When Landels wrote the first edition (1978), he was a classicist (Reading U., England) working with the engineering department to make working replicas of ancient machines and testing them in the field. For students of classical civilization and lay readers interested in the history of technology or in bewildering the police at street demonstrations, he offers insight into the mechanical skills of ancient Greece and Rome. He has left the main text untouched, but appended how to built a trireme and some additional thoughts and expanded and updated the bibliography to some extent. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)