Customer Reviews

Camping's Top Secrets, 2nd: A Lexicon of Camping Tips Only the Experts Know

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With this book, Mr. Jacobson has compiled some of the best tips and ideas for camping out of doors. From winter camping to knot-tying, it is a VERY helpful resource for the beginning/intermediate camper. The book is easy to read and easy to reference with subjects listed in alphabetical order. He covers almost anything you could think you want to know about camping, with very good information on canoeing as well. Read this book before you go!

We bought this book for a gift for our 13-yr old nephew. When it arrived, we skimmed through it and immediately went back online to order a copy for ourselves!
Even though I am a veteran hiker & backpacker, Mr. Jacobsen's book has a lot of tips and tricks in it I had never heard of...and some reminders of things I had heard before and forgotten.
This is a great reference for outdoorspeople of all ability levels.

WE'VE BEEN CAMPING ENTHUSIASTS FOR A LONG TIME. EVEN WE LEARNED SOME NEW TRICKS BY READING THIS BOOK. CLIFF'S STYLE OF VERY DETAILED AND CONCISE WRITING IS WONDERFULLY INTEGRATED WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR THAT CAN ONLY COME FROM SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN THROUGH THE UPS & DOWNS THAT MOTHER NATURE AND CAMPING EQUIPMENT CAN PROVIDE. WE'VE TESTED SOME OF HIS TIPS, THEY WORKED. HE EVEN PROVIDES INFORMATION ABOUT WHERE TO FIND SOME OF THE CAMPING GEAR MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK. FINAL LINE, BUY IT!!! READ IT!!!!

Wow.
There was a lot of stuff I didn't know. Twenty five years of camping on the average of once a month and I got a lot out of this book. Jacobsen's advice on pitching tarps alone is worth the price of the book. There is a minimal amount of old chestnuts aand lots of really useful information.

Cliff Jacobson is one of the authors of a great series of camping books called the "Basic Essentials". He is popular because he writes in a homey accessible style that gets you interested in the subject and teaches you in simple terms anyone can grasp. In the series are books on camping basics, cooking outdoors, map and compass, shelter, weather, canoeing, fishing, first aid, and more. They are great little library to have but if you can't afford them all, buy this one for all the basics. Cliff has put together a book that has information from all of these and a little more. Some of his "secrets" are really helpful tips you may have heard before if you are an experianced camper, but you can bet there will be some new ones too. An all around great resource for the experianced or rookie camper, I highly reccommend.

This book lives up to its title. Some of the tips are fascinating, although as a "car camper" I may never utilize them (for example, despite the book's recommendations, a Eureka dome tent is more convenient and practical for my family then, say, a hand-fashioned shelther of canvas and rope, or pine boughs). Nevertheless, even the information that I may never utilize myself is fascinating to read, and the book is otherwise full of "smaller scale" tips and tricks (e.g., cooking, tools, hiking and orienteering, etc.) that are useful to all levels of campers.

Cliff Jacobson is in my opinion the best canoe-camping-outdoor equipment-how-to guy writing today. And this book is very good, full of wonderful tips and advice laid out in far greater detail than most any of his competitors can muster.

Since I enjoy this author so much, I didn't even mind that the organization of "Camping Tips only the Experts Know" is a little haphazard, using the letters of the alphabet. Nor did I mind that most of the camping tips presented I'd already come across in Cliff's other outdoor books, including his masterpiece, "Expedition Canoeing." However, there were just enough brand new tips to keep me turning pages. And the occasional re-tooled old tip explained in even greater and more helpful detail.

My advice would be, if you're interested in camping, especially canoe camping, then buy everything this author has ever written. You'll be more comfortable and efficient in the great outdoors -- and appreciative of it -- than ever before. But if you can only get one or two of his books, then choose between "Expedition Canoeing" and/or "Canoeing and Camping, Beyond the Basics." They are extraordinary.

I have been a fan of Cliff since the 70's and his first book. He shares the outdoors in ways that teach respect for the environment and maximizes the experience. You can trust his ways and words to guide you. Buy this book now!!!

Some things have evolved over the years, and this gives a varied look at the most recent ideas.