Rating: 
Summary: Fun and informative.
Review: Maybe you're taking the classic aproach to learning the fine
art of traditional leading and anchor building (namely
trial and error -- survive the first year and maybe you
will have learned something), or maybe just curious what the
occasional refernece to a cordelette on rec.climbing is all
about. In any case John Longs approach to anchor building
is an easy to understand (meaning plenty of photos and
examples!) and knowledge packed book backed up by John's
years of experience on the rock and complemented by his
skills as a story teller. A recommended reference for the
beginner tinkering with gear on the ground or the experienced
leader who has perhaps grown rusty (and anyone else who
occasionally has to construct and trust an anchor...).
Rating:
Summary: Fun and informative.
Review: Maybe you're taking the classic aproach to learning the fineart of traditional leading and anchor building (namelytrial and error -- survive the first year and maybe you will have learned something), or maybe just curious what the occasional refernece to a cordelette on rec.climbing is all about. In any case John Longs approach to anchor building is an easy to understand (meaning plenty of photos and examples!) and knowledge packed book backed up by John's years of experience on the rock and complemented by his skills as a story teller. A recommended reference for the beginner tinkering with gear on the ground or the experienced leader who has perhaps grown rusty (and anyone else who occasionally has to construct and trust an anchor...).
Rating: 
Summary: A useful source, but far short of what it could be
Review: The big problem with Chockstone/Falcon's "How to rock climb" series is that too many of their books, particularly those written by John Long, seem to contain huge sections cut-and-pasted from other titles in this series.Alas, "Climbing Anchors" is no exception. If you have a copy of the book "How To Rock Climb", you already have about 50% of the matter covered in this book. What remains is useful, but hardly justifies the cost of a full book. If this book contained a section on setting up pulley systems, it might be more worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: A useful source, but far short of what it could be
Review: The big problem with Chockstone/Falcon's "How to rock climb" series is that too many of their books, particularly those written by John Long, seem to contain huge sections cut-and-pasted from other titles in this series. Alas, "Climbing Anchors" is no exception. If you have a copy of the book "How To Rock Climb", you already have about 50% of the matter covered in this book. What remains is useful, but hardly justifies the cost of a full book. If this book contained a section on setting up pulley systems, it might be more worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good on gear placements; somewhat confusing elsewhere
Review: The first half of this book, which discusses protection and placements, is invaluable. However, when Long turns to complete anchors, the text becomes somewhat confusing. The section on opposing nuts using clove hitches, for example, may befuddle the beginner. The anchor analysis section is great in theory, but the black and white pictures are a little blurry and hard to see. Nevertheless, this is a very useful reference work.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but some "old" methods
Review: This book and its companion "More Climbing Anchors" are good to have if you will be doing any multipitch climbing. This book gives the principles of making anchors then shows examples of actual anchors and critiques each. Very helpful.
The problem is the author, like many traditional climbers and guides, prefer to use the climbing rope as part of the anchor. This complicates things in a rescue situation. Slings and coralettes should be used for the belay anchors. Keep that in mind and this book will be very helpful for you in "real" climbing.
Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for trad climbing/natural anchor setup
Review: This book is extremely valuable for learning how to place protection or setting up anchors for trad climbing or top rope anchor setup. My friends and I carefully studied this book and went out and practiced placing gear and setting up anchors from the ground. When we went and took an anchor building class, we learned a lot of good tips, but the information we learned from this book helped us rapidly advance in our class. This book also is very helpful after you learn your basics because you can analyze various anchor setups and compare it to the analysis in the book. One drawback of this or any other book is that a picture is never as good as inspecting protection on your own at various angles close up. For this reason, you will want to go climbing with a more experienced partner or an instructor so they can give you more detailed feedback on your own protection placement skills.
Rating:
Summary: Very good on gear placements; somewhat confusing elsewhere
Review: This book is required reading for every aspiring rock climber. Long provides explanations of the subtleties of placing nuts and cams that cannot be found anywhere else in print. The book's one flaw is that it somewhat overemphasizes using the rope to equalize multi-point anchor systems, a problem that is corrected in "More Climbing Anchors," the companion text by John Long and Bob Gaines.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading
Review: This book is required reading for every aspiring rock climber. Long provides explanations of the subtleties of placing nuts and cams that cannot be found anywhere else in print. The book's one flaw is that it somewhat overemphasizes using the rope to equalize multi-point anchor systems, a problem that is corrected in "More Climbing Anchors," the companion text by John Long and Bob Gaines.
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