Brinley Best, "Binoculars and People"

[stabor]

This posting might be appropriate for the Books forum, but putting it here seems more efficient. Ebay currently has listings (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BINOCULARS-PEOPLE-ZEISS-LEICA-SWAROVSKI-NIKON-ETC_W0QQitemZ140289701614QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Boo ks_NonFictionBooks_NonFictionBooks_SM?hash=item140 289701614&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1300|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18) for a new book called Binoculars and People by Brin[ley] Best. The publisher is Biosphere [U.K.], but they're a little elusive, and the author has apparently been left to flog his own title wherever he can. It looks to be a non-technical, social history with lots of photos, potentially very interesting. Has anyone seen it?

[orbitaljump]

Ive seen it on ebay, as well....and am interested.

A fellow on CloudyNights bought it but has yet to comment on it.

[ceasar]

He has a post here. See thread 12 of this link: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=70919

Bob

[orbitaljump]

Book review- "Binoculars and People"

#2821157 - 12/23/08 10:36 AM - Wes James - CloudyNights
(http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2821157/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1)

[John Cantelo]

... and the chap has a website at http://www.brinbest.com/id14.html

[James Bean]

I got "Binoculars and People" for Christmas. It's the first (only?) book I have seen which covers most aspects of binocular using/collecting. Anyone who enjoys owning binoculars and especially those who, shall we say, have become a little bit obsessional about them, will like this book. It has chapters on history, military, astronomy, nature, leisure, how to choose/use/repair, & collecting, interspersed with 'my binocular story' anecdotes as well as accounts of 'landmark binoculars' (e.g. Zeiss Nobilem, Swift Audubon, Pentax Papilio).
To be honest, I'd not heard of the author, Brin(ley) Best, before I bought his book, but I did see some familiar names mentioned in it, like Renze de Vries, Ed Huff, and Eric Wood, so I thought "well that's all right, then". I've not had such fun reading a non-fiction book since Ivor Matanle's two "Classic Cameras" volumes. I'm going to read Brin's book cover to cover, and I can't think of a better recommendation than that...

[James Bean]

An update on "Binoculars and People". I've read about 80% of it so far and I'm half way through the 'collecting' chapter. I can't help but notice some typographical errors in the text (it's in my nature) but the content seems well researched. It's not meant to be a definitive account of binoculars in an encyclopedic sense, more a social history (as the title implies) which is both informative and entertaining. I'm enjoying it, and would class it as "a jolly good read". I haven't read much else since Christmas!