The Book of Sailing Knots

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I'm a novice sailor who's been tying bad knots for years. I got this book to learn how to do the right ones. While it has a comprehensive group of knots for different uses, I found that it's still not easy to learn them. First, the book has a standard paperback binding which will not stay open while your hands are full with rope. Second, there is generally no text to describe how to tie the knot, only pictures. It would be very helpful to know roughly where to start your knot so that you won't run out of line, but this is not mentioned. Finally, some of the step-by-step pictures skip too many steps. I have no idea how the author arrived at the first step of the sheepshank, the very first knot in the book. I was able to make it by carefully laying out a piece of rope, but I have no idea how I would make this knot in a situation where both ends of the line aren't free.

So I'll eventually learn these knots from this book, just not as fast as I could have.

Rating:
Summary: Good index of sailing knots...could be presented better
Review: I'm a novice sailor who's been tying bad knots for years. I got this book to learn how to do the right ones. While it has a comprehensive group of knots for different uses, I found that it's still not easy to learn them. First, the book has a standard paperback binding which will not stay open while your hands are full with rope. Second, there is generally no text to describe how to tie the knot, only pictures. It would be very helpful to know roughly where to start your knot so that you won't run out of line, but this is not mentioned. Finally, some of the step-by-step pictures skip too many steps. I have no idea how the author arrived at the first step of the sheepshank, the very first knot in the book. I was able to make it by carefully laying out a piece of rope, but I have no idea how I would make this knot in a situation where both ends of the line aren't free.

So I'll eventually learn these knots from this book, just not as fast as I could have.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I've used this to teach knot classes. It's very straightforward and simple to understand with great illustrations. Short, precise but thorough.