Soviet Orders and Medals book

[Marcel Banziger]

After a postal delay I finally received my book today. I have to say this book looks really nice and all info is there so for a starting collector this is a good book. I did however notice that not just pics are taken elsewhere but also text is taken literally from f.e. Matt's website Sovietorders.com to explain medals in some cases. Word for word copied! Since my Russian is not good I can not say how exact the text was taken from Mondvor but copying a text word for word from a dealer's website is not the way to write a book and call yourself an author

I furthermore agree with Nick that it is very odd to add a value since these fluctuate from time to time, from country to country and from dealer to dealer. So imo completely unnecessary.

All in all, it is a very nice book but it leaves me with mixed feelings. I mean, any of us could take pics and text from online dealers and Mondvor's database to compile this book. One doesn't need to be an author to make this book. You just need to be good with copy - paste.

[Marcel Banziger]

I decided to write a short follow up after reading the complete book. This to make it easier for others to decide whether to buy this book or not.
I won't go into what is said before already, my point of view is clear in that.

After reading the full book, and I guess Nick, you noticed the same, is that the whole text is quite often just a very bad google translation. Many spelling errors but also phrases that look weird. And English is not even my native language.
I furthermore notice an inconsistancy in the explanation of orders and medals. I would like to see that the build up of explanation is done the same with all awards. It now comes across as a quick job without looking into details, details that I do see in books from B&D Publishing for example. Especially with the explanation of the medals Uskhakov and Nakhimov this stands out.
This same hasty work can be seen in explaining the Warlords orders, starting with Suvorov being the first, Kutuzov being the 2nd and next up is Bogdan Khmelnitsky being the 4th?! Number 3 please?
Aleksander Nevsky is up next but here a variation is not even mentioned. Not an obscure variation but a rather known variation. Forgotten? Not aware of? No idea.
The next section is medals. With f.e. Sevastopol and Leningrad several variations are left out, either in photographs or in text (or both). My opinion is that after many years of research, as claimed in the introduction, I feel that all variations should be included. And the more rare medals should get a better in depth explanation what to look for in an original versus a fake. This to help the starting collectors.

All in all it is a nice photo book with some basic info but I, a massive book collector, advice to spend the money on other books instead that will help much better when collecting Soviet orders and medals. I am sorry but I feel this is a missed chance to make a really good book.

[Woolgar]

Sums it up pretty well Marcel

Must say though I have learned quite a bit since reading it

Nick

[Auke]

Thanks for the follow-up Marcel. I find it quite disturbing that somebody would call himself an author and write - or rather, compile - a book in such a dishonest manner.

I already decided not to buy the book - as a picture book with just superficial descriptions of the awards and Google Translate texts it's a dime a dozen and too expensive - but now I will certainly steer clear of this one!