Customer Reviews

Camping's Top Secrets, 3rd: A Lexicon of Camping Tips Only the Experts Know (Falcon Guides Camping)

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

 

 

I really like this book and I gave it 5 stars because it has some really great ideas that are worth a ton (they made camping more fun). However, there is some filler and this is very similar to his other books. This is definitely a book that could be shared amoung friends (try or write down a few ideas and pass it on).

His best ideas (which are also coved in his other books) are:

1. Using a ground cloth inside the tent.
2. Basic Rope work and knots (he keeps it very simple which is good)
3. Use of a tarp (and how to modify it).
4. Waterproof packing (garbage bag inside the nylon stuff sack)
5. Make your own sheath.
6. Bring a sponge for cleaning your tent.
7. How to get dry wood and start a fire.

Each of these gets a page or more. There are lots of other tid bits but most did not strike me as worth the space.

His other book, Basic Camping, is more of a book to read while this was more of a alphabetical reference or list of ideas. Both are good but if I had to get only one it would be Basic Camping.

This is a very well done work. This book is not that big, but the breath it covers is pretty amazing.

That being said, there are times he goes pretty far overboard. He has a section about tents you can make and he talks a little being a boy scout in the 50's. This section may have had relevance then, but it doesn't now, so don't include it.

A good counter point to this book is the very fine work by Michael Rutter called Camping Made Easy.

Bought this book for my Husband and Son two Boy Scouts. Lots of good tips but does not go into depth on some items but points you in the right direction to research yourself. Recommend this book.

First of all, this book has a lot of good information and has been a good resource to me. I gave it 2 starts because the title is misleading. The author will not stop talking about canoeing and boating that it distracts from wanting just camping information. The book should either be about canoeing or camping.

Bought this as a gift for another person who has many, many years of camping experience, like I do. I did a quick thumb-thru of the book and ended up reading most of it. Was trying to read without breaking the spine before giving it!! The only reason I gave the book 4 stars is because I feel the book should be thicker with even more info. But for the price, it is a good value.

Cliff Jacobson has been there and done that. I got and read his book after watching him give a seminar on "how to light a one match fire in the rain." He does not use gimmicks or flash, just uncommon sense coupled with decades of camping experience, including expeditions above the Arctic Circle.

I have been camping for more than 40 years, and I learned a lot from this book. It is worth its price twice over.