Be Expert with Map and Compass: The Complete Orienteering Handbook

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Peter, December 30, 2006 (view all comments by Peter)
This was the first book I ever bought on the subject of using a map and compass. It was recommended by everyone I knew, as there wasn't a whole lot else out there at the time, and it had been in print since 1955. Today, about the best I can say for Kjellstrom's book is that it is better for beginners than the turgid Sierra Club Land Navigation Handbook (revised edition or not), but that's about it. The illustrations in Be Expert With Map and Compass are few and small, and the book has an ancient feel to it, with outdated references and quirky language (it's been in print for nearly 50 years, and the author died over 10 years ago when in his nineties). A smaller quibble is the tiny format and paperback-size pages - difficult to lay flat and read while attempting to orient the map or set the compass (you'll have to practice this stuff in the field, remember).

The age of Kjellstrom's book is revealed in the obsolete recommendations on adjusting the compass for declination, where the hoary old methods of memorizing rhymes or worse, of drawing magnetic declination lines all over your map with a pencil (usually inaccurately) and obscuring important detail is advocated. The latter method, still practiced by orienteering or adventure racing competitors (who get nicely pre-marked magnetic-oriented maps or draw their lines at home on a draftsman's board with a protractor), it's not easily accomplished without error using only a ruler. And if you have to improvise in the field, imagine doing it in the wind on some rock with only a compass baseplate for a straightedge! Modern books recognize better methods: either buy a compass with adjustable declination, or else tape a separate pointer for local east or west true declination for your area onto your compass baseplate. Simple, easy, and virtually error-proof.

A more serious problem is that fully half the book doesn't even deal with real-life wilderness navigation, but is instead devoted to the sport of orienteering (a fine sport, but with little relevance to practical backcountry navigation with its use of special large-scale maps and simplified compasses used only to orient the map to north). As a result of this emphasis, the book completely omits important advanced map/compass navigational techniques, sun/star navigational methods, position-finding, latitude/longitude and UTM grid systems, etc. - information a wilderness navigator ought to know.

To conclude, the book is simply outdated and outmuscled by modern competitors that are easier to follow. Once you've read newer books like The Essential Wilderness Navigator, you'll not pick up this book again.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780020292654

Subtitle:

The Complete Orienteering Handbook

Author:

U S Geological Survey & Orienteering S

Illustrator:

U S Geological Survey & Orienteering S

Author:

Kjellstrvm, Bjvn

Author:

Kjellstr?m, Bj?n

Author:

Kjellstram, Bjan

Author:

Heisley, Newt

Author:

Heisley, Newt

Publisher:

Wiley

Location:

New York :

Subject:

General

Subject:

Outdoor Skills

Subject:

Maps

Subject:

Geography

Subject:

Compass

Subject:

Walking

Subject:

Orienteering

Subject:

Compass -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Subject:

Orienteering -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Subject:

Maps -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Subject:

Hiking

Subject:

Hobbies & Crafts

Copyright:

1994

Edition Description:

New rev. and updated ed., 1st Collier Books ed.

Series Volume:

no. 22

Publication Date:

19940624

Binding:

Paperback

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Yes

Pages:

242

Dimensions:

8.26x5.58x.56 in. .59 lbs.