) is yet to come.
An appendix listing selected coasters and parks worldwide
and a glossary introducing the reader to selected coaster terms.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roller Coasters: A Thrill-Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scre, July 20, 2002

By 

matthew gelmas (north olmsted,ohio usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roller Coasters: A Thrill-Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines (Hardcover)

A Book that makes you love or continue to love rollercoasters. After his successful website ...,
Robert Coker returns with a wonderful book that offers detailed ride dessriptions, beautiful pictures
and helpful background on construction firms.
A book from a rollercoaster-lover to rollercoaster-lovers.
Those who were familiar with the content of ... will quickly recognize, that Coker has put the
coasters he introduced to his website readers in detail into this classic book fomat.
The book is divided into five chapters:
1. coaster history
2. wooden coasters (Shivering Timbers, Cyclone (the master's favourite), GhostRider, Lightning
Racer, The Beast,
3. steel coasters (Riddler's Revenge, Alpengeist, Medusa, Batman & Robin: the Chiller, Volcano:
the Blast Coaster, Stealth)
4. extreme machínes (Steel Force,Nitro, Goliath, Son of Beast, Millenium Force, Steel Dragon
2000, Oblivion, TA2000, Superman: the Escape, Tower of Terror, Let it Ride High Roller)
5. aftershock (X, ArrowBatic, Deja Vu, Air, Tilting Coasters)
the last chapter is a look into the future (as far as the book was written (it does not contain pictures
of the last rides, just giving small introduction of what (at the time of writing the book) is yet to
come.
An appendix listing selected coasters and parks worldwide
and a glossary introducing the reader to selected coaster terms.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reviews, Pictures and and overall great book!!!, May 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Roller Coasters: A Thrill-Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines (Hardcover)

This book is awesome!!!! It has HUGE pictures, with GREAT reviews!! This is a MUST for any coaster fan!!!