Keeping Dry and Staying Warm (Part 1)

Our friends, Mike and Marian, are parties to this tome, that Mike kindly sent me to review.

Here's the authors' take on it:

"A unique must-read resource for outdoor enthusiasts and professionals alike. Gain a better understanding of what you are buying, selling and/or wearing, and blogging or writing about. Despite what advertising may imply, the garment does not do it all for you. Garment performance depends on user understanding of both the materials and usage skills. We develop your understanding of garment selection for activity and weather and the layering skills which are the key to as much as 50% of your garment’s performance.
This probably unrivalled resource is the first ever independent book on outdoor garments. It gives a vital in-depth insight into all the options available to you, using generic words and accepted scientific terminology to ensure we are the most reliable and consistent information source.

Outdoor Gear Coach are a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC), UK based with a USA editor. Our mission is to improve knowledge and understanding of outdoor gear and clothing, including the skills required to achieve best performance."

Here's what I made of it:

"This is a highly sophisticated and detailed treatise on the outdoor clothing, for a wide range of activities, required to enable the wearer to Keep Dry and Stay Warm. The authors and contributors display an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything from coatings and membranes for a range of fabrics, to the complexities of stitching and sizing, the detailed nuances of socks, and rucksack design.

This book should be essential reading for anyone involved in selling clothing for the outdoors, or involved in outdoors training (mountain leadership, for example) or guiding. Outdoors enthusiasts of all creeds will also benefit from the highly detailed knowledge and guidance offered within the pages of the book. That's 119 pages, plus a very long and comprehensive 30 page introduction that could be regarded as a separate chapter in it's own right.

For those wishing to explore subjects in even more depth, there are numerous links to explanatory information and videos."

The book is available from Amazon, here.

Fascinating stuff! Especially for gear enthusiasts.