I was NOT disappointed with ''Adventures With Pinhole and Home-Made Cameras'' because it demonstrates a variety of radically different approaches to photography with unusual cameras. This book offers brief sketches of their making - exactly what I wanted. There is no need for blueprints as I have no desire to follow EXACTLY where others have already trod. ''Adventures'' is the first word in the title, after all. This book is eminently practically for the photographic tinkerer who wishes to think for him/herself and has no need to be led by the hand.
Thankfully, even the most sophisticated designs in the book are explained in at least a cursory way. Detailed plans, step-by-step instructions and parts lists are not what this book is about : you will not be spoon-fed stock design instructions. Detailed descriptions and breakdowns of real home-made cameras are unnecessary as builders will make use of whatever materials and techniques are available to them!
The book also offers tired old ideas, like using glass as an improvised lens (see ''Weegee's Creative Camera'', 1959), which may be a boon for the uninitiated. There is also a section in the back with information on making pinholes, calculating exposure times, etc. Most of this information, of course, can be easily found on the Internet (or your local library), the many details of which will be greatly expanded upon. Free interactive pinhole camera design software can easily be located online as well.
I bought this book as an educated photographer with an interest in building some unusual designs, so I have no need to copy existing camera designs ... how unusual would such a camera be? Thankfully this book makes no claims which it does not fulfill. Allow me to point out the first word in the title again : ADVENTURES. Blaze your own trail! This book will inspire all but the insipid, and will encourage even the timid to try.
Don't allow one bad (badly reasoned, I might add) review to delay your purchase as I had done.