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."

This is very instructive book that shows with clear photographs and concise but clear explanations how to tie mostly basic but useful knots. The sections are divided in utility knots, knots for the fisherman and decorative and applied knots. Particularly practical is the section of knots for the fisherman, with knots that will solve any fisherman emergency from knots for eye hooks to knots used to join two pieces of line.

Beginning with an explanation of how to take care of the ropes and some interesting behavioral facts about knots like: that a knot uniting two ropes reduces the strength of the unit to about half that of the weaker rope. The authors present each knot with a short description and practical recommendations for their use.

The instructive value of this book is shown in the simple fact that when for tying a knot there is more than one rope involved each rope has a different color avoiding in this way any possible confusion.

I really enjoyed the book, without any doubt this book would be of invaluable help and necessary reference for any camper, fisherman or sailing enthusiast. So just practice, and become an expert in those four or five knots that will let you overcome any emergency, remembering that a knot must be an element of safety rather than a dangerous complication.