Post by stephenjay on Aug 21, 2008 20:46:02 GMT -6
Peter Gathercole, the author of the Fly Tying Bible, and the Fly Tying for Beginners that I reviewed earlier, has released another fly tying collection.
50 fly-tying patterns in a box is a collection of pattern cards with a booklet.
I really like Gathercole's work. One of the first books I bought was his book "The handbook of Fly Tying", that I picked up from Borealis Books on Main, before it closed up. His writing style is very clear, and the two books mentioned at above are really good, with spiral bound bindings.
It is unfortunate that this latest release is nothing more than taking 50 patterns from the above two books (19 from Fly tying for beginners and the rest from the Fly-tying bible) and putting them on rigid cards. There aren't detailed instructions, it appears that it assumes you know how to tie a fly already. Not only is their nothing new, they re-used the images from the other books as well. I am all for the three R's of recycling, but it was a bit disappointing to see absolutely nothing new in this package than what I already had.
Not only is there nothing new, the packaging might be an issue as well. The cards come in a flip top box similar to old cigarette packages (regulars) and it is really tight to open. I had only opened the box a couple of times, and the first card got damaged in the corner. The pictures are great, but I already have them. There are is information on the fly, but again that is, for the most point, reused as well. There is a listing for the salmonoids it would work best with, but that too is reused from the above two books.
All in all, nothing new, and nothing you couldn't find on the web. For the $15, I could have gotten a new pair of Dr Slick scissors.
50 fly-tying patterns in a box is a collection of pattern cards with a booklet.
I really like Gathercole's work. One of the first books I bought was his book "The handbook of Fly Tying", that I picked up from Borealis Books on Main, before it closed up. His writing style is very clear, and the two books mentioned at above are really good, with spiral bound bindings.
It is unfortunate that this latest release is nothing more than taking 50 patterns from the above two books (19 from Fly tying for beginners and the rest from the Fly-tying bible) and putting them on rigid cards. There aren't detailed instructions, it appears that it assumes you know how to tie a fly already. Not only is their nothing new, they re-used the images from the other books as well. I am all for the three R's of recycling, but it was a bit disappointing to see absolutely nothing new in this package than what I already had.
Not only is there nothing new, the packaging might be an issue as well. The cards come in a flip top box similar to old cigarette packages (regulars) and it is really tight to open. I had only opened the box a couple of times, and the first card got damaged in the corner. The pictures are great, but I already have them. There are is information on the fly, but again that is, for the most point, reused as well. There is a listing for the salmonoids it would work best with, but that too is reused from the above two books.
All in all, nothing new, and nothing you couldn't find on the web. For the $15, I could have gotten a new pair of Dr Slick scissors.