wvabackpacker's Full Review: The Backpacker's Handbook Books
My intention was to buy the second edition, but the first edition was way cheaper. So I bought it. The book is packed with information, a pro and a con. Chris Townsend, the author, includes hundreds of tips and tactics for backpacking and hundreds of facts and history lessons on useless topics. For instance. Chris describes how to choose a tent and shelter with great detail, very helpful. He even explains what to do in some emergencies for shelter. However, he also explains the anatomy of a shoe/boot over 70 pages or so. Too much information.
The topics Chris explains well in this book are: Technique, Shelter, Food, and packing for a trek.
The topics Chris explains TOO WELL are:
Footwear, Gear, Nutrition
The topics Chris doesn't explain well:
Medical, Knots, Animals, Plants, Survival Skills
Chris provides history lessons on most of the topics in his book. I felt that this just took up space. I wanted to know how things performed, not when and how they were created. Chris is also from Europe and uses some European phrases and terminology which can be confusing.
Overall: The book has good information on some topics, not enough on others. You can find other books on backpacking that are straight to the point of how to, what to take, what to do, etc. This book has way too much fat and takes a good while to read. I skipped many parts due to how much useless information there was on many topics. I don't think this book was worth what I paid for it. Maybe the second edition is better?
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