Book Review: "Treasure Hunter's Manual #6"

These are the book's you've found to be a great read and a great help. These books must be in some way detecting, Historical or archaeologically related.

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i-eddie
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Book Review: "Treasure Hunter's Manual #6"

Post by i-eddie »

Apologies if this isn't in the right forum category -- admins, please relocate if necessary!

Also, I tend to get long-winded when I get into my writing -- fair warning that you'll need a few pints to make it through this post. :g9:

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When this book landed on my doorstep, I had never heard of it nor the author. (How and why I came into possession of the book is another story.) So, before cracking it open for a read, I did a quick bit of research on it.

The research didn't turn up much. I found only a handful of reviews, a few book websites with extremely brief synopses of it, and a scattering of forums with posts from users saying what a great book it is and that it's considered the treasure hunter's bible.

Before I get into my review, here's some background information I came across regarding the book. The author's name, Karl von Mueller, is actually a pseudonym -- his real name is Charles Dean Miller, and in his time he was apparently a widely-known and successful treasure hunter. There are at three editions of this book, the first was self-published by the author in Grand Prairie, Texas (1961). Apparently this printing included a long list of ghost towns and the names and addresses of treasure hunters all across the United States. This list landed Karl in some hot water; it seems thieves used it as a guide of places to hit (read the rest of my review for a rich sense of irony on that one). The second edition was published by 8 States Associates and had very few changes (the biggest being that the list had been removed). After that, Ram Publishing came out with several printings -- the big changes were to add pictures of people using Garrett detectors (along with a number of Garrett mentions in the text), removal of a bibliography, and removal of the plans to build a metal detector. And while there is a "Treasure Hunter's Manual #7", it seems that there never were any that were numbered 1 through 5.

According to the book's table of contents, it contains information on instruments and tools, organizations, the law, taxes, research, gold dredging, maps, photography, history, legends and myths, and several other topics. The organization and categorization the author uses in the book seems a bit haphazard and ad hoc.

And now on to my review. This is only my opinion – and based on the other reviews and recommendations for this book, I’m in a minority of one. After reading the book, I'm puzzled as to why it is held in such high esteem. It's certainly an entertaining read, but there is very little practical knowledge contained therein. Perhaps I'm making an overly broad assumption that most people know to do some research if they want to find treasure, to pack a snake-bite kit if you'll be where there are snakes, and that "foreign" cars are better made than American ones (seriously). I can understand how this may have been popular with treasure hunters 40 or 50 years ago, but now? Is it just the nostalgia?

I digress.

As you can see by the table of contents, it covers a number of topics. The problem is, it doesn't cover any of them in any real depth or detail to be of practical use. There are a few tidbits of good information to be found in the pages, but it seems to me that it's mostly good for simply being an entertaining read about treasure hunting that will get you daydreaming.

So, if there's so little practical information in the book, why is it over 300 pages? Stories and anecdotes, and lots of them. Despite claiming that the book doesn't contain many stories or anecdotes (the author writes in the introduction that he would have preferred to use many stories and "yarns"), they make up the bulk of the book. Take out the stories, and you have a very thin book; however, the stories are what make the book so entertaining. The author includes them in the book in such a way as to teach the reader a certain point, but it's a bit overdone.

All the stories and anecdotes -- in fact, the entire book -- is written in a conversational style that makes it easy to read. After a while, it can be a off-putting due to misspellings, gross grammatical errors, and what seems to be glaring omission of a good editor and proofreader.

One big thing I really did not like about this book is the hypocrisy. In one chapter, the author writes "In fact, I'd like to find just one professional man who is as honest as most of the professional treasure hunters I know and have worked with." Then, in another chapter, he goes on to instruct the reader on creative ways to lie -- LIE -- to landowners in order to get on the land to do some clandestine treasure hunting: "When he was certain that he'd found the right location, he asked for and received permission from the landowner to look for a pocket watch of considerable sentimental value which he had allegedly lost during the hunting season."

He actually includes several examples similar to this one. And then he essentially says to STEAL WHAT YOU FIND! He does so with little bits of wisdom such as "Finder's Keepers, Loser's Weepers! Remember that, because it is correct."

He also discusses an old house that was continuously looted by treasure hunters, and he expressed outrage that the landowner (and owner of the house) put a stop to the trespassing and thievery.

Unbelievable. I realize this was a different time a place, but theft and dishonesty are the same no matter where or when. Most readers with an ounce of ethics and morality about them will be put off by this. Further, any archaeologist or historian reading this book will likely have a heart attack at some of the author's suggestions. Documentation and context are discarded in favor of grabbing the treasure.

Bottom line, this was an entertaining read and it certainly got me daydreaming, but it has extremely limited practical use in this day and age. And I really had a hard time getting past the ethical messages therein.

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petethedig
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Re: Book Review: "Treasure Hunter's Manual #6"

Post by petethedig »

Well done i-eddie, we'd love to see a lot more reviews like this, so well done on being the first! :g38:

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Donnydave
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Re: Book Review: "Treasure Hunter's Manual #6"

Post by Donnydave »

Great read Eddie :g43:
(Quote)Most readers with an ounce of ethics and morality about them will be put off by this. Further, any (archeologist or historian ) reading this book will likely have a heart attack at some of the author's suggestions. Documentation and context are discarded in favor of grabbing the treasure.
Not to mention any farmer/ landowner who is wondering why so many watches get lost on his land, what was the excuse for being there in the first place to lose it :g43:

i-eddie
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Re: Book Review: "Treasure Hunter's Manual #6"

Post by i-eddie »

Thanks! I know it was a longer read than most forum posts, but I enjoy discussing books I've read. Just starting to get my hands on books related to the hobby, so I'll put up more reviews as I read them.
:g30:

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