Which Brion Toss "Rigger's Apprentice" book is better?
The original Rigger's Apprentice (http://www.amazon.com/Riggers-Apprentice-Brion-Toss/dp/087742361X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318372593&sr=8-2) published in 1992 and 193 pages
or
The newer Complete Rigger's Apprentice (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Riggers-Apprentice-Techniques-Traditional/dp/0070648409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318372593&sr=8-1) published in 1997 and 392 pages.
I ask because the newer one gets some pretty scathing reviews on Amazon, including listing typos and downright errors and internal inconsistencies among the criticism.
I have the old one on the ship and have found it to be a good reference...
I only have the newer version, and find it a good reference. If I ever see the other around I will try and compare. I do find a number of things in there of minimal value to me.
I'd get the later as it's basically more info added to the first. I'm don't know that any of the errors those reviewers complain about were added in the revision, if you've got time inter library loan could answer that question. I can't disagree too much with the comments from the 3 star reviewers for it, but I still find it an invaluable book and refer to it all the time. As the reviews indicate, this will not be your one stop shop for everything you ever wanted to know about rigging, but I think it's as good as anything out there to get you fairly deep quick. That said, I find it is essential to cross reference almost everything you can in the world of rigging as sometimes minor typos or different philosophies can suggest very different (and sometimes questionable) solutions. Ultimately, you'll have to educate yourself as much as you can. Spartalk is a nice Internet forum hosted by Brion, too, that is a good place to go for advice on rigging issues. There's a lot of knowledgeable folks over at Woodenboat forum, even if you don't have a wooden boat, rigging issues are largely the same.