Be Expert with Map and Compass: The Complete Orienteering Handbook (Paperback)

by Björn Kjellström (Author) "There is a tale in A Thousands and One Nights of a magnificent contraption: a magic carpet..." (more)
Key Phrases: master map area, course setter, compass housing, Competitive Orienteering, Maps Alone, Log Chapel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"Required reading for the beginner in map and compass work, as well as for those interested in serious Orienteering. In simple, clear, concise terms the basics of map and compass work are described and illustrated." —George T. Hamilton, Appalachia This new, enlarged edition of Be Expert with Map & Compass includes everything the beginner needs to know about the increasingly popular sport of Orienteering: understanding map symbols; traveling by map alone, by compass alone, or by map and compass together; finding bearings; sketching maps; and traveling in the wilderness. Other updated sections cover competitive Orienteering, how to join an Orienteering event or organize your own, and useful hints for competitive and wilderness Orienteering. In addition to the revisions throughout, the author has interspersed the text with reminiscences of his more than fifty years of experience with map and compass. Drawing crowds of 25,000 participants at international events, the sport of Orienteering is more popular than ever. The Orienteering world championships were held in the United States for the first time in 1993. For Orienteers and scouts, avid outdoorspeople, and anyone who wants to feel more comfortable in the wilderness, this updated guide is an indispensable reference.

About the Author
Björn Kjellström, an enthusiastic outdoorsman, experienced wilderness traveler, and cross-country skier, is a former Swedish champion in Orienteering. His writings on the subject have been published in several languages. He was one of the founders of the Swedish Orienteering Federation, the first of its kind in the world, and also of the U.S. Orienteering Federation. He was a director of the U.S. Orienteering Federation for several years and was vice president of the International Ski Federation from 1951 to 1979. He was born in Sweden and now lives in Pound Ridge, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Revised edition (June 24, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020292651
• ISBN-13: 978-0020292654
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vastly Overrated and Outdated, December 3, 2004

By	Peter - See all my reviews

This was the first book I ever bought on the subject of using a map and compass. It was recommended by everyone I knew, as there wasn't a whole lot else out there at the time, and it had been in print since 1955. Today, about the best I can say for Kjellstrom's book is that it is better for beginners than the rambling "Sierra Club Land Navigation Handbook" (revised edition or not), but that's about it. The illustrations in "Be Expert With Map and Compass" are few and small, and the book has an ancient feel to it, with outdated references and quirky language (it's been in print for nearly 50 years, and the author died over 10 years ago when in his nineties). A smaller criticism is the tiny format and paperback-size pages - difficult to lay flat and read while attempting to orient the map or set the compass (you'll have to practice this stuff in the field, remember).

The age of Kjellstrom's book is revealed in the obsolete recommendations on adjusting the compass for declination, where the hoary old methods of memorizing rhymes or worse, of drawing magnetic declination lines all over your map with a pencil (usually inaccurately) and obscuring important detail is advocated. The latter method, still practiced by orienteering or adventure racing competitors (who get nicely pre-marked magnetic-oriented maps or draw their lines at home on a draftsman's board with a protractor), it's not easily accomplished without error using only a ruler. And if you have to improvise in the field, imagine doing it in the wind on some rock with only a compass baseplate for a straightedge! Modern books recognize better methods: either buy a compass with adjustable declination, or else tape a separate pointer for local east or west true declination for your area onto your compass baseplate. Simple, easy, and virtually error-proof.

A more serious problem is that fully half the book doesn't even deal with real-life wilderness navigation, but is instead devoted to the unrelated sport of orienteering and the setting up of orienteering races (a fine sport, but with little relevance to practical backcountry navigation with its use of special large-scale maps and simplified compasses used only to orient the map to north). Learning how to set up control points and course lines for orienteering races ISN'T going to teach you how to navigate in remote backcountry! Worse, this emphasis on orienteering means that the book completely omits important material: advanced map/compass navigational techniques, sun/star navigational methods, position-finding, latitude/longitude and UTM grid systems, navigating in certain specialized environments and climates, etc, etc. - information a wilderness navigator ought to know.

To conclude, the book is simply outdated, inadequate, and slow-reading in comparison to modern map/compass guides (my first recommendation: 'The Essential Wilderness Navigator') that will teach you much more, and more quickly.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very easy to use and understand orienteering book, July 14, 1998

By A Customer

Completely foreign to this subject I was searching for a book to use to teach our homeschool group about orienteering and map reading. The book has an excellent method of learning about mapping and using the compass with hands on projects for a group. The kids had a grand time with the classes and the parents learned a lot, too. Loved all the references that were included to order maps and supplies.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "THE ORIENTEERING BOOK", December 21, 2000

By	Jude E. Sanchez Jr. (Las Pinas City Philippines) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have several books on land navigation. And I consider this book to be "The Orienteering Book". It is written by one of the pioneers who developed the "Silva" compass, who is also a former world champion in orienteering. The basic techniques are well discussed and the advance techniques are well presented with a lot of exercises. I read the book from cover to cover and did not find anything that is useless and un-important. I will surely buy the next edition of this book if there would be one.