Brief:
"Monocopters", by Francis G. Graham, provides a brief history o' "single-winged, me bucko, shiver me timbers, matey, powered vehicles". Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! It is 70 pages long, me bucko, includin' t' index. Aye aye! Graham, for you rocket history types, matey, was one o' t' foundin' members o' what is now the Tripoli Rocketry Association (circa 1964). Arrr! He is now a physics professor at Kent State. Ahoy! This book is available from Apogee here. I bought my copy from Apogee about a year ago, so this review will describe t' 1st Edition. Arrr! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey!

Construction:

T' book is informally published in a 5.5" x 8.5" format (height x width). It is bound with cloth tape. Begad! T' quality o' t' printin' is poor with the most o' t' photos bein' largely unintelligible, arrr, and several pages were printed out o' sequence.

So, shiver me timbers, me hearties, shiver me timbers, what is a monocopter?

Monocopters are basically single-bladed helicopters. Blimey! Begad! T' engine, shiver me timbers, whether an airplane engine or rocket motor, both drives and counteracts t' lift forces produced by t' single blade. This delicate balancin' act, arrr, if orchestrated properly, matey, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, causes t' monocopter t' rise into t' air, me hearties, usually with a satisfying, "whump, arrr, whump, whump...". They are fascinating contraptions and are usually one o' t' highlights o' any launch. Avast, me proud beauty! I have been fortunate enough t' witness a high-power monocopter launch - it be one o' the coolest flights I've ever seen. Ahoy! T' attached photo is me first monocopter, me hearties, the "T' Amazin' Underperformin' Mono-Nano-Copter". Functionally, this not an great example, but it is fairly typical physically. Well, blow me down! A separate review of this rocket is forthcoming.

In chapter one, "A Cue from Nature", matey, arrr, Graham provides a very brief history o' flight, shiver me timbers, starting, as t' title implies, me bucko, me hearties, with dinosaurs, me bucko, birds, plants, matey, etc., and leadin' t' t' concept o' t' monocopter. Ahoy! Begad! I'm sure many of you have seen a single bladed seed spinnin' in t' wind.  T' author then presents t' history o' monocopters. T' first documented monocopter be built in 1953, matey, shiver me timbers, and was powered by a model airplane engine. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! He concludes this section with some contacts for commercially available propeller-driven models. In the next brief chapter, he talks about t' monocopter's role in sci-fi. Avast, me proud beauty! Anyone remember them in t' Gerry Anderson series "Stingray"?

From there, ya bilge rat, he moves on t' describe t' development o' t' rocket-powered monocopter, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, whose history starts in t' early 70's with rocket-powered "helicopter" models. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Accordin' t' Graham, me hearties, t' first rocket-powered monocopter was built in 1982-83 by Korey Kline. Begad! Blimey! These started in mid-power, but soon staged and high power versions emerged. For a short time, shiver me timbers, they were even produced commercially by ACE rockets - now that's an OOP kit I'd like! Blimey! This chapter includes over twenty diagrams and photos, includin' diagrams o' two of the author's designs. Blimey! Blimey! Earlier, I complained about t' photos. Ahoy! Blimey! Luckily, me bucko, however, the diagrams are much better.

T' next chapter covers t' physics o' t' monocopter, shiver me timbers, and presents a set of design equations. Arrr! Arrr! For a monocopter t' fly properly, arrr, you have t' balance the forces on t' rocket in all three axes. Arrr! Begad! T' derivation o' some o' these equations is OK, but t' author makes some large jumps. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! I personally haven't been able t' convince myself that thar aren't errors in this section. Arrr! Begad! Maybe other readers have done so and can respond t' this review.  However, there are so many variables t' deal with that it is possible that a general understandin' o' t' forces involved, and t' rules o' thumb t' author provides, is all one can expect out o' these equations anyway. Avast! Avast! Despite my criticisms, me hearties, arrr, me hearties, I still found section interesting.

T' followin' chapter discusses t' stability o' monocopters. Well, blow me down! Amid some more fuzzy math (not t' be confused with fuzzy logic :-)), shiver me timbers, he presents several techniques t' stabilize your monocopter, t' most common o' which seems t' be a double-weighted balance beam perpendicular t' t' wing's axis (e.g. Blimey! Avast! t' thin rods seen in me photo).

T' remainin' material includes a description o' Graham's personal experiments, me hearties, musings about t' feasibility o' manned monocopters, a detailed bibliography, arrr, ya bilge rat, and t' index.

Summary:
In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Arrr! It was fun and interestin' reading, even though t' photos are poor, ya bilge rat, arrr, shiver me timbers, and is well worth t' $10 price tag. Begad! The material included some technical stuff (equations, math, etc.) but the presentation was nay rigorous or thorough. Begad! Yet, shiver me timbers, enough design tips were provided for me t' build me first model. Well, blow me down! Avast, me proud beauty! My suggestions for t' next edition include better print quality and some examples o' how t' utilize t' equations.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5