How to Rock Climb! (How to Rock Climb Series)

Rating:
Summary: definative basics book
Review: This book is probably the best book you could buy if you're just starting out. I bout it and it helped me to understand a lot of the fundamental ideas in climbing

Rating:
Summary: Undeniably classic, yet strangely flawed
Review: This is undeniably one of the major "textbooks" on rock climbing, and contains a great deal of useful information. Yet it has some rather disturbing flaws. Firstly, even though I read the 1998 edition, outdated information from earlier editions had not been updated. At times I felt like I was reading a book describing rock climbing in some parallel universe: Long refers to brands and items of gear not currently in existence (what's a Salewa Antz?) and some recommended techniques (tying into a trad anchor with the rope rather than with slings or a cordelette) are very rarely, in my experience, used. The text often makes references which will prove confusing for the beginner, and would benefit from a better glossary. The 1998 edition also has some sections so full of misspellings that they appear to have been written by a quasi-literate person. In summary, everything in this book is good information, but some of it is not entirely relevant to the way climbing is done today, and some of it is presented in an unclear manner.

Rating:
Summary: Undeniably classic, yet strangely flawed
Review: This is undeniably one of the major "textbooks" on rock climbing, and contains a great deal of useful information. Yet it has some rather disturbing flaws. Firstly, even though I read the 1998 edition, outdated information from earlier editions had not been updated. At times I felt like I was reading a book describing rock climbing in some parallel universe: Long refers to brands and items of gear not currently in existence (what's a Salewa Antz?) and some recommended techniques (tying into a trad anchor with the rope rather than with slings or a cordelette) are very rarely, in my experience, used. The text often makes references which will prove confusing for the beginner, and would benefit from a better glossary. The 1998 edition also has some sections so full of misspellings that they appear to have been written by a quasi-literate person. In summary, everything in this book is good information, but some of it is not entirely relevant to the way climbing is done today, and some of it is presented in an unclear manner.