Hammock Camping: The Complete Guide to Greater Comfort, Convenience and Freedom

Rating:
Summary: hammock camping-light on revalations
Review: After finishing Hammock Camping my advice is as follows. Go and check out Ed Speer's website and read all what is there and save your money. All the info that is in the book that is worth anything is posted on the site. A good book for those just staring out.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening, but not everything I'd hoped.
Review: Ed Speers, the author and ulta-experienced outdoor adventurer, does a lot of things right in this book. He has obviously learned how to make and use a hammock in the wilderness and this expertise has led him to create a few of his own innovations in hammock camping. Like many wilderness junkies that decide to write a book or two, Speers is at his best when describing his own experiences. There's no lack of such experiences in this book, since Speers often includes personal journal entries or remembered stories to provide examples of the points he is trying to convey. These events are perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the book and leave the reader with the desire to visit the wide array of places the author describes. Mr. Speers is obviously trying to convince the reader to use a hammock rather than a tent and his personal examples are often chosen to show how those experiences were made possible by his use of his hammock. This expertise pays off in the author's own innovations in hammock making and usage, including the interesting "Pea Pod" concept of staying warm even in cold temperatures. Ed properly devotes a beefy chapter to the concepts and methods of staying warm in a hammock, which is the biggestl challenge facing the hammock user. This provides an excellent application of Speers' long and varied experiences in his hammocks, since the reader can feel confident that they can make their own hammock comfortably warm in cooler temperatures, yet also feel reassured that they can retreat to the ground if faced with even colder conditions than expected.
The author's intent to convert the reader into a hammock lover is a bit overdone at times, though. If the reader is already a hammock user, much of the book will be be spent wishing that they could somehow let the author know that they already agree with him, so that he can therefore go on to more interesting topics. However, for the unconverted, there is much to think about. Speers does a very good job of discrediting misconceptions about hammocks and provides enough handholding to get even the most inexperienced reader safely into a comfortable hammock. There are also excellent appendices, including a good discussion of Leave No Trace philosophies and methods.
I was rather disappointed by the book's short length. The fairly large print makes the book look and feel fairly substantial, but I read the entire book in only a couple of hours. Admittedly, I read through it pretty fast looking for tidbits of interesting information or new ideas, but I did in fact read the entire book without skipping a paragraph. Still, one might imagine that there's only so much the author can say about "Hammock Camping" and he would obviously not want to babble on too long or risk losing the interest of the reader in a subject of limited scope. It also helps that there are illustrations where appropriate, though they are sometimes difficult to see. One-color photographs typically don't work very well, especially at the small sizes used in this book. The photos are not useless, though, and sometimes convey a sequence or idea that is very difficult to understand by reading alone. They easily convey the concept of Speers' preferred hammock knot, which is the best knot I know of for the purpose. I'll also note that his flat webbing straps are also easily preferable to the round cords used on some hammocks. The attachment of those straps to the hammock itself is nothing short of ingenious: simple, yet elegantly functional.
I was most disappointed by the author's description of currently available hammocks for wilderness use. While Ed does give us a good overview of what does and does not make a good hammock for backcountry use, in my opinion he spends insufficient time discussing hammocks currently for sale. This would not be such a disappointment for many readers, but Mr. Speers' website advertises this as one of the primary features of the book and I expected more from this chapter. While he does describe most, if not all, of the available wilderness hammocks, you are prepared for the disappointment after the chapter opens with Speers admitting that he hasn't personally used many of the hammocks he discusses. I did not expect him to purchase every single hammock on the market and thoroughly test them all, but I did expect greater detail about the popular models. There is very little that a potential hammock buyer can learn from Speers that they couldn't have learned by visiting the manufacturers' websites instead. I wanted to hear about whether the assymetrical design of Hennessey's recent models was a worthwhile innovation or not. I wanted a bit more in-depth comparison between the various manufacturers and models. However, I may have been asking for too much in this area. Speers does indeed describe the major design features and potential downfalls of each option, though the reader is always aware of the author's own preferences for his own design. This is not a bad thing, but it can come across as self-promotion.
The author does a good job of helping the reader make their own hammock. Speers' design is simple enough even for the novice to complete and he even makes sure to include sources for all the materials that he discusses. The Speers Hammock design is simple and effective, definitely enticing the reader to borrow a sewing machine and make their own wilderness shelter. I believe that is the best compliment anyone can hope to give this book. Even if the author only succeeds in making the reader realize the limitations of heavily-advertised outdoor gear when compared to customized do-it-yourself gear, he has obviously done something right. I adore virtually any book whose message is, "You can do it!". Therefore, I simply have to love this book despite any perceived shortcomings.

Rating:
Summary: Hammock camping - a comprehensive source of info
Review: This book is a compliation of the knowledge gathered during the many years Ed has used hammocks for wilderness travel. It is a mixture of practical information on staying warm, choosing the right campsite, attaching the hammock to trees as well as anecdotal reports of hammock camping in action. One of the most useful chapters is the one on making your own hammock.

This is one of those books that you can read numerous times and still glean more information with each reading. Once you switch from your tent to a hammock, you'll never go back!