A Good Old Fashioned Book 14th January 2012

I don't know how i'd manage to look after myself these days if it wasn't for the internet. When the oven stopped working, I reached for the laptop, diagnosed the problem, ordered the part, watched the installation tutorial video and then fixed the oven. Same thing when there was a problem with the lawnmower, the car, even the playstation. And the same goes for my trips into the outdoors. Fancy a walk? First port of call is Walk Highlands. The internet has provided me with route descriptions, basic maps and so much more. If I have a moment to myself in the house i'm online looking at anything remotely related to the wilderness and everything that comes with it.

That's the reason that i've kept putting myself off buying the Scottish Mountaineering Club Hillwalker's Guide to The Munros. All the information you could ever need on any one of the 283 mountains in question is online. Network coverage permitting, you can even use your mobile to read about a mountain while you're sitting on it's summit. And it's all free! So why would you ever want to spend your hard earned money on a cumbersome old book? Well i'm glad I finally got round to it. Since I made the impulse purchase on Amazon a couple of days ago i've been looking forward to the postman coming with the familiar brown cardboard container. The ones they send me these days only ever contain incredibly dry textbooks on economics and business theory so it's a breath of fresh air to open one up and find something that genuinely excites me.

This book was first published in 1985 and the copy I have is the third revision of the third edition. It's certainly not a new release. Most of you will already have read your copy cover to cover ten times and climbed all the hills as well. Old as it may be I love it. It's beautifully put together, loads of great advice, the images are breath taking. Most of all you can tell the writers love the hills just as much as we do.

I didn't just buy one copy, I bought two. The other one was given to a friend so I can call him and tell him to check out this page or that page, making it easier than ever to decide on our next trip. It's not the same emailing a link. I'm sure it's easier to email, it's just not as nice.

If you have it already i'm preaching to the converted, if you don't then Amazon are doing it at a great price right now. Here's the link a second time in case you missed it the first time round...