Customer Reviews

Gun Digest Book of Sporting Optics

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I have been using optics with firearms for over 45 years. Recently I decided to update and expand my understanding of sporting optics. Unfortunately this book fails to provide objective data in the way of comparisons and is written in a very subjective manner. The author fails to provide formulas and/or diagrams when the material described needs formulas or diagrams to be comprehensible. An example is a quick discussion of European reticles without having meaningful diagrams of the seven or more reticles described. There are plenty of photographs, however, the majority are of the author and his custom this or expensive what ever's. The text is written in the first person and fails miserably to educate or illuminate the subject matter. The promised recommendations in the rear of the book were purported to be personally selected and not a cut and paste from catalogs. I hoped to find objective buying recommendations, however, it is a cut and paste job w/o any A:B comparisons or data beyond the manufacturer's . When discussing fine binoculars and companies, Dr. Van Zwoll fails to mention the Bausch and Lomb Elite series. The B&L Elite series is very highly rated by bird and nature watchers. I'm surprised by the author's constant use of I, me, and subjective w/o attempting to illuminate the material for someone trying to learn. IMHO Dr. Van Zwoll's Ph.D. is best described as "Piled Higher & Deeper."

I feel most people think optics are so involved that they will trust a saleperson. This book was great reading as a learning tool for the basics of optics. I highly recommend it.