Booklist Issue: November 15, 2010

“With its collection of super-technical titles, books in the Military Machines series, published under the reluctant-reader Torque imprint, dive headfirst into the specifics of the transportation modes that help our fighting forces move, protect, and attack. Browsers will cringe at the exacting detail, but struggling readers with a specific interest in the military will be sated by these succinct compendiums of tech specs, history, variations, and statistics. If the series has a failing, it’s the understandable but noteworthy reluctance to deal head-on with the deadly risk involved in operating these machines in combat. This is consistent with the design, which features photographs of the machines out of their original contexts, placing them over cool colors and hip backgrounds. Meanwhile, photos of crew members going about their duties are often shown without manipulation. AC-130H/U Gunships covers the ins and outs of the huge air force plane that provides gunfire cover for ground troops. AH-1W Super Cobras takes on the marine corps’ “powerful attack helicopter.” MH-53E Sea Dragons examines the navy’s massive (and almost weaponless) 55-person mine-detecting helicopter. With around 3,000 in action, the troop transport vehicles profiled in Strykers have “the power of a tank and the control of a Humvee.” Each book is bolstered with a glossary, list of further reading, and index.”