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Farmall & IHC Tractors Discussion Forum
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Randy Leffingwell's new book

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Farmallgray

01-28-2006 16:14:37




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I just wanted to get some feedback on this book
It is called "8 decades of innovation" or something like that. I stopped at the book store tonight and they had a copy, but it was wrapped in plastic. They wouldn't take the plastic off so I could look at it. I have a little problem with spending $50 on a book without being able to leaf through it. What is it like? does it have lots of original photos, or mostly new photos of restored tractors? Does it have any new info? How well does it cover the tractors from 1920-1939?
Thanks, Guys.

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Levi Keech

01-29-2006 17:56:14




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
I have the book. It has a lot of pictures in it. Including an H on road rollers and a M with front wheel assist. not a bad book



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Farmallgray

01-29-2006 07:15:39




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
Thanks for the thoughts guys. There was some discussion about it on the Red Power forum a while back to about the same consences. I think I'll wait till the winter convention. There may be some vendors there with copies I can look through. There are a lot of IH books available that I don't own simply because I looked at them and decided they weren't of any value to me. My favorites that I have are Guy's and Ken's books and the photo archive series. I also have a couple of Lee Klacher's books. The one by Baumheckle and Borghoff is excellent also.

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Craig Thoricht

01-29-2006 06:46:03




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
Randy Leffingwell does a terrific job on the photography but I would take the historical information with a very large grain of salt. His earlier work on Caterpillar was excellent, so I wonder how much interference came along on the editing side of things. The piece of information that really pops out to me, though is when you read Guy Fay's biographical information he states that [as of the last update] he really enjoys doing research for Randy Leffingwell!!

A lot of words to say that I was disappointed with the Leffingwell book. It does look good on the shelf with my other farm related titles, though.

Regards-
Craig

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CNKS

01-28-2006 18:31:49




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
Farmallgray, I seldom read books cover to cover, only the sections I am interested in. It appears that most of the text, at least the parts I have read are mostly about what when on in IH, corporate decisions, etc. Most of the tractor descriptions are captions for the pictures. There are a several mistakes, such as one that says the H/M had the speed reduced from about 7 mph to 5 mph when equipped with steel wheels implying that 7 mph was standard. Many of the tractors have the wrong decals. There are 11 chapters, each covering a certain period of time. 1870-1913, 1914-1928, 1915-1932, 1930-1935, 1935-1944, 1940-1944, 1945-1954, 1955-1965, 1965-1975, 1976-1999, 2000-up. The time breaks do not necessarily follow the models of tractors sold, as most books do. I know little of the F series and earlier tractors, but there are many pictures, correct or not I don't know. I would guess that there are as many errors in the captions for the F series, as there are for the letter series. You will recognize them. Many of the black and white photos do appear to be original. Worth $50, probably not, I bought mine from Amazon for around $30 right after it came out. It is a large book, hard to hold and read unless you are sitting at a desk or table -- probably designed that way to get attention and sell. Leffingwell is the author of the annual Farmall calendar, the 2006 version shows a picture of a gas 450 demo with all the demo decals, etc on it, Randy has it captioned as a diesel, the same tractor is on pp 246-248 of the book, but is captioned correctly. That said, the book is a good addition for someone like yourself, who can pick out the mistakes, and take some of the info with a grain of salt. It would not be a good textbook to actually learn from for someone who knows little about IH tractors. It is not in the same category as Guy Fay's and Ken Updike's books

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Jimer

01-28-2006 18:20:12




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
I know this is a personal problem of mine, but I am going to share it. My Dad restored a 1909 Ford tractor, as far as I know the only one running. Dad's tractor was on loan to the Lester F. Larson organization in Lincoln, NE. In one of Leffingwell's books, he included a picture of Dad's tractor and stated it was restored by two college students, picture and info he got in NE. I do not believe any mention was made of Dad at all.
I contacted him and he was very appologetic (sp?), and tried to make up to us. But, I still have it stuck in my craw how careless he was on that item in his book.
There, I got that out!

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CNKS

01-28-2006 18:38:17




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Jimer, 01-28-2006 18:20:12  
Some authors are like TV "journalists", they don't follow up on their sources. I have looked at most IH books in various bookstores when I go to the "big city". I put most of them back because the errors kind of jump out at me. How do I know that info that I am not familiar with is correct?



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Lloyd Llama

01-28-2006 16:31:08




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
Probably can find it cheaper on amazon.com, etc.... Yeah, I know, still no look before you buy!



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Bob

01-28-2006 16:15:39




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Farmallgray, 01-28-2006 16:14:37  
Have you ever seen one of Randy's books that was NOT worth buying?



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RickB

01-29-2006 04:03:29




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Bob, 01-28-2006 16:15:39  
I find his books that I have are riddled with inaccuracies.



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rleroy

01-28-2006 19:14:03




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to Bob, 01-28-2006 16:15:39  
You joke, right?



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CNKS

01-29-2006 11:00:05




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to rleroy, 01-28-2006 19:14:03  
I don't think he is joking -- I noticed that the only Leffingwell book I have is the one in question, and I bought it sight unseen -- I don't pay too much attention to the author when I buy books, I scan them and put the overpriced/inaccurate ones back on the shelf.



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Bob

01-28-2006 19:52:14




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 Re: Randy Leffingwell's new book in reply to rleroy, 01-28-2006 19:14:03  
I enjoy his books. I am not a totally freaked out originality nut, and appreciate ALL photos of old tractors, perfect or not.



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