Lately, I’ve been obsessed with lightweight backpacking gear, so I picked up a few books on the subject.I just finished “Lighten Up.”

I liked it. It gives you a good overview of what lightweight backpacking is all about (tarps, quilts, etc.) I think most of the equipment and techniques can make sense for bicycle camping trips, too. I think it would be cool if I could actually go camping out of my Carradice Camper bag.

The illustrations are awesome. Kind of like cute, funny, cartoons that really show you what you’re supposed to be seeing without being all cluttered up.

The only thing that kind of sucked was that the book was really short. Maybe it’s all in keeping with the minimalist philosophy of the ‘movement’ or whatever, but I think they could have added a little more material.

I give it 3 jihadis out of 5