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

Construction:

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

So, me hearties, arrr, me hearties, what is a monocopter?

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

In chapter one, "A Cue from Nature", shiver me timbers, Graham provides a very brief history o' flight, starting, ya bilge rat, as t' title implies, with dinosaurs, birds, plants, etc., matey, matey, and leadin' t' t' concept o' t' monocopter. Begad! Ya scallywag! 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 was built in 1953, and was powered by a model airplane engine. Arrr! He concludes this section with some contacts for commercially available propeller-driven models. Ahoy! In the next brief chapter, he talks about t' monocopter's role in sci-fi. Aye aye! Anyone remember them in t' Gerry Anderson series "Stingray"?

From there, shiver me timbers, he moves on t' describe t' development o' t' rocket-powered monocopter, whose history starts in t' early 70's with rocket-powered "helicopter" models. Aye aye! Accordin' t' Graham, ya bilge rat, t' first rocket-powered monocopter be built in 1982-83 by Korey Kline. Ahoy! Avast! These started in mid-power, but soon staged and high power versions emerged. For a short time, ya bilge rat, 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, shiver me timbers, 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. Blimey! For a monocopter t' fly properly, you have t' balance the forces on t' rocket in all three axes. Begad! T' derivation o' some o' these equations is OK, me bucko, but t' author makes some large jumps. Ya scallywag! I personally haven't been able t' convince myself that thar aren't errors in this section. Well, me hearties, blow me down! 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, me hearties, arrr, and t' rules o' thumb t' author provides, matey, is all one can expect out o' these equations anyway. Begad! Despite my criticisms, shiver me timbers, I still found section interesting.

T' followin' chapter discusses t' stability o' monocopters. Aye aye! Amid some more fuzzy math (not t' be confused with fuzzy logic :-)), me hearties, 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. Begad! t' thin rods seen in me photo).

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

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