New to biking, this book is a must read. Veteran biker, this is the definitive reference. The author leverages his extensive world wide riding experience of 20+ years against his career as a trainer and puts together what I describe as the Real World MSF Handbook.
If you have taken the MSF course, then this book will build upon those skills. The author covers all aspects of motoring around on two wheels, such as Managing Risk, Motorcycle Dynamics, Urban Traffic Skills, Traps, and Special Situations.
The chapters are well organized and balanced with the right amount of theory, riding experience, graphics, pictures and diagrams.
I constantly find myself thumbing through the book after a ride that I had difficulty with, or needed to confirm I used the right maneuver.

The author continues to build upon the skills outlined and described in the first Proficient Motorcycling book.
Though this book is not organized the same.
The first book was a nice balance of "MSF" type theory, real life riding experience, drawings, pictures, and diagrams.
This book is more of a story telling best practice manual. The author tells a story of an event either he experienced or a friend experienced and then breaks down what was done and could have been improved on. Chapters range from Long Distance Riding Tactics, Mental Prepardness, and Route Selection, to Bike Maintenance scenerios, Curve Scenarios, and International Road Rules.
There is some overlap between books, as some theory needs to be explained again to be able to correllate the story to the instructions.
If your a beginner biker then you will appreciate reading this book after the first proficient book, just for the real life experiences you might expect to encounter.
If your a seasoned rider then some of the stories will seem familiar, and you may find yourself re-evaluating what happened during your ride.
I recommend reading the first book, Proficient Motorcycling Ultimate Guide, then getting some of your own experience under your belt before diving into this book. You will find the stories easier to visualize in your mind and much more memorable.

The author continues to build upon the skills outlined and described in the first Proficient Motorcycling book.
Though this book is not organized the same.
The first book was a nice balance of "MSF" type theory, real life riding experience, drawings, pictures, and diagrams.
This book is more of a story telling best practice manual. The author tells a story of an event either he experienced or a friend experienced and then breaks down what was done and could have been improved on. Chapters range from Long Distance Riding Tactics, Mental Prepardness, and Route Selection, to Bike Maintenance scenerios, Curve Scenarios, and International Road Rules.
There is some overlap between books, as some theory needs to be explained again to be able to correllate the story to the instructions.
If your a beginner biker then you will appreciate reading this book after the first proficient book, just for the real life experiences you might expect to encounter.
If your a seasoned rider then some of the stories will seem familiar, and you may find yourself re-evaluating what happened during your ride.
I recommend reading the first book, Proficient Motorcycling Ultimate Guide, then getting some of your own experience under your belt before diving into this book. You will find the stories easier to visualize in your mind and much more memorable.

Very similar in content and structure to Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegtables. The difference comes in the experience the writer has growing and maitaining the various plants. I find using both books gives different perspectives for growing and caretaking of plants but conatins the same basic information. For instance the Ortho book has better Garden Setup and maintenance data, and raw data on the various gardening aspects like fertilizer and pest eradiction. The Burpee book focuses on plant and cultivar details a little better. The book is filled with plenty high quality pictures of plants and their fruits using multiple pictures of various cultivars within plant families.
The book is geared for both beginners in gardening and the handy do it yourselfer types. Chapters progress you through the steps from site selection and plant selection to harvesting, crop rotating and soil conditioning over winter and indoor greenhouse seed starting. The book also contains references to various cultivars within vegtable species, so a beginner gardener could not only successfully select and grow well know vegtables, but could also grow and use the odd often hard to find fresh herbs.
I consistently flip between both this book and Ortho's book. I find using them in this manner makes the information extracted complimentary and thorough.

In the true tradition of do it yourself books created by Ortho this has to be its best. The book is geared for both beginners in gardening and the handy do it yourselfer types. Chapters progress you through the steps from site selection and plant selection to harvesting, crop rotating and soil conditioning over winter and indoor greenhouse seed starting. Its an A-Z book and should be the the only reference book (excluding seed catalogs) you really need. The book also contains references to various cultivars within vegtable species and handy suggested cooking guides, so a beginner gardener could not only successfully select and grow well know vegtables, but could also grow and use the odd often hard to find fresh herbs.

I found the book is separated into 3 sections. The First third is about landscaping techniques for various locations of your property, the second third is basic care, pruning, planting, and transplanting techniques, and the last third is a photo gallery of shrubs along with their names, and care instructions. Overall its a great starter book and I find myself carrying this book with me to all the nurseries to use as reference. However, this book is thin and can only cover a limited amount of shrubs. I would have seperated the last third from the first two and made 2 books, once you read the landscaping and planting sections the only reason you hold this book is for the photo gallery. For a more complete photo reference I would recommend Dirr's Hardy Tree and Shrubs book, and use the Ortho book as a supplement.

I just bought my house and have a 2 acre lawn. This book taught me everything I needed to know to get started on building a great looking lawn. All aspects of lawn care from seed selection, fertilizers, insecticides and pest eradication to mower blade hights and turf types. Lots of pictures. A must have reference book for anyone looking to take better care of their lawns, establish a new lawn, or repair problem lawns. I take this book with me to nurserys and Home Depot when I need to select fertilizers, seeds and insecticides. After reading this book I can hold conversations with my Brother-In Law who is a professional landscaper. He's amazed at the amount of information I have.