Whacky Toys, Whirligigs & Whatchamacallits

Rating:
Summary: The only book on making automata with actual plans
Review: This book features fourteen projects. Each project has a bit of text, a photo, and many nice vector illustrations detailing the project's construction. The artist's work is colorful, assorted, and playful. People determined to build an automaton are sure to find a project in this book that speaks to them.

For a visually oriented person who doesn't need every step spelled out, this book is a gem. The drawings are very clear and complete and there is some text to help you through the tricky parts.

In sum, if you have even a little experience working with wood and would like to build automata, this book will be invaluable.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: This is the best of the mechanical/whirligig books I've run across. Beautiful color photographs and detailed illustrations of Frost's very strange toys including dancing lumberjacks, boxing angels and demons, machine-gunning whirligigs, and the wonderfully painted 'houses' that hold the hand-cranks that give life to these creatures. An excellent resource for toy and wood-working ideas.