Lighthouses

Not a bad book — no maps but the info is good otherwise. I have a beef in that in the chapter on “Lake Erie and Lake Huron Lights,” it’s not clear which lights are on Erie and which are on Huron (turns out, they start out with Lake Erie lights and then move on to Lake Huron lights, but if you don’t know the lights in question it’s not clear when the transition happens) and I’m not at all sure why they lumped them together that way, but anyway. It’s a decent book, but not a “must-have,” imho.

Nicely organized into sections by lake and country, with a map for each section with the lighthouses and their location indicated by a number that corresponds to the entry for that lighthouse.

A couple of drawbacks to this book:

1. The lighthouses are numbered on the map, but not in order. This makes reading the map difficult – you have to search all over to find the lighthouse you are looking for.
2. The map and text contain references to lighthouses that no longer exist (not even ruins), as well as lighthouses that still exist, without making it clear which is which. Thus you have to wade through the text to find the information on whether the lighthouse is still standing or not.

The upsides of this book:

1. Well organized (other than the bit about the number schemata).
2. Contains a LOT of lighthouses (yes, including ones that no longer exist), so I was able to find some lighthouses in this book that were not listed in any of my other sources.

Contains a series of beautiful paintings of the lighthouses featured, done by William L. Trotter and a few pages of the history of each lighthouse.

Not a comprehensive book, by any means, but there is a map and a comprehensive list of the navigational aids under the Commissionaries of Irish Lights near the front of the book. This map and list are the main source for my list of Irish lighthouses, at least for the time being.

A nice little coffee table book, good on the pictures, short on the info. Nicely organized, tho’

A nice little take-along guide, in map format (laminated). Contains a number of “holes” (missing lighthouses) but conversely, also contains lighthouses not listed in other sources. Points to the advantages of using multiple sources when lighthousing.

A nice little book, although it doesn’t really contain much information that isn’t covered in other, far more extensive, books.

Another so-so book. Great pictures, limited on the info on actual lighthouses and where to find them. Sucky organization of said info.

Found a few lighthouses in it that weren’t listed elsewhere.

A so-so book – I probably won’t buy it. (I checked it out from the library). It has a few lighthouses not mentioned in other sources, but the organization of the book is so wacky as to make it really cumbersome to use (alphabetical for half of the book, then geographical).

A fairly nice book – covers all of New York State.

Pros:

• Nice pictures
• Well organized; map in the front and then organized by region within the book
• Looks pretty good for the “how do I get there from here”? Anyone with a good New York State map and this book can probably find the lighthouses without trouble. (note: I haven’t used this book yet in real-time, so I may be amending my opinion on this.)

Cons:

• Contains a fair number of “holes” – lighthouses that should be there, but aren’t.

I’ll be adding more to this review as I use it more. Overall, I think it is a useful addition to the bookshelf.

Georgeous pictures, and very complete and well organized. A bit iffy on “how to get there” for the most part, but it at least gives you a ballpark.
All in all, a good edition to the library. 🙂 I’ll post a more complete review as I use it some more.