Collins Gem Knots

Collins Gem: Knots; Trevor Bounford; 2001; ISBN 978-0-00-719010-2

This is a tiny little book that could (if you wanted it to) be slipped into almost any functional pocket. The book has 20 or so commonly used and useful knots, with a handful of decorative knots at the end. The book uses colourful step-by-step photographs of the knots being tied.

Reasons to read:

• Easy to follow knot tying instructions.

• Good introduction to knot tying in book form.

• If you know these knots they will be adequate to get you out of most situations where you need a knot.

Things to watch out for:

• Very little information on where, where not, or how you would use each knot.

• Relatively few knots in this book.

• Only basic knots are covered.

Would we recommend this book?

If you are starting out on your knot tying journey, and you want to start being able to tie knots from a book, then there are much worse places to start. We have had this little book for many years, and have used it with a number of people to prove that learning to tie knots from a book is not a hard or scary thing to do. We think that the small size and easy to follow instructions are good for younger readers. However, if you already know how to tie the majority of the common knots and you are looking for the next stage of optimization in your knot use, then probably give this one a miss.