When someone is going to write a book about an area of non-fiction, you first ought to wonder what their qualifications are. Did they know the people and/or events they were writing about? Did they speak with people directly involved with the subject matter? Or better yet, does this author know what they are talking about?

In the case of David Frangioni -- author of CRASH: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits from Appice to Peart to Van Halen -- he has been the recipient of dozens of gold and platinum albums as technical consultant, engineer, and/or programmer. These award-related credits include work with The Rolling Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Shakira, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, and Cher. Frangioni was the in-house engineer for five of the studio albums by Aerosmith, for whom he also built recording studios and high-end A/V systems.