Rock & Wall Climbing

I've been top roping for about 12 years now or since I was 14 yrs old. I've done a little bit of sport climbing and did a trad climb once (years ago and as a second). Lately, I've been interesting in lead climbing and ice climbing as well as Big wall climbing and I picked up this book and read the whole thing in about 2-3 hours. What I liked is that it focuses specifically on climbing. Furthermore, the heart of that focus is "how" different types of climbing are not the same and why different techniques, equipment and safety protocals are used. The pictures are very detailed and the instructional style text is written in the big brother/buddy style so it's easy to remember what is said without having to earmark keypages or highlight sections. The author also links key ideas and facts together with reference markers, so you really grasp how things like knots and anchors are related. One thing I didn't too like is that he gives the same amount of attention to everything. There is a whole page dedicated to buying climbing shoes, but only alittle more than half a page dedicated to top rope anchor set ups and about a page of info dedicated to ropes. Where a paragraph about buying climbing shoes would have been better and a few pages each about more important things like anchors, knots and rope care would have been perfect. Not that it is bad thing. I did assume that the author wrote this book for the beginner that will be climbing with someone more knowledgable and not buying ropes on their own or laying anchors their first time out. The reason picked this book out of others is that it had the best organization. Whereas other books tend to lump stacks of info on one specific thing together. This book spreads everything out in an easy to read manner. It begins with a little history of the sport, then moves to the types of climbing, then introduces general ideas and saftey before moving on to specifics like knots, techniques and gear. I also picked it up because the pictures were very detailed and I expect to pass this book onto other friends that will climb with me this season and are new to climbing. Basically it is a great quick teach book that answers most questions new climbers will ask (it will also help you know the best shoes for you the first time you buy climbing shoes). It also makes you want to try climbing, whereas other books make climbing seem too foreign and too technical. This book makes climbing seem very accessible, whereas other books mainly portray climbing as a primarily white male sport, this book has tons of pictures of minorities/non-white-males and females, and even children & families climbing. There is also a bonus training program for beginner climbers and useful index in the back of the book. I recommend this book! A+++