Moving Heavy Things Paperback – Illustrated, November 15, 2004

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.

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.

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!

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.

Because I love books so much (and because I have relied on them so heavily for information throughout my life), I am always disappointed by a book that promises things it doesn't deliver. Sadly, this is such a book. Though the publisher promotes it as "A practical field book...[that]...presents the tools and...basic procedures to multiply strength and ease burdens...", that simply isn't true, in my opinion. Not even close. This book is superficial and incomplete, as I should have suspected from the fact that it's less than 50 pages long. The reader will find no systematic discussion of pulleys, levers, or lines here, but only sketchy text that serves as little more than caption for the many entertaining, but largely unenlightening drawings. My sense is that if this book has any legitimate role (a possibility of which I am profoundly skeptical), it is as a sort of "coffee table book", the sort of thing a visitor might pick up and browse through while waiting for you to serve them a beverage. Or on second thought, the book resembles nothing more closely than a children's book: interesting, well executed drawings accompanied by a simple text that can be skimmed in ten minutes or less. Readers who seek hardcore information about the tools and techniques needed to move heavy objects should definitely pass this book by. I found it to be a complete waste of my time, and I sincerely regret every penny I spent on it!