by Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig
Text in German.
Falken Verlag, 49.00 DM.
ISBN 3-8068-4513-1
127 pages, lots of color photos and drawings, four plans, A4-size.
The book "Phantastische Drachenwelt" (Fantastic World of Kites) is the biggest book (A4-size), with the most color photos and the best plans from Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig. Unlike the other books from Wolfgang, this book is devoted more to the art and beauty of kitemaking and flying. It contains only four plans, but at least three come from internationally well known kite builders like Martin Lester and Maurizio Angeletti (millestelle).
The book is divided into four chapters that deal with different types of kites, creative kite builders, kite festivals and kite plans. The first chapter gives a short overview of the main existing types of kites. There are always some nice examples for specific kites given, but unfortunately, the builders or creators are not always explicitly mentioned.
The second chapter presents some of the international well-known kite builders and their specialities: Alfons Karsten, Till Krapp and Peter Malinski (from Germany), Joergen Moeller Hansen (Danmark), Steve Brockett and Martin Lester (UK), Andre Cassagne (France), Maurizio Angeletti (Italy), Maasaki Modegi (Japan), Mousor bin Saad (Malaysia), Peter Lynn (New Zealand) and Scott Skinner (USA). Each of them is presented on two or four pages with at least five of six pictures of their most well-known kites. They have been (or let's better say: are) "kite pioneers which have influenced modern kite building a lot" (quoted directly from the forword of the book).
In the third chapter some kite festivals are presented. I said "some" because, for example, there isn't any kite festival in the US mentioned. Those kite festivals that are mentioned are from Europe (Fanoe, Berlin, Damp and Scheveningen) and Asia (Singapore, Pesta Layang and Layang Bali). In addition the tradition of kite fights in Asia is mentioned. From what I have heard from rec.kites, at least some festivals from the US or the fifth continent and the stunt kite championships should have been mentioned here, too.
In the last chapter four plans are presented: relax (stunt kite from Wolfgang Schimmelfennig), millestelle (sort of centipede from Maurizio Angeletti), the Martin Lester legs (guess from whom) and a dragon-fly (sort of conyne delta from Till Krapp). The plans seem to be as detailed as all Schimmelpfennig plans and the presented kites look really nice. The patterns for the kites are drawn 1:1 on a A1 sheet! I have built the millestelle myself without any problems.
As a conclusion I can very much recommend this book. It is not only for those who are only interested in kite plans, but even if you do not understand German, Wolfgang knows how to present the fascination of kites and building kites via the many color pictures. Only drawback: The book is until now only available in German, and I do not know of any plans to translate it into English. The book is as usual available from the KiteLines bookstore.
Review by Bernhard Malle (January 1994)