Customer Reviews

Better Bouldering (How To Climb Series)

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
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Verm (Sherman) hits the mark with this guide. Read it and you will climb (boulder) better and will not look or act like a geek. Lots of insider hints and tricks, gently sprinkled with John's particular humor. A must buy.

I own two books on the subject of climbing. I'm a career nerd, and as such, I typically amass an extensive library on the subjects that interest me. Not surprisingly, about twelve years ago when I first began climbing, I set out to aquire as much literature on the sport as possible. Now, more than a decade later, my climbing library includes a mere two books: Performance Rock Climbing by Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann, and Better Bouldering by John Sherman. Sherman's stringent attention to detail and wealth of bouldering experience are evident in the outstanding quality of his work. This book is easy to read thanks to Sherman's light-hearted, humorous, and personal style of presentation. The treatment of the subject matter is thorough and even entertaining. I re-read this book annually and recommend it to every boulderer that I meet.

For anyone who doesn't know, bouldering is a branch of rock climbing in which no ropes or harnesses are used. Because of this, the climber usually doesn't go more than a dozen feet up and should have pads and a spotter ready to help should he or she fall.

That being said, trying to teach someone how to become a better rock climber (or boulderer) is like trying to teach somebody to drive a manual transmission car from a book. It's no substitute for actually being out there, trying what works and what doesn't, and learning from your own mistakes.

That being said, this book gets the job done as best it can, and it even acknowledges the fact that the best skill honing and development will come not from reading, but from hands-on practicing. Author John Sherman definitely knows his stuff, and this book gives a good overview of virtually the entire bouldering world. It would have been nice to have more pictures and diagrams, just because there's so much to benefit from visual aids in this sport.

Unfortunately for anyone who is already a skilled boulderer, this book will be of little help in furthering one's craft. It primarily targets individuals who are new to the sport and rather unfamiliar or of a novice-level with the concept. But then again, anyone who is already a well-skilled boulderer should know that "How to" books are probably not the answer to fine-tuning his or her skills.

If you're someone looking to get a little more into bouldering, this book will help you take the plunge. Be sure to read the section on safety and caution first, as it can be a dangerous sport to those who are careless or reckless.

Full of jargon, slang, offhand opinions, and philosophical advice, but lacking in detailed or systematic descriptions of techniques, this book might be of use to moderately advanced boulderers but was useless to this newbie. Hey, John, do you want to tell us what some of these terms mean, or maybe provide a glossary or an index?

This book was dialed in by a guy who gives the impression that he was more interested in his self-presentation to the world as a cool-and-laid-back-yet-knowledgable dude than in conveying useful information. Not recommended.

At just under 100 pages 'Better Bouldering' is a short look at this dynamic type of climbing. This book is written in a very informal style which makes it quite easy to read, but it can get on your nerves at times. It expects the reader to have some climbing knowledge first and uses some climbing terms that may not be familiar to new climbers, this is one to come to after you've been climbing for a while. It has some useful tips in here but nothing groundbreaking or that you wouldn't pick up after a few trips out on the rocks. The photos, although relatively inspiring, are in black and white and quite dark at times, but they do illustrate the various points being made. This book covers topics such as gear, safety, dyno-ing, use of finesse and power, small tricks to make your bouldering easier, positive thinking, avoiding mistakes, health and injuries, ways to keep bouldering interesting, training tips and a short section on famous boulderers. It is an inexpensive book, that has some useful tips, is light hearted and is good to dip into now and then. Not outstanding, but a worthy addition to your climbing library.

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I got this book right after I started bouldering, and I'm so glad I did. Not only is it really helpful for technique and such, but John Sherman is the master of teaching climbers to do something that so few do: NOT TAKE OURSELVES SO SERIOUSLY! His writing is hilarious, and he will give you such a good mindset for climbing. He pushes for you to ignore whatever grading system you have submitted to, and to just have fun. The pictures are great (there are plenty) and the information he gives is necessary for any boulderer out there. He even goes so far as to give a brief history of bouldering (something he is an expert in). There really isn't any useless information in this book.

Whether you're a new or experienced climber, get this book.

Sherman the Vermin scores again with this wonderful book on the sport of bouldering. A life-long boulderer and a gifted smart-aleck, Sherman lays it out in a fun and informative style that will give you all the tricks of the trade while keeping you chuckling the whole way through.

this book would be great for someone who has never seen a problem in their life but i've been bouldering for about 5 months and I'm working V5 problems and this book didn't tell me anything i didn't know. I'm not saying i know everything but the information given can and should have been attained after a few months of serious climbing. Again i'm sure the author knows more than i will ever know but he didn't go past the "duh" advice in his book. Waste of money for advanced climber seeking improvement. Great for green climber looking to get started. Rock on. Nice move. Go static.

Having come from a traditional climbing background, and having discovered John Gill through Pat Ament during my peak, I evolved into a boulderer for the sake of bouldering, rather than just training for traditional climbing. Why? For me personally, bouldering was the obvious channel for a mortal being to follow while coping with the reality that I am a maturing human. Because the nectar of laying hands on Mother Earth's various forms of lithified artwork was never to evaporate, the need to ascend soaring heights of the stuff has. In short, no more Sentinel Mental Journey's. John Sherman has written an honest, humorous, and quality book that describes the nuances involved with high limit bouldering. Of particular credit is John's painfully objective efforts at describing even those controversial elements of bouldering that exist such as cheater stones, route altering and manufacturing, etc. Don't despair John, it was the right thing to do. The beauty of bouldering is in its inherent variety of ways it can be approached. John Sherman does not advocate one way or the other but does indeed get his beliefs across to the reader without appearing too evangelistic. That is noble. So whether you choose to boulder nude without shoes or chalk, or if you choose to approach bouldering with a flak jacket, John Sherman's book epitomizes its title, Better Bouldering. He should be proud of this book and you should buy it and read it if you too decide that you don't want anymore Sentinel Mental Journeys.