"Kauai: 100 Years in Postcards," by Stormy Cozad (Arcadia, $21.99)

Picture-book publishers Arcadia, the crew with the sepia-tone "local histories," have tried something new here, telling a community history through the use of postcards. It’s an interesting idea and the results are mixed. Virtually all the postcards here — more than 200 of them — are from the collection of Kauai author Cozad, and she wrote excellent caption information for each, placing the cards in historical and geographic context. Gaetano Vasta also did a terrific job of scanning the color-printed, dot-matrix cards and converting them into crisp black-and-white images, although there are still Gaussian-blur artifacts on some. On the other hand, the vibrant color of the cards is now missing, which makes the pictures in the book look rather similar and repetitive. While the images are interesting, they’re not exactly fascinating. Postcards are by nature a kind of marketing propaganda, and the book misses out on an opportunity to dissect pop-culture references and trends inherent in the medium. The problem with the book? It’s rather too tasteful to be fun.

"Surfing in Hawaii: 1778-1930," by Timothy Tovar DeLaVega (Arcadia, $21.99)

Arcadia hits one out of the park with this nicely produced picture history of the early days of surfing, covering the period from Capt. Cook’s first glimpse of board riding to roughly 1930, about the time surfing became more organized. There’s a surprising number of images — naked Hawaiian maidens riding the waves was a popular sort of illustration, apparently — and the pictures get photographic around the turn of the century. That’s the beginning of the Kahanamoku era, and the half-dozen Hawaiian brothers were aquatic superstars. The smart, knowing text is from DeLaVega, who’s helped out on occasion by Kahanamoku biographer Sandra Kimberley Hall. The pictures are well chosen and nicely reproduced, and bring alive an era when surfing was largely a local, happily disorganized phenomenon.

"Buildings of Hawaii," by Don J. Hibbard (University of Virginia Press, $65)

The first question that comes to mind with this interesting volume is, Why isn’t this published in Hawaii? Because it’s part of a series created by the Society of Architectural Historians and released on a state-by-state basis by UV Press. Hibbard, once the go-to guy at the state’s Historic Preservation Division, certainly knows his buildings. Essentially, this is a one-volume encyclopedia of the notable structures throughout the islands, broken down by district. The "classics" are there, of course, such as Iolani Palace and the Moana Hotel, but it also incorporates newer structures like the overhanging Occidental Life Insurance Building on Piikoi and the wedgelike First Hawaiian Center downtown, the first Honolulu building to test the city’s height limit. Although some buildings get more coverage than others, Hibbard has woven in neatly phrased descriptions and biographical data on the architects. Augie Salbosa’s photos get short shrift in the mass of detail here, and the book has a useful glossary of architectural terms. This is one handy reference.

"The Military Guide to Financial Independence & Retirement," by Doug Nordman (Impact, $17.95)

Military personnel live in an economic system that is more tied to the federal government than the rest of us, and it is occasionally stable in ways we cannot imagine in the civvy world, such as the ability to retire after only two decades of full-time employment. On the other hand, while they’re working, military personnel put their lives on the line every day, and once they do retire, they have to deal with the baffling, arcane maze that is the government. Retired submariner Nordman, a Mililani resident, started creating this guidebook via discussions on www.early-retirement.org, and has incorporated more than 50 real-life experiences as examples. His view is that retired military personnel can leverage their unique status to create financial independence in their retirement years, as long as they are diligent and modest about it. There’s nothing magic about it: Put your money and your benefits where they will do the most good. All royalties from sales go to various military charities. If you’re military or have a military relative, this is a handy and straightforward guide.