Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Shlomo ben Maved on October 29, 2012 at 14:19

I’m sorry I missed this posting.

I’ll be happy to contribute whatever I can to the thread. 

How do you write about a writer that you like other then saying his style of prose, the way he relates his experiences to his audience appeals to you but whether on par with someone else, far superior or inferior to someone else is based totally on your beliefs, experiences and education…Why some people enjoy Steven King is beyond me and NO, I’m not appalled by the genre as I have other writers of the same ilk…I just don’t like the way he writes…I’m not saying whether he’s a good or bad writer just that he’s a writer that doesn’t appeal to me.

John Jobson was like reading the oldsters just with more modern equipment—nylon instead of canvas, butane instead of naphtha since he wrote it in 1977 and with a more refreshing style of prose and discussing the use of station wagons and jeeps for camping vehicles…He had started writing for Sports Afield years before and I followed his monthly column religiously and really his book was just the cumulative articles bound together with a bit of new content added but that was fine.

I started reading in the mid 1950s and even if the books covered the same topics—and some even in the same order—I still found something new in every book I read although lots of it was just refreshing my memory of past books.

Alas. mine was a first edition, first printing hard cover that was autographed, dated and endorsed to me and would be worth around $200 today...I was able to, at least, replace the book after the fire--actually it was one of the first books along with Elmer Kieth, Robert Ruark and Peter Hathaway Capstick that I searched for.

Amazon.com used books suppliers have a number of his tomes for sale from one cent to $10.

http://www.amazon.com/John-Jobson/e/B001KIRM4S/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

It is an outdoors book that really should be in everyone's library and for the book's price of a single penny and $3.99 shipping it's very affordable.

I also posted different book lists in

The Survival Section; Survival Books

Japanese Pocket knives
Historical Edged Implements & Weapons

Who Hunts

Robert Burris said:

Shlomo, that's great! good to hear from you. I wish you could post some pictures of your area, I love that country. I use to own a Grohmann knife, I like the design and it was very well made for it's price. I gave it to a friend that is still using it today. You seem to be a well read outdoorsman. I have been asked to help get this group going again and I would appreciate any help you can give. Maybe pick one of the old camping gurus and tell everyone about some of their teachings. I would like to know more about Jobson, myself. Thanks

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on October 29, 2012 at 19:31

Thanks Shlomo, for your contribution to this old outdoor opionion on "what's the best type of gear to take into the outdoors" and what some of our outdoor writers had to say about it, back in the late 1800's. The advise and information given by Mr. Sears back in that era, I am not taking his words and experience as more knowlegable and correct, than mine or my tutors of the outdoor world. I also realize there is alot of outdoor writers that their style apeals to alot more outdoor readers than ole George's does. I do beleive though that for his day, he stood up and told the outdoor world what he thought and ways for them to, carry less and enjoy themselves, alot more. Thanks, again, Shlomo for your opinion.

Permalink Reply by Shlomo ben Maved on October 29, 2012 at 20:58

For his time Sears was a damn good writer, offering sage advice for the equipment that was available then but so were L.L. Bean, H. Kephart and E.H. Kreps…Later writers like Col. Townsend Whelan, Bill Riviere, Bradford Angier, Clyde Ormond, Ellsworth Jaeger wrote about newer materials and then authors like Ray Mears, Mors Kochanski, Colin Fletcher (The Backpacking Guru), Mykel Hawke about even still newer products,

I liked Sears’ writing and I have his book—actually, I just reordered it and should have it this week...I just liked Jobson better of the older generation and Roy Mears and Mors Kochanski of the newest authors.

The thing is, the method of pitching a tent may be different but finding the proper location for it and your fire pit (if allowed), paddling a canoe etc. hasn’t change one iota since the mid 1800s when the first authors started putting articles in magazines…The ways of getting there have changed but the proper packing of the vehicle hasn’t nor has lashing your goods in the canoe changed all that much.

Now-a-days we’ll wear bug resistant clothing with scent control and moisture wicking capabilities, fleece for warmth and ripstop nylon with Gore-Tex for weather protection whereas they would have worth silk or cotton underwear, with khaki pants and a flannel shirt hip waders and a waxed cotton jacket for the elements…Enjoying the outdoors with their respective state of the art clothing and equipment and like the old adage says “There’s nothing new under the sun!”

Every author had something to contribute whether it was just a new knot to lash something down with or a completely radical way of bush walking like Fletcher mentioned in his book...I gained knowledge from every one of them and every ten years or so I reread the oldies but goodies just to see what I'd forgotten which of late is quite a bit—what happens once you hit 60 or so.

 

Robert Burris said:

Thanks Shlomo, for your contribution to this old outdoor opionion on "what's the best type of gear to take into the outdoors" and what some of our outdoor writers had to say about it, back in the late 1800's. The advise and information given by Mr. Sears back in that era, I am not taking his words and experience as more knowlegable and correct, than mine or my tutors of the outdoor world. I also realize there is alot of outdoor writers that their style apeals to alot more outdoor readers than ole George's does. I do beleive though that for his day, he stood up and told the outdoor world what he thought and ways for them to, carry less and enjoy themselves, alot more. Thanks, again, Shlomo for your opinion.

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