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

Construction:

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

So, matey, ya bilge rat, what is a monocopter?

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

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

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

T' next chapter covers t' physics o' t' monocopter, and presents a set of design equations. Avast! Begad! For a monocopter t' fly properly, you have t' balance the forces on t' rocket in all three axes. Well, blow me down! T' derivation o' some o' these equations is OK, but t' author makes some large jumps. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! I personally haven't been able t' convince myself that thar aren't errors in this section. Avast! 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, shiver me timbers, me hearties, and t' rules o' thumb t' author provides, arrr, shiver me timbers, is all one can expect out o' these equations anyway. Despite my criticisms, shiver me timbers, matey, I still found section interesting.

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

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

Summary:
In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! It was fun and interestin' reading, even though t' photos are poor, and is well worth t' $10 price tag. Begad! The material included some technical stuff (equations, ya bilge rat, math, matey, etc.) but the presentation was nay rigorous or thorough. Yet, enough design tips were provided for me t' build me first model. 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