Book Reviews on ScoutmasterCG Archive

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Emma Gatewood read about the Appalachian Trail in National Geographic Magazine"I thought it would be a nice lark," she said. In 1955 at the age of 67, she put on her Keds sneakers, put an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain in a homemade bag slung it over her shoulder, and headed off to hike the trail.

She hiked it again in 1960 and then again at age 75 in 1963, making her the first person to hike the trail three times. She first laid eyes on the trail in a doctor’s office back home, inside a discarded National Geographic from August 1949, and the nineteen-page spread with color photographs was a window to another place… “The Appalachian Trail, popularly the ‘A.T.,’ is a public pathway that rates as one of the seven wonders of the outdoorsman’s world,” the article gushed. “Over it you may ‘hay foot, straw foot’ from Mount Katahdin, with Canada on the horizon, to Mount Oglethorpe, which commands the distant lights of Atlanta.” The old woman had been captivated. “Planned for the enjoyment of anyone in normal good health,” it read, “the A.T. doesn’t demand special skill or training to traverse.”

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Sun, 19 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I may have earned the equivalent of a few college credits related to the study of developmental, or cognitive, differences during my tenure as a Scoutmaster. What are cognitive differences?

Autism, attention deficit, hyperactivity, Downs syndrome and learning disabilities of all stripes.

Disabilities are, by definition, a condition that makes it difficult for someone to do the things that other people do.

Difference is a way in which people or things are dissimilar.

Extraordinary Groups by Geoffrey Bellman and Kathleen Ryan

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Most of us can recall being part of an unusually motivating and effective team or group when the dynamics of people, purpose and situation fell together in a particularly rewarding way.

During my time as a Camp Director and Commissioner we very consciously built our staff on the principles enumerated below.

Extraordinary Groups by Geoffrey Bellman and Kathleen Ryan asserts that groups work best when they have the following eight indicators; A compelling purpose that inspires and stretches members to make the group and its work a top priority Shared leadership that encourages members to take mutual responsibility for helping the group be successful Just-enough-structure to create confidence to move forward, but not so much as to become bureaucratic or burdensome Full engagement that results in all members jumping in with enthusiasm, sometimes passionately and chaotically, regardless of role Embracing differences so that group members see, value, and use their diversity as a strength Unexpected learning that translates into personal and group growth Strengthened relationships among members characterized by trust, collegiality, and friendship Great results , tangible and intangible Their Group Needs Model identifies six core group needs forming three pairs: The Individual: Acceptance of self (knowing and accepting ourselves for who we are) while moving toward one’s Potential (sensing and growing into our fuller and better selves) The Group: A Bond with others (our shared sense of identity and belonging) that grows while pursuing a common Purpose (the reason we come together) The World: Understanding the Reality of the world (understanding and accepting the world as it is and how it affects us) while collectively making an Impact (our intention to make a difference and our readiness to act) When two or more of these needs are fulfilled the group experience is memorable. This is more likely in small groups of 2 to 20 people.

Building Resilience in Children and Teens - Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg

Sat, 28 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

An author was being interviewed on the radio in the background as I was working away at my desk. He was discussing building resilience in young people. As I listened I thought “Hey! Who is this guy? This sounds a lot like Scouting!” This got me thinking about the big ideas that form the foundations of the Scouting method +and a specific instance of what I suppose you’d call “spontaneous inspiration”. In 1907 Baden-Powell took the first Scouts camping on Brownsea Island and Italian Physician Maria Montessori opened her first Casa dei Bambini in Rome.

Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.

I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain.

I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view. - Aldo Leopold – Thinking Like a Mountain Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold lived in an era when “we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf”. Now we travel a great distance to hear a wild wolf howl and think ourselves fortunate if we do.”

Woodland Indians - Keith Wilbur

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Ernest Thompson-Seton founded his vision of Scouting on the lore of Native American life. I’ve devoted a great deal of time over the years to studying the Native American Peoples who once occupied Southeastern Pennsylvania where I live (specifically the Lenape and Susquehannock).

I think it is important our Scouts have the opportunity to connect with these traditions. C.

Keith Wilbur’s books have always been one of my favorite resources for studying and sharing the material culture of Native America on the east coast. His exacting illustrations and handwritten text are informative and compelling. A detailed look into the ‘how to’ for dozens of objects and tools. With these instructions you can fabricate the articles once used for daily life from materials found in nature. The book describes ambitious projects like wigwams and dugout canoes and easier (yet still challenging) items like atlatls and drinking cups.

Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

After I posted my Ten Essentails Infographic a reader (thanks Andrew!) pointed out the " Ten Essential Systems" approach from The Mountaineers.

I like the idea of a system’s oriented approach rather than just a list of gear: could you respond to emergencies and safely make it through one or more unexpected nights in the wilderness? (Read on, more about the ten essential systems is quoted below.) I’ve looked at lots of ten essential lists.

Complete Guide to Outdoor Gear Maintenance and Repair

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Backpacker Magazine’s Complete Guide to Outdoor Gear Maintenance and Repair is your ticket to becoming a camping gear repair guru.

Author Kirstin Hostetter’s well illustrated, carefully explained directions return your investment with the first piece of damaged gear you save.

Maintaining and repairing modern clothing, sleeping bags, backpacks, stoves and tents is not a simple as slapping on a bit of duct-tape. You are much more likely to find siliconized nylon, GoreTex titanium and Fastex buckles rather than canvas, brass or leather in a Scout campsite these days. Duct-tape repairs are, at best, a temporary solution and they may cause even more damage in some instances.

Free Range Kids - Lenore Skenazy

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In recent years parents seem increasingly reluctant to allow their children to do things for themselves – to be ‘free range kids’. It makes me wonder if some parents have written activities like Scouting off as too dangerous, too unsupervised or less valuable than more controlled, conducted and packaged experiences for their children. We are barraged by irrational fears and constantly told to worry about what our kids do, what they see, who they talk to, where they go.

Dazed But Not Confused - Kevin Callan

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Kevin Callan is the most famous camping and canoeing expert you’ve never heard of.

Kevin is a Canadian, a famous Canadian on Canadian television and radio, he’s a well-known author; a famous canoeist and camper in a country full of canoeists and campers.

There’s a whole world of excellent Canadian stuff that we Americans know next to nothing about (you’ve probably never heard of Ricky, Julian and Bubbles or Tim Horton’s) but we ought to.

Geoffrey Budworth’s The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Knots and Ropework

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A minor miracle in the world of knots the icicle hitch won’t slip on a smooth and/or tapered surface (like an icicle). When tied and arranged carefully the icicle hitch is surprisingly slip-free when pulled parallel to the stave or pole or icicle it is tied on.

I first learned the icicle hitch years ago in Geoffrey Budworth’s The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Knots and Ropework available on Amazon .

Budworth’s encyclopedia illustrates 200 different knots with excellent photographs and clear directions.

NOLS Cookery

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Each year 3000 students spend two weeks to three months in the backcountry on National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) courses.

Thats a lot of backcountry cooking! The folks at NOLS have developed a simple, varied and inexpensive diet that is based on staple foods that can be found at any grocery store.

There’s also a wealth of information on planning, packing and preparing meals for extended trips or just a weekend. My particular favorite receipt is Thai Gado-gado Spaghetti featuring a peanut sweet and sour sauce.

Make a Canoe Paddle

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I actually made a canoe paddle, and plan on making some more. My new paddle served me admirably on many miles of paddling over the past seven years.

Making Canoe Paddles is as complete a treatment of the subject as one could hope to find.

Making a paddle is a challenge but the authors explain every step with well-illustrated clarity. The tools, woods, adhesives and techniques are all explained thoroughly and several pleasant hours of work result in a tool that you’ll be proud to own and use.

Rope Works

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Author Gerald Finley ’s book ‘Rope Works Plus’ is one of the better knot books out there.

There’s something about the clearly illustrated directions for tying and using knots, splices and lashings, making rope (with plans for a geared rope making machine) and netting that communicates the skills better than photographs or even videos.

Scoutmasters will find every advancement related knot and lashing explained. I’d say this is an invaluable resource for pioneering merit badge. By concentrating on 30 or 40 knots, this is not an encyclopedia of knots like many similar publications, Findley has a focused approach to practical rope work; there’s no uneeded information, no pages and pages of stuff you’ll never bother to tie. The Rope Works website has Findley’s original Rope Works, and an animated knot CD. This sample page gives you a pretty good idea of the style and layout of the book. If you want to actually tie knots rather than look at them Rope Works is the way to go. Rope Works Plus on Amazon Associated posts at the Scoutmaster blog Essential Knot Books Animated Knots by Grog

Working the Patrol Method

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s about time!

Working the Patrol Method a Scout leader’s guide to youth leadership training is the best work on the patrol method since ‘Green Bar’ Bill Hillcourt’s Handbook for Patrol Leaders last published in 1965 or Baden Powell’s Aids to Scoutmastership originally published in

Authors Rob Faris,Ted Knight and Harry Wimbrough have created an indispensable tool for understanding, implementing and maintaining Scouting’s centrally important concept, the patrol, in the 21st century. The guide is arranged into ten sections; Section 1 “Understanding and Telling ‘The Why’ " logic of leadership, leadership training.

Woodcraft - Bernard Sterling Mason

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Why? –in a world of matches?

Ernest Thompson Seton answered well when a group of ‘practical business men questioned his zest for the rubbing stick fire – said he, pointing to the ground, ‘You are thinking of the fire that is lighted down there,’ and pointing to his breast continued, ‘I am thinking of the fire that is kindled in here!"

Impractical it is only to staid, prosaic oldsters who have forgotten that enchanted world of dreams called childhood!

Essential Knot Books

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Those interested in advanced knotting and ropework do no better than these venerable references; Ashley’s is the standard work on knots, bar none. Any serious knot tyer will have a well worn copy in their library.

Clifford W. Ashley describes the history, uses and construction of more than 3,900 different knots–presented through 7,000 carefully hand-drawn illustrations. This invaluable volume is big hardcover book with a quality binding and is well worth the price.

AMC Guide to Outdoor Leadership - Alex Kosseff

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Outdoor leadership is different. Good administrative skills go just so far when leading a group in an extended outdoor experience. What works at a Troop meeting or in the boardroom does not always translate well on a week-long backpacking or canoeing trip.

Scouting offers great administrative training and valuable supplemental training in outdoor skills and safety. What we don’t have is a comprehensive training course in the group dynamics of long-term outdoor trips.

The Left Handshake - Hilary St. George Saunders

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In his book, The Left Handshake, Hilary St. George Saunders recounts the history of the Boy Scout Movement during the Second World War. 1939-1945. The book is available in PDF format . The Left Handshake is the story of how scouts in occupied countries aided resistance movements, maintained their troops and provided many public services often at great personal risk.

Poland, The Warsaw Uprising- “After sixty-three days of bitter fighting, the insurrection was crushed, and on the 3 rd October, 1944, Warsaw fell for the second time. It was a cold, grey day, and in a house in Wilcza Street more than a hundred Scouts and Guides had gathered together. They knew it well, for some of them had helped in the hospital which had once been set up there. Now all that remained was a skeleton of scarred brick and mortar. A few were Scoutmasters who had commanded Scout units in the Home Army, but the great majority of that silent band was made up of boys and girls from the age of twelve upwards, all of whom had been heavily engaged in the fighting. They had carried messages, manned first-aid posts and fire parties, looked after homeless children, operated the Scout post office, printed and delivered newspapers, sung songs to divert terrified civilians hidden in the cellars during a bombardment, cooked for the army.

My Side of the Mountain

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

’ I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here. The house is a hemlock tree six feet in diameter, and must be as old as the mountain itself.

I came upon it last summer and dug and burned it out until I made a snug cave in the tree that I now call home. ’ Like most boys there where times when I wanted to escape; to be self sufficient, independent, heroic.

Camping’s Top Secrets - Cliff Jacobsen

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

My first reaction to this title was “yeah, right”. I’ve been a camper all my life spending a thousand or more nights under canvas or on the trail. My camping education started forty years ago with Colin Fletcher’s book ‘The Complete Walker’ and expanded to the classics written by Horace Kephart, Nessmuk and Bradford Angier.

I thought I knew all the tricks until I read ‘Camping’s Top Secrets’.

Cliff Jacobsen’s collection of techniques and ideas have been tested over many years of guiding canoe trips in northern Canada.

The Scouting Party

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I have spent some memorable hours reading an advance copy of David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy’s new book The Scouting Party; a thoroughly researched, unflinching account of the founding and first decade of the BSA focused on the lives of Earnest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard. To my knowledge no one has so thoroughly analyzed the events and personalities involved in the founding of the BSA.

Expedition Canoeing - Cliff Jacobson

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Anyone planning a canoe trip of a few days or a few weeks will benefit from studying the advice given in this book. As a person who has spent some time in the wilderness I appreciate Jacobson’s careful treatment of the subject: he offers solid, tested techniques and then points out the many ways things could go wrong. He uses stories form his considerable experience to illustrate how important it is to plan carefully, not to compound mistakes and thereby opens up the possibilities of canoeing in some incredibly wonderful places.

To Build a Fire

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

‘ He worked slowly and carefully, keenly aware of his danger.

Gradually, as the flame grew stronger, he increased the size of the twigs with which he fed it. He squatted in the snow, pulling the twigs out from their entanglement in the brush and feeding directly to the flame. He knew there must be no failure. When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire…’ Jack London’s storytelling is as crisp and clear as a cold winter’s day. He wastes no words in drawing us into a the stark and challenging realities of the north woods. With each reading of ‘To Build a Fire’ I can feel the frost creeping into my fingers. To Build a Fire and Other Stories at Amazon