The precursor to this book, "Rock climbing Joshua Tree", was introduced to me as "Vogel's book of lies". The original got the bad rep because it was written a long long time ago, before the Yosemite decimal rating system had gelled, and before many of the existing roads and trails at JTree had been established. As a consequence, the precursor had been horribly out-of-date and inaccurate, though it was encyclopedic in its breadth. The author, Randy Vogel, was, from what I heard, the biggest advocate for a complete rewrite of the book.
Since the original was published, so much development has occurred at JTree that it became necessary to split the updated version into several separate books, which, if I understand correctly, Vogel is in the process of writing. So the book covering the Western section of the park is already available in stores, and the book covering the central section is supposed to come out sometime in April -- I'm signed up for a notification when it becomes available. Suffice it to say, the West book is just as encyclopedic as the original, but 10 times more useful, because the locations and ratings of routes are now reliable, and additional first ascent and protection information is given.
Well done, Randy Vogel! I, for one, am waiting for the Central book with bated breath.
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