If I had one book to recommend to a beginner, this would be it. While there are flaws, overall it takes a beginner from selecting a kit to hoisting the flag. The book is well illustrated with carefully drawn and labelled diagrams. The illustrations are more valuable in some cases to decipher model directions or even the book's text. There is also an English-Italian dictionary of nautical terms, plus an all-English glossary of nautical terms.

As I said, there are a few flaws. My biggest complaint has to do with rigging, where I would have liked a bit more directions. Admittedly, each ship's rigging is slightly different, but rigging is such an important part of a model that I felt he gave it too little attention overall. ( )