The Ashley Book of Knots
by Clifford W. Ashley
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Book Reviews of The Ashley Book of Knots
Book Review: Should be a staple in every reference library
Summary: 5 Stars
Go to your nearest hardware store, and look at all the fasteners. There are U-bolts, swages, eye-hooks, and on, too many to count. Well, not too long ago, the metal in a bolt would have been a prohibitive cost. Instead, the jobs of all those fasteners were filled by knots.
There is a branch of mathematics called "knot theory". It deals with one-dimensional fibers crossing in 3-space, and no other dimensionality has quite the same properties. A strand, wrapped around another and holding it, is a remarkable thing.
Daily jobs in older eras touch abstract math in this book. It's a remarkable encyclopedia of practical, beautiful, and profound ways of pulling things together. Ashley shows bows, buttons, nooses, braids, knots, bights, and seemingly endless other ways to make simple strings into tools, toys, and decorations.
You will come away from this book with respect. All those different people - fishermen, sailors, weavers, surgeons, and shipping clerks - all of them had their own needs and only strings to meet those needs with. They did their jobs, and did them well, using the techniques remembered in this book. What's more, mathematicians use this book as a fundamental reference. Just about any twist in space was named here, so Ashley has become the catalog. When a mathematician refers to "Ashley #128", the structure has been specified completely.
This is history, practice, theory, and fun between the same covers. No working library can be without it.
//wiredweird
Book Review: The Bible of knots. Period.
Summary: 5 Stars
Ashley's book is the bible of knots. If it's a real knot that somebody in the world uses it's in here. He covers all known knots* and some other rope crafts as well. I've been looking at every knot book I can lay my hands on and virtually all of them are contained in this book.Three Bad Points: 1) It's a whopper of a book; not something to be carried around with you on a camping trip or such.
2) Many of the drawings and descriptions are a bit unclear or edited down to bare minimum. He mentions this in the opening. He chose to do this in favor of having the desciptions and drawings of each knot on the same page rather than a whole page of instructions and the knot itself on the next page. Many of the desciptions are so short and concise that only an expert will be able to figure out what he's talking about.
3) He considers making a knot a different way or using it for something else to be a brand new knot and adds it to the book. For example the Constrictor Knot, The Miller's Knot and The Bag Knot are the exact same thing but it's three knots in the book because it's used by three different professions.
Still....there's enough here to satisfy ANYBODY!
Over all though a 10 out of 10. Five stars!
* British and American knots anyway. There are no doubt some Chinese or Japanese knots that he never found out about. It would be impossible to write a book containing EVERY known anything you know.
Book Review: Knots as objects of beauty and utility
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is the fruit of a live passion for knot tying; it contains approximately 3900 knots, sinnets and splices accompanied with individual explanations and 7000 drawings. The involvement of Mr. Ashley with knots began as he relates, in his early childhood when his two uncles that were whaling captains taught him the first lessons in knot tying, after this he began the gathering and practical study of every kind of knot that crossed his path. The result is this imposing book that took him 11 years to finish.
The book presents in an organized way knots of general utility, and others that are used in more particular circumstances as fishing or camping. You can find and discover scores of very interesting uses for knots from simple ornamental to practical and useful purposes. The sections that I enjoyed the most are the one about occupational knots and the section about tricks and puzzles, one can spend hours and hours navigating through the book that is so full of interesting details and curiosities.
If you are like me a beginner in knot tying, you could find some of the illustrations and directions a little difficult to follow at first, but I can assure you that if you keep trying, in a short time you will get the knack of it, and you will agree with the author when he says: "To me the simple act of tying a knot is an adventure in unlimited space."
Book Review: An essential addition to the outdoorsman's library!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a hunter, camper, and outdoors columnist, I am constantly called upon to use various bits of ropework as I go about the day's activities. I thought I had a fair bit of knowledge on the subject of rope until I read this book. I simply couldn't believe there were so many ways to use the stuff.If for any reason you have to use rope, you should read this book. If you are interested in macreme, this book is for you. If you like the nautical life, this book is a must-have. If you like braiding, read this book. Even if you're only going on a road trip, this book will show you a dozen ways to lash your luggage down tight.
The section on serving the ends of line to prevent its unraveling is particularly useful to anyone that uses rope a lot. And, if you have to lift heavy loads with a pulley, you'll love the section dedicated to just that jubject. I work around a farm and am always looking for new ways to use rope. Every time I breeze through the pages, I learn something new.
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, carpenters, craftsmen, hobbyists, mariners and historians, this book is for you. I never thought of ropework as an artform but it is. The day I added this title to my library was a good day. I cannot say enough about the Ashley Book of Knots and recommend it without hesitation. Every library should have a copy.
Book Review: The single best, most authoritative source
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone wanting to know more than the very basics, Ashley is a must: an absolute best. No one has ever done it better, and this is the standard reference work.There are a handful of modern knots that aren't here in this edition, but that's very minor quibbling. The only people that will care about this, are people who will absolutely need Ashley's book in any case!
For the person wanting to get started, while he or she may soon find the need for Ashley's book, there is so much information that overload is bound to occur. I'd recommend "The Handbook of Knots" by Des Pawson for the beginner who doesn't want to put that much effort into it and wants a fast start. But as Ashley pointed out as his reason for having only one book, instead of also having a simplified book, the fact is that even children who were really interested in the subject proved themselves able to make even the most complex knots from his complete book, so he felt no need for a simpler book. If you have that degree of interest, then indeed you need nothing else, but if you're looking for quick, easy, yet everything you need to know to get going pretty well, then some of the smaller books are better choices (and I think the above-mentioned Pawson book is best.)