Books!

I love a good book. These days I mostly listen to audiobooks on the way to and from work, but I also will pick up any books on metal detecting, piracy and Florida history that I take a shine to.  My latest detector purchase of a Minelab Excalibur prompted me to buy a set of books on the Excalibur by Clive Clynick. I have most of Clive's books on beach/water hunting, PI detectors and now the Excalibur, all excellent reference books on how to get the most performance from those machines. For the metal detecting enthusiasts living in South West Florida, "Florida's Last Frontier - The History of Collier County" by Charlton W. Tebeau is a great guide for historical locations in Collier County (If you do pin point a site you want to hunt, as always, make sure you get permission from the landowner!).  For the military relic hunters out there, a great reference is the "Encyclopedia of Historic Forts" by Robert B. Roberts, this is large volume that covers all 50 states, it is out of print but you should be able to find a copy on Amazon or Ebay. For for the Florida hunters, "Forts, Camps & Batteries of Florida" by Harry H. Ranier Jr. is a pretty thorough guide.  Although you can likely find most the research material you need online, there is nothing quite like finding the information you need from an old dusty book, maybe the same way finding an old coin means so much more than buying a shiny one from a coin dealer.  I mention it on my website, but when looking for information on local history always start at your local library.  They typically have books written by local historians, and only a few copies may have ever been printed!  Finally wanted to mention a must have set of books for the folks interested in Civil War relics is "The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies", the original set published 1880-1901, is an enormous reference.  It is available on DVD from various vendors on Amazon and Ebay.  That's all for tonight. Thanks for reading!