Moving Heavy Things

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.

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.

excellent work

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.

This little book is filled with descriptions and pictures of how normal, weak, average people have moved heavy objects for thousands of years. You don't need big snorting machines, just your onboard brainware and simple techniques to transport massive things from point A to point B. A very nice book (with often funny stories and informative, clear illustrations) that can be put to good use in just the time it takes to flip through the pages!

Not only are the black and white penned illustrations wonderfully clear in demonstrating how folks once accomplished very hard work, but each picture is entirely lively. It feels as if you could be standing alongside, wondering what they're going to do next. And of course, Mr Adkins shows you exactly that, next.One lovely change of perspective: we wait for summertime to get things done outdoors, starting up generators, renting big machinery. Of old, they'd let things wait til winter. That's when carefully maintained snow beds allowed sleds and sleighs smooth passage, and very heavy things very moved easily. All of Jan Adkins' books show delight in such unexpected sleights of perspective- and how would we know, having not lived then, if Mr. Adkins hadn't looked into old-fashioned ways so carefully?Another pleasant aspect of Mr. Adkins' drawing is his draftsmanship of precise, deftly drawn, believable scenes of olden country days. I usually have a hard time puzzling out the movements signified in most mechanical diagrams. Mr. Adkins seems to divide up the stages of cause and effect into stages perfectly sized for my mind to easily connect them into smooth-flowing chains of action and reaction.I really hope you enjoy this as much as I have. I've bought it several times by now, just to give it away to loved ones who'd appreciate this marvelous visit to the cleverness of our forebears.

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!

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.

Es un buen libro aunque seas un experto en el tema puedes aprender una cosa o dos y excelente ilustrado para enseñar a los niños sobre usos prácticos de las máquinas básicas

My husband enjoyed this interesting book full of solid information given about different ways of lifting, he believes that children would benefit from this book and in particular the correct way to lift things from floor level to waist height.Thank you Amazon without you I would not have been able to purchase the book for my husband.

lovely illustrations and text....rare and lost ideas of lo tech means to move stuff...i have used this book when we were exploring ways to move megalithic stones about and it came in handy

not as detailed as I would have liked, but a bit like having a chat with an expert.....ghandy hints, and correct atitudes.

This is a useful book to landlubber types who have never contemplated a heavy lift before and a good reminder to those that have done just that. However, given the reviews I was expecting much more.