Excellent reference guide
Ray can be a little eccentric some times, but he has managed to get many of the tips and tricks that he and others have learned over the years in hiking. This book is helpful for taking some of the struggles out of backpacking. Reading this book requires you to read between the lines and come up with your own opinion sometimes, but don't let that sway you away getting it.

Wonderful hiking book - provocative, idiosyncratic, engaging
In this book, Ray Jardine lays out his tested and true methods of backpacking. The book is very personal. Reviewers who complain that it is preachy are taking it wrongly, in my opinion. RJ states how he does it, what he has found that works for him, and he shares it with the reader. I don't think it's meant to be a backpacker's `bible', rather one man's account of a very successful system (RJ has thousands of hiking miles logged to back it up). The same goes for the more philosophical passages. Personally, I find them refreshing and relevant reminders of the real purpose and benefit of getting out on the trail.
Folks who trash the book because they've found a bit of advice or two that won't work for them are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And they may be misinterpreting what is being said. Does anybody really think that RJ wouldn't understand the impracticality of using an umbrella in a sideways-blowing gale? Would it comfort these small minds if RJ prefaced every sentence with "in my opinion, under certain circumstances..."? Can a personal statement be made in print, or is "one size fits all" the ordure of the day?
Don't want to drink untreated water? Then don't. But obviously, using the guidelines for evaluating water sources outlined in the book, this man has, evidently without serious consequence. There's no guarantee- it's up to you to deal with the risk or not.
I learned a lot, and was provoked into considering all of my gear and my entire approach to hiking. More valuably, I got a close look at one independent-thinking and very accomplished hiker's system. No, it all won't work for me. I will not, under normal circumstances, sleep with all my insulation layers on in order to save weight on my quilt or bag (too uncomfortable). Ray does. I can understand and tolerate this difference in preference without deriding the author as some kind of charlatan or crackpot.
This is an excellent book, worth reading for any serious backpacker. I do believe it is more relevant to a long distance hiker than someone out for a weekend, but having a lighter and more comfortable hiking experience is a goal worth pursuing in either case. Perhaps above all, this book encourages self-reliance (making one's own gear, discovering things that work through actually trying them, etc.) and finding one's own way rather than relying on second-hand information (most insidiously from advertising). I'm grateful to Ray and Jenny for this book. Essential for the backpacker's bookshelf.

some useful information
Jardine has hiked a couple of orders of magnitude more miles than I expect to log in my lifetime, so what he says is worth listening to. Quite a bit of what he says seems like commonsense once you read it, but most backpackers wouldn't have thought of it. For instance, once you realize how much lighter a soda bottle is than the thick plastic water bottles sold at REI, it seems like a no-brainer to switch. It took me years to realize how much unnecessary weight, space, and expense I was devoting to stove, fuel, and freeze-dried packaged food, when in fact I could enjoy non-cooked alternatives just as much. On the other hand, a lot of the advice in this book is only relevant if you're planning on doing very long hikes. He states a lot of opinions as facts, or calls them "discoveries." Some of these opinions just seem goofy to me. No way am I going to use a drafty quilt instead of a mummy bag. His statements about the amount of water people need to drink are part of an urban folktale that's grown in the telling over the last few decades, and many of his statements about hydration have been scientifically disproved, e.g., it's not true that coffee is dehydrating. The section on food is a longwinded, pseudoscientific screed on health food and whole grains, full of anecdotal evidence about how he personally felt bad when he ate pasta, and good when he ate whole grains.

Waste of trees
Soon after starting I found myself paging ahead in hopes of finding something worthwhile for my backpacking quite soon i was at the end: i got up and threw the book in the trash; I NEVER throw books in the trash..........

A pointless waste of innocent trees, living things died to make the paper for this, sad, very sad.

Vacuous opinion, little to no useful advice. Buy Fletcher or another, but anyway choose an author that actually wants to help rather than merely pontificate emptily.

Innovative, informative and encouraging
Ray Jardine has written my favorite book on backpacking. I was expecting a nutty, opinionated rant. What I found instead was an incredibly positive, articulate and informative book. I've been backpacking regularly for years but I can honestly say that this book taught me a lot and opened my eyes more than once. It's not critical of other backpacking styles and it doesn't create fears- it dispels them. After reading this book, I was so hyped up by his positive attitude and deep love for the outdoors that it made me want to get out even more. He points out that we've been taught to fear the outdoors by equipment manufacturers who want us to buy all their bombproof, leadweight gear to deal with improbable situations on the trail. Much of this gear is not optimally functional and comes between us and the outdoor experience. He liberates us by teaching us to make our own gear and modify what we've bought.

He deals with many aspects of backpacking not even touched upon by larger books like "Complete Walker IV". "Beyond backpacking" is largely dedicated to backpacking practice, rather than just a long gear list. That's exactly why I learned so much even after having read two books by Chris Townsend and one by Colin Fletcher.

If you go into this book having decided that lightweight backpacking is a fad, you're not going to like it. This book is not a fad, however, and Jardine doesn't even use the trendy word "ultralight". After reading this book, my pack went from 25 pounds to 10 and my daily mileage has doubled with no extra effort. The numbers are just numbers to me though, the important thing is that I feel my new backpacking style has brought me closer to what I go outdoors to enjoy.

He does have some 'mystical' moments that might not appeal to some, but I just see it as him expressing his great love of the outdoors. If it bothers you, just ignore those passages. He also comes to a few conclusions I disagree with, but these were minor. The book might be a bit too advanced for someone just getting started.

Overall, an extremely liberating and encouraging book! I highly recommend it!