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April 2008:   Iowa Class Battleships and Alaska Class Large Cruisers Conversion Projects 1942-1964: An Illustrated Technical Reference by Wayne Scarpaci - beautiful paintings of fantastical battleship makeovers that never occurred ... but should have!
May 2008:
Battleship YAMATO: Why She Matters Today
June 2008:
The John Boyd Roundtable from Zenpundit et al.
July 2008:
Through Stranger Eyes by Hugo and Nebula Award winner David Brin

Dear readers,

I am fond of  Cool Maps of France's Overseas Territories and Departments because I love exotic places.  This is a sort of companion volume to

  Cool Maps of France: Paris and Beyond






I say "sort of" because the business case for doing this book was pretty tenuous compared to the case for Cool Maps of France.  France is one of the most heavily touristed (sic?) countries in the world, and a quick Amazon search reveals that books on "France maps" sell well.  I can't say the same about "maps of St. Pierre and Miquelon" or any of the 20+ other French overseas territories illustrated in this book.   Nevertheless, I felt impelled to do this book, simply because I think the places shown in it are cool.

This book includes the following 48 figures and tables:

Figure 1.  France's overseas territories and departments

Table 1. Status and population

Table 2.  Uninhabited islands

Figure 2. Martinique 1632 (Library of Congress)

Figure 3.  Martinique (Central Intelligence Agency 2006)

Figure 4. Fort-de-France 1984  (U.S. State Department)

Figure 5.  French Guiana shaded relief 1992 (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 6.  French Guiana political 1992 (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 7.  French Guiana vegetation 1972 (Central Intelligence Agency)  The territory is mostly rainforest.

Figure 8.  French Guiana economic activity 1972 (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 9. French Polynesia 1989 (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 10. Guadeloupe (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 11.  Île Saint-Barthélemy (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 12. Île Saint-Martin (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 13. Mayotte  (Central Intelligence Agency). The Comoros Islands are to the west.

Figure 14. Location of Mayotte (WikiMedia Commons, 2008)

Figure 15.  New Caledonia (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 16.  Réunion (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 17. Réunion – the day after the volcano erupted, January 16, 2002 (NASA).  Red, indicating patches of active lava, is just barely visible at the volcanic cone on the southwestern  island.

Figure 18.  Île Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 19. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (NASA)

Figure 20. Îles Wallis and Iles de Horne (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 23.  Île Alofi, to the southeast of Futuna (NASA).

Figure 22.  Futuna Island (NASA)

Figure 21.  Uvea, one of the Wallis Islands (NASA).

Figure 24. Île Amsterdam (WikiMedia Commons)

Figure 25. Île St. Paul (WikiMedia Commons)

Figure 26.  Bassas da India  (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 27. Bassas da India from space (NASA)

Figure 28.  Clipperton Island (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 29. Clipperton Island from space (NASA)

Figure 30.  Crozet Islands (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 31. Crozet Islands eastern group (NASA)

Figure 32. Ile Europa (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 33. Île Europa land use (WikiMedia Commons)

Figure 34. Île Europa (NASA)

Figure 35. French Antarctic and Southern Lands (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 36.  Îles Glorieuses (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 37.  Îles Glorieuses (NASA)

Figure 38.  Île Juan de Nova (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 39.  Île Juan de Nova (NASA).

Figure 40. Île Kerguelen (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 41. Île Kerguelen (NASA)

Figure 42. Landsat infrared image of Kerguelen (NASA)

Figure 43.  Baie du Morbihan, Kerguelen Islands (NASA)

Figure 44. Map of Kerguelen drawn during the expedition of Captain James Cook (WikiMedia Commons)

Figure 45. Île Tromelin (Central Intelligence Agency)

Figure 46. Île Tromelin (NASA)

If you are like me, you will love flipping through these beautifully printed color maps of some of the world's most isolated and unusual places.

Enjoy!

Cordially,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

P.S. Check out the other books in the Cool Maps series:

• Cool Maps for Curious Kids #2: Afghanistan, an Unauthorized Tour of the Land of A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS and THE KITE RUNNER (Cool Maps for Curious Kids) 
• Cool Maps of Baghdad: the Emerald City and other cities of Iraq 
• Cool Maps of Cuba: An Atlas of History, Population, Resources Before and After Fidel Castro 
• Cool Maps of Indonesia: An Unauthorized View of the Land of EAT, PRAY, LOVE 
• Cool Maps of Iran: Persian History, Oil Wealth, Politics, Population, Religion, Satellite, WMD and More 
• Cool Maps of Iraq: History, Oil Wealth, Politics, Population, Religion, Satellite, and More

Dear readers,

I am very pleased to bring you this beautiful book in our new "nimble" format:

  SSN-23 JIMMY CARTER, U.S. Navy Submarine (Seawolf class)
 
with the stunning orange cover photo and full color interior.  The contents of the book are:

Introduction

Buy This Book If:

Acknowledgements

Key Facts

Specifications

Ships in the Seawolf Class

Remarks at the Naming Ceremony in 1998

Figure 1.  SSN-23 incorporates new design features for an “expeditionary” future.

Figure 2. Positive thinking about Carter's role.  Interestingly, none of these missions look much like the cable tapping missions that made Carter’s predecessor Parche the most decorated sub in U.S. naval history.

Figure 3.  President Carter being given a model of the future Jimmy Carter at the naming ceremony.  Personally, I'd have held out for the bigger one.

Figure 4.  A full-length view of the model, courtesy Motionmodels.com.  Note the conceptual representation of the additional maneuvering units fore and aft.  These below-waterline fixtures  will most likely never be seen in public while Jimmy Carter is in active service.

Figure 5.  Ship's crest.

Figure 6.  A detailed view of the propeller, rudder, and aft maneuvering units (courtesy Motion Models).  The actual appearance of the maneuvering units may be somewhat different.

Figure 5.  Moving her outdoors for the first time, June 24, 2004.

Figure 6. Sneaking out a little early.

Figure 7.  The Multi-Mission Platform that makes Jimmy Carter unique.

Figure 8. Inserting the forward upper module in the MMP.

Figure 9.  Leaving Electric Boat to begin Alpha Sea Trials, November 2004.

Figure 10.  During sea trials, February 2005.

Figure 11.  The commissioning ceremony, February 19, 2005.

Figure 12.  The crew manning the ship during the commissioning ceremony.

Figure 13.  Carter being "depermed", or demagnetized, to reduce her vulnerability to weapons that detect magnetic signatures.

Figure 14. Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn about to set off on an overnight trip, August 12, 2005.

Figure 15.  Departing Kings Bay, Georgia with the Carters on board.

Figure 16.  Carter on Carter.  This is the boat’s mess room.

Figure 17.  Returning to Kings Bay after taking Jimmy Carter on an overnight.

An Appropriate Name

Why SSN-23 Jimmy Carter Matters Today

References

Colophon

I found some terrific AP photos taken inside JIMMY CARTER--I wish I had been able to use them!  but the book is pretty nice.

If you like this sort of thing, you may want to take a look at a couple of other titles in our "Cool Ships" series:



BB-67 MONTANA, U.S. Navy Battleship: Why She Matters Today 





 CVN-78 GERALD R. FORD, U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier 


Relative sales of these titles will determine whether we do more subs next, or return to the old-fashioned targets capital ships. ;-)

Very cordially yours,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

Dear readers,

I am very glad to bring you this "nimble" book about Cuba with the beautiful  image from NASA's MODIS sensor wrapping around the front and back covers.

  Cool Maps of Cuba: An Atlas of History, Population, Resources Before and After Fidel Castro 




This book provides you with 27 beautifully printed color maps and satellite images of Cuba, listed below. 

Figure 1. The historical context of the Spanish and Portugese Age of Discovery. The Cambridge Modern History Atlas edited by Sir Adolphus William Ward, G.W. Prothero, Sir Stanley Mordaunt Leathes, and E.A. Benians. Cambridge University Press; London. 1912.

Figure 2. Cuba. Joan Vickeboons, 1639 (Library of Congress).

Figure 3. A new chart of the seas surrounding the island of Cuba with the soundings, currents, ships, courses &c. and a map of the island itself lately made by an officer in the Navy. From The London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer. Oct. 1762, v. 21.

Figure 4. Cuba during the Spanish-American War, 1898.

Figure 5. The location of the Bay of Pigs (1961).

Figure 6. The Bay of Pigs in Atlas Nacional de Cuba (Moscow 1970) via Cryptome.org.

Figure 7. CIA briefing board for JFK showing range of Soviet MRBMs stationed in Cuba (CIA 1962, via the National Security Archive, George Washington University).

Figure 8. Sugar in Cuba (US 1977).

Figure 9. Land Utilization in Cuba (US 1977).

Figure 10. Economic Activity in Cuba (US 1977).

Figure 11. Population Density (US 1977).

Figure 12. Political map of Cuba (CIA 1994).

Figure 13. Havana (CIA).

Figure 14. Detailed topographic map of Guantanamo Bay (NIMA, 1996).

Figure 15. Camp Delta at Guantanamo (Department of Defense, 2003). Our bad.

Figure 16. A beautiful MODIS image of Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba (NASA 2001).

Figure 17. Another spectacular MODIS image (NASA 2004).

Figure 18. Coral reefs of Cuba (NOAA).

Figure 19. Coral reefs off western Cuba (Landsat 2001).

Figure 20. Land cover (MODIS IGBP, NASA, 2007). Red is urban, dark green is forest, pale green is grassy.

Figure 21. Vegetation map of Cuba (USGS & the Nature Conservancy).

Figure 22. Elevation and depth of Cuba and its surrounding waters (SRTM, NASA, 2007).

Figure 23. Coastal and Marine Geology (USGS).

Figure 24. Capitalists will find this USGS map of Cuba’s mineral resources handy. Not dated, but note the nuclear power plant near Cienfuegos on the west side of the island. Elements are identified via their scientific abbreviation (e.g. Cu for copper).

Figure 25. Population density (SEDAC, 2004). After Fidel and his brother depart, the people of Cuba will remain.

Figure 26. Almost every area of Cuba has been touched by human activity. Reds are substantial impact, green is low impact. (SEDAC Human Footprint V2, 2007).

Figure 27. Night lights over Florida and Cuba (DMSP, 2007). Observe the difference between the vibrant lights of Florida and the scattered lights of Cuba.

I wish I had been able to find a Godfather III map of organized crime activity in Cuba before 1960, and I would have liked to find a map that showed something of the restrictions on freedom under the Castro regime.  If you have any ideas for more Cool Maps of Cuba, by all means send them to me!

In the meantime, let's be glad that Castro is finally on the way out, and hope that this authoritarian regime will soon loosen its grip on the people of Cuba.  Surely, at the very least, they deserve to live less like North Korea and more like China.

Sincerely yours,

Fred Zimmerman

Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

Dear readers,

I am pleased to welcome you to the Amazon detail page for

BB-67 MONTANA, U.S. Navy Battleship: Why She Matters Today BB-67 MONTANA, U.S. Navy Battleship: Why She Matters Today 

 This is one of my favorites in the ever-growing Nimble Books list. The cover looks terrific--very realistic, just as if the Navy had really built the U.S.S. Montana!  The interior of the book includes:

• pictures and information about the various design concepts that were explored
• the specifications of the final Montana design
• color pictures of a beautiful 1:700 scale model of Montana by Imre Somogyi
• a beautiful color painting of Montana by author and artist Wayne Scarpaci
• a picture of her never-built 1920's predecessor, BB-51 Montana
• an essay on "Why She Matters Today"; and
• a discussion of Senator Jon Tester's efforts to get the U.S. Navy to name a capital ship after his home state of Montana.

In short, this presents a unique package of art and text devoted exclusively to one of the most interesting hypothetical ships ever designed.

I'm very happy to see that this book is selling well.  I hope you enjoy it.

Cordially yours,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

P.S. if you are interested in reading other stuff about Montana, I recommend two major studies of U.S. battleships:

 U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman and
  Battleships: United States Battleships, 1935-1992 (Battleships) by Garzke.

Both of these books rely on archival sources to give a highly technical history of the ten or twenty different designs that were considered for Montana.  My book's different in that I tackle the issue of "why do we care about this today" head-on. 

Dear readers,

Finally, some real news about THE SOLOMON KEY.  According to the publisher, quoted in today's Wall Street Journal, the release date has been set -- but it is a secret.   Which is progress!  There was no release date at all before.  There's no new news about the content of the book (or any confirmation of the title), but the thrust still seems to be that the book will be set in Washington, D.C. and focus on those wacky Freemason Founding Fathers.

I brought out my SOLOMON KEY pre-book/meta-book in 2005 (!)

  "The Solomon Key" and Beyond: DIGITAL FORTESS, ANGELS & DEMONS, DECEPTION POINT, THE DA VINCI CODE, and more ... 

and I have to say it has stood the test of time quite well.  It has already made a pretty healthy profit, and among my forty titles in print ranks sixth in lifetime revenue per month.

The content is still sound because  book is far less speculative than most efforts in the pre-book genre.  I cover Brown's entire oeuvre, and I include a detailed analysis of Dan Brown's work habits and narrative strategies, but I didn't think it wise to go on speculative excursions into the occult and Freemasonry before seeing the published books.  I stick closely to what Brown and his publishers have actually said about the book. Judge for yourself if you like my approach: take a look at the Table of Contents in Search Inside the Book mode.

I've gotten better at covers since I published this book, but I'm reasonably satisfied with the dominant cover image: Kryptos in the CIA courtyard is still a pretty darned cool piece of Washington architecture, and  it's neat to look at and learn about.  I would probably use a different font for the title type. Although the cover colors look clunky, they are keyed off the colors used inTHE DA VINCI CODE, so I don't think there was a principled basis for a better choice.

I will update this book when THE SOLOMON KEY finally comes out, but I am not sure exactly what mechanism I will use -- I may update this edition, or I may issue a separate thinner paperback.  Either way, I will provide a PDF softcopy to previous purchasers, as stated in the book. (Simply send me proof of purchase using the email address in the book).

I will update this post as publication nears.  Until then, enjoy the anticipation!

Cordially,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

Dear readers,

This book

  Basic Documents About the Treatment of Detainees at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib


has a special place in my heart because it was the first one I published. It's held up pretty well over time. 

 The cover, of course, is awfully clunky, and I've learned that white is not usually a good color for the cover background.  If I were doing it today, I'd probably find a U.S. government public domain image of Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib to serve as the dominant image and put it over a dark grey background.  I would probably choose a different font than the Copperplate Gothic I used here, too--but I have to say that the Copperplate Gothic does have a certain appeal!

The content is still solid.  The Taguba report is essential reading for an understanding of Abu Ghraib, and the Supreme Court cases are still controlling law.   I would probably add more about the Guantanamo interrogation protocols and include some of the more egregrious Justice Department memoranda.

The interior design is fine. I have no heartburn with anything I did.  About two-thirds of the book simply incorporates Supreme Court PDFs of their case reports, which look a bit old-fashioned but are the real deal. That fits with my idea for the book, which is to encourage (force?) people to look at the raw documents whenever possible.

The message of the book is still right on target and I am still proud I published it. The rule of law is the winning strategy in the Global War on Terror, and it was, and is, both foolish and wrong for the Bush administration to pursue a strategy of "taking the gloves off" in the treatment of  prisoners.

Financially speaking, the book has been profitable, and sales have been pretty steady.  There are more copies of this book in the WorldCat library catalog than any other book I've published.  Net lifetime revenue ranks 7th out of all my titles.  I expect the book will continue to sell well for many more years.

I hope you will add my book to your collection, and even better, buy a copy for your local library.  I would hazard that for at least the next hundred years, it will be important that every generation to relearn the lessons of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.  There's no better way to do that than to look directly at the original primary documents.

Cordially,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

P.S. I strongly recommend that people interested in this topic also buy Darius Rejali's authoritative history of torture. Darius was a classmate of mine at Swarthmore and I learned more from him there than from any other single person, professors included.

  Torture and Democracy






The bottom line is that regardless of whether torture is wrong (of course it is), it does not work.

Dear readers,

this was a challenging book to put together, not least because the Indonesian archipelago stretches over thousands of miles and is the home to the fourth most populous nation on Earth.   I'm happy with the results.  This is a terrific book for anyone with an interest in Indonesia: a library, a home school, a student, a traveler. 

I strongly urge you to use Search Inside the Book to page through online.  This book contains beautiful maps of population, language, natural resources, and political units, as well as a few surprises that, will, I hope, intrigue and delight. 

Please write and let me know what you think!

Cordially,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

Dear readers,

If you enjoyed this book, you may enjoy   Historical Atlas of Indonesia by Robert Cribb.







I have no hesitation in saying that his book is terrific, and I also have no hesitation in saying that my book is quite a bit more cost-effective than his (which rings up at $268.91!) -- and even has nicer color printing!

Of course, you may also want to take a look at:

  Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia





Best,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC