Geoffrey Budworth

There is an empty hole in my white English-speaking Middle-class upbringing which can never be filled, an essential component of my Colonial heritage which will always be missing: alone of my Kindergarten class, I was not a Brownie.

While other little girls were learning to identify birdcalls, tie knots and sing jolly songs around the camp fire, I was lazing at home reading. Later, when my friends became guides, I was doing ballet or fencing or elocution or riding – we ‘gels’ were kept show more pretty busy back in the day.

All of which is a self-indulgent preamble to explaining why I cannot sail, climb mountains or perform emergency medical aid: thanks to choosing an afternoon of sloth when I was five rather than learning to tie knots, I more or less condemned myself to the lazy and sedentary lifestyle I now enjoy.

A ‘Guide to Knots’ might then seem an odd choice of book for someone like me to choose to read, but like much of humanity I have an infinite capacity for self-delusion – a trait writers of self-help books rely on.

I looked at the Guide and convinced myself that, many decades later, I could bridge the gap created by my youthful folly: merely read, digest and inwardly absorb this book, and I too could be the skipper of the yacht rather than the sucker who scampers from side to side, ducking the boom.

I could conquer my fear of heights with miraculous effortlessness by knowing how to tie a Munter Mule while belaying or rappelling down a sheer cliff, and my expertise with the ‘Blood loop dropper’ would transform angling from a waste of time to an exciting sport. I don’t like the taste of trout but that’s a minor point.

Back to the book. Before signing up for a cross Atlantic sailing race, a fishing competition, a stint as a TV Survivor or as part of an Everest Expedition, I decided I had better test the Guide.

The family were natural guinea pigs: my husband had never been a Cub or a Scout and neither of my daughters were Brownies or Guides: with no previous knowledge or unfair advantage, the four of us could subject the book to an acid test.

Or so I fondly imagined, but the girl child of today has no patience with survival skills; one daughter flatly refused to try, the other gave up after 30 minutes and went back to Mxit – which left my husband. He is a man and so at a genetic disadvantage when it comes to following a book of instructions. He got into a fight with the guide, insisting he knew a better way to do it – but let’s not go there.

The Guide to Knots is divided into four sections – multi-purpose knots, boating knots, life-support knots and fishing knots: the average middle-aged woman is advised to give boating and fishing knots a miss. If you haven’t mastered them by know, maybe you should just resign yourself to providing slave labour for the man while he attempts to land a fish or keep the yacht upright.

Multi-purpose and life-support knots sound like a must for everyone: unless you plan on keeping this well-bound and plastic sheathed book with you where-ever you go, my advice is to learn these knots off by heart.

Who knows when you will need an Alpine Coil, a Chinese Cross knot or a Munter Friction Hitch? Go anywhere near boats and you might need a Turk’s Head Knot or a Surgeon’s Loop: these are serious matters.

Armed with the book of instructional illustrations and the basic ingredients [i.e. rope and a stick] I started at the beginning with a Constrictor Knot. Yes! I got that one right, so passed on to the Double Constrictor Knot and the Common Whipping Knot, but soon came unstuck with the bottle sling.

“A bottle sling enables you to lug around the heaviest bottles, flasks and flagons, jars and jugs, containing all kinds of liquid and liquor [from drinking water to battery acid]. Or you can suspend bottled beverages in a cooling stream prior to a summer picnic”

No, I can’t, unfortunately.

This Guide to Knots might be a wonderful refresher course to all those former cubs and brownies, but for the rest of us – well, if you can imagine yourself in a situation where the ‘Double figure-eight loop knot’ will save your life, dump this book and hire yourself a boy scout. show less

Probably my favorite book for beginners. A nice selection of knots and excellent diagrams to walk through them. Has a durable vinyl cover which makes for safe use in a campsite. Highly recommended book.
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Though I'm not into knots, when I saw this book on sale, I thought it'd be a great chance to get a book to help me out with Girl scouts and other activities where I might need to know/teach knots. I really loved this guide as soon as I opened it, because it has easy-to-folly diagrams that are very visual. It also explains the usefulness or lack thereof of different knots, so that the reader can decide if a particular knot is a good choice.

Very interesting book with well displayed techniques for knots and rope work. I would not call it an ultimate encyclopedia though. There is no descriptions of splices i.e. the eye splice and back splice for example which I would consider ropework that can be found in the old boyscout books. Also there is a knot called the butcher's knot - at least is America, and I didn't find it. It is effectively a figure 8 knot around a loose (working) end and that is then made a half hitch around the show more loose end of the figure 8 knot. It is a very handy slip knot that can be tightened and then locked with the half hitch. show less