Rating: 
Summary: Save yourself time and effort - buy this book.
Review: After a long hiatus, I found myself interested in backpacking again. I wanted to catch up on what is current, so I read and read and read and read and read and surfed and surfed and surfed the web.Then I found this book. I wish I had known about this book. It would have saved me a lot of time in all the previous research I mentioned. Since it's newly revised, the gear reviews confirmed most of the research I had already done. The writers' styles are wonderful and makes the book easy to read. If your interested in backpacking or camping, this is a great book to get! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Save yourself time and effort - buy this book.
Review: After a long hiatus, I found myself interested in backpacking again. I wanted to catch up on what is current, so I read and read and read and read and read and surfed and surfed and surfed the web. Then I found this book. I wish I had known about this book. It would have saved me a lot of time in all the previous research I mentioned. Since it's newly revised, the gear reviews confirmed most of the research I had already done. The writers' styles are wonderful and makes the book easy to read. If your interested in backpacking or camping, this is a great book to get! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Sheer Brilliance
Review: Colin Fletcher & Chip Rawlins write a backpacker's bible so complete and readable that I still find it hard to believe.
Rating:
Summary: everthing old is new again
Review: I balked when I first heard about a book on 'walking' when I was 17 and the first edition came out. I have climbed and hiked Colorado and its fourteeners since I was fifteen, and couldnt imagine a book on how to walk. Some years back I picked up a copy for fun and on sale. Now at 47 and still an avid camper and climber, I just ditched Walker III for Walker IV. Why? While similar in many aspects, it is indeed worth the $20 in additional information. After sifting through many titles on the camping and climbing [topics] this is one of the BEST single volume versions covering many topics, giving practical as well as theoretical advice. What distinguishes it from other excellent books is its plain language and examples. You need not be a techy to digest this book. It is a good read on its own if you have even a modest interst in the topics of hiking and camping. I might add that while there is more thorough coverage of topics such as Mountaineering and first aid, for the neophyte, the impatient, frugal, or generalist, this is the place to start. Jack of all and master of some trades. I personnaly feel that gear is a large part of the practice, by interest and by necessity. Thus the reviews are worthwhile, and while disclaimed to be what the authors found to fit thier needs, it is safe to assume they have the breadth of experience most of us lack. It is somewhat clear to me that the reviews are impartial and not the focus in least of the book. The sections on tents, clothing, food, lights, survival, and many old and new anecdotes give life and readability to this tome. Checklists are great and thorough. If you know a lot or nothing there are tips and suggestions that will help. As an example I was interested in improviing my food on trips, as I stick to a regimine established in the early 70's. While I am an avid and competant cook at home, I prefer simple, clean, and quick on the trail. After perusing gourment trail guides and the like, and finding some to be more intricate and involved than I feel practicable, Walker IV has great ideas which are easily implemented without multiple pots, dehydrating, etc., and using supplies from the grocery store as well as mountain shops. When looking to lighten my load, the information is there as well, and less evangelistic that the pamphlet that I examined on extreme light camping. This book is a great way to have a reference akin to an experienced friend /outdoorsman to talk with on a subject whenever you like. After thirty years of gear and hiking myself, I find the advice to be solid and verifed in my own experience. It gives a perspective to, as well as outside of, high tech, high fashion, and other recent marketing trends which are changing the gear available.
Rating:
Summary: everthing old is new again
Review: I balked when I first heard about a book on 'walking' when I was 17 and the first edition came out. I have climbed and hiked Colorado and its fourteeners since I was fifteen, and couldnt imagine a book on how to walk. Some years back I picked up a copy for fun and on sale. Now at 47 and still an avid camper and climber, I just ditched Walker III for Walker IV. Why? While similar in many aspects, it is indeed worth the $20 in additional information. After sifting through many titles on the camping and climbing [topics] this is one of the BEST single volume versions covering many topics, giving practical as well as theoretical advice. What distinguishes it from other excellent books is its plain language and examples. You need not be a techy to digest this book. It is a good read on its own if you have even a modest interst in the topics of hiking and camping. I might add that while there is more thorough coverage of topics such as Mountaineering and first aid, for the neophyte, the impatient, frugal, or generalist, this is the place to start. Jack of all and master of some trades. I personnaly feel that gear is a large part of the practice, by interest and by necessity. Thus the reviews are worthwhile, and while disclaimed to be what the authors found to fit thier needs, it is safe to assume they have the breadth of experience most of us lack. It is somewhat clear to me that the reviews are impartial and not the focus in least of the book. The sections on tents, clothing, food, lights, survival, and many old and new anecdotes give life and readability to this tome. Checklists are great and thorough. If you know a lot or nothing there are tips and suggestions that will help. As an example I was interested in improviing my food on trips, as I stick to a regimine established in the early 70's. While I am an avid and competant cook at home, I prefer simple, clean, and quick on the trail. After perusing gourment trail guides and the like, and finding some to be more intricate and involved than I feel practicable, Walker IV has great ideas which are easily implemented without multiple pots, dehydrating, etc., and using supplies from the grocery store as well as mountain shops. When looking to lighten my load, the information is there as well, and less evangelistic that the pamphlet that I examined on extreme light camping. This book is a great way to have a reference akin to an experienced friend /outdoorsman to talk with on a subject whenever you like. After thirty years of gear and hiking myself, I find the advice to be solid and verifed in my own experience. It gives a perspective to, as well as outside of, high tech, high fashion, and other recent marketing trends which are changing the gear available.
Rating:
Summary: Always a Favorite
Review: I bought the original edition way back when. This one updates the lore and is sound advice. Collin Fletcher "paved" the way... to the outdoors for many people. His exploits are legendary, his writing style superb.
Rating:
Summary: Always a Favorite
Review: I bought the original edition way back when. This one updates the lore and is sound advice. Collin Fletcher "paved" the way... to the outdoors for many people. His exploits are legendary, his writing style superb.
Rating:
Summary: Always a Favorite
Review: I bought the original edition way back when. This one updates the lore and is sound advice. Collin Fletcher "paved" the way... to the outdoors for many people. His exploits are legendary, his writing style superb.
Rating:
Summary: worth twice its weight in gold
Review: i dragged my feet before buying this book. i thought "i've already read plenty of books about backpacking." i wasn't exactly satisfied with any of them, but i learned a little from each different title. i finally bought this book 5 days ago from the Lodgepole Ranger Station bookstore in Sequoia NP, on a crazy impulse. OH MY GOSH. 800+ pages of the most useful, precise information i've ever read anywhere (and i've read a lot). these two guys know their stuff, and are eloquent, realistic, CLEAR, and mildly humourous when they talk about it. this is so far above & beyond the quality of other books on the subject - i'm blown away. i've been reading it nonstop for 5 days. it covers everything: shoes (from full-scale boots to trail runners to hiking sandals & tons in-between), socks, packs, tents, clothing, weather, food, cooking, stoves, lights, hats, animals... the authors have EXTENSIVE experience and it really shines through. there is an extensive listing of additional reading material on every subject they discuss, plus gear lists from various trips of their own. this is a treasure trove. as a HUGE plus, the book is fun to read. witty, wry humour and their very honest accounts of their own dumb mistakes help readers not to feel like we're begging at the table for crumbs of their vast banquet of knowledge. if you feel like you could stand to learn a little more about ANY aspect of backpacking, this book will totally exceed your expectations. it's THE MOST useful book i've read in a long, long time.
Rating:
Summary: worth twice its weight in gold
Review: i dragged my feet before buying this book. i thought "i've already read plenty of books about backpacking." i wasn't exactly satisfied with any of them, but i learned a little from each different title. i finally bought this book 5 days ago from the Lodgepole Ranger Station bookstore in Sequoia NP, on a crazy impulse. OH MY GOSH. 800+ pages of the most useful, precise information i've ever read anywhere (and i've read a lot). these two guys know their stuff, and are eloquent, realistic, CLEAR, and mildly humourous when they talk about it. this is so far above & beyond the quality of other books on the subject - i'm blown away. i've been reading it nonstop for 5 days. it covers everything: shoes (from full-scale boots to trail runners to hiking sandals & tons in-between), socks, packs, tents, clothing, weather, food, cooking, stoves, lights, hats, animals... the authors have EXTENSIVE experience and it really shines through. there is an extensive listing of additional reading material on every subject they discuss, plus gear lists from various trips of their own. this is a treasure trove. as a HUGE plus, the book is fun to read. witty, wry humour and their very honest accounts of their own dumb mistakes help readers not to feel like we're begging at the table for crumbs of their vast banquet of knowledge. if you feel like you could stand to learn a little more about ANY aspect of backpacking, this book will totally exceed your expectations. it's THE MOST useful book i've read in a long, long time.
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