Page 283 - J. C. Turner "History and Science of Knots"

274 History and Science of Knots

writing of this book. There has been too little attention in the past
to the structure of knots as a basis for the organisation of knotting
books or training courses. This tends to make learning about knots
a series of isolated exercises in memorising apparently unrelated
facts and manipulations. Many knots of diverse functions share
common structures. Calling attention to these similarities, as I do
here, should help you understand something of the relationships
amongst knots, which in turn should help you learn more about
them, from how to tie them to what to use them for.'
This emphasis on structure leads Warner to develop a system of classifi-
cation which is made clear by the Plan of the book, which is as follows:
Part 1: supplies background information `to help you get going' on
ROPE (Manufacture, Preparation and Care) and KNOTS (Tying, Testing
and Classifying).
Parts 2 and 3: These constitute the core of the book. They demonstrate
the method of arranging the knots by their structure, the way they get their
grip. About 500 knots are thus classified. The main, two-way, division is into
Knots with distributed nip and Knots with concentrated nip. The
first group is partitioned under the headings `Twists', `Overhands', `Friction',
and `Figure Eights'. The second group divides into `Hitches' and `Interweaves'.
Part 4: Deals with designer knots-the search for different knots; de-
signing, tying and testing novel knots, for various uses.
Part 5: Covers Field Engineering uses of rope and knots, and deals with
`Surveying', `Lashings', `Anchorages', `Tackles'.
Part 6: Provides `a whole set of ways of locating what you want in this
book'-a variety of lists, indexes, definitions, etc.

4.5. Summary of the Books

The last four books described above have the common aim of capturing and
presenting, in some systematic way, a great deal of information about knots
and their uses. They catalogue them, classify them, give instructions on how
to tie them, and make the reader aware of their uses.
Perhaps the most widely known of the four (it is often referred to as the
Knotter's Bible) is the Ashley Book of Knots. Its numbering system-recall
that it gives diagrams and numbers for nearly 3900 knots-is now frequently
used by writers of articles on knots, or scientific authors of articles in which
knots occur, to identify their knots. For example, if one reads in the I.G.K.T.
Newsletter of a use of knot #412, one can turn to page 66 of a copy of `Ashley'
and discover that the reference is to The Handcuff Knot, and study the clear
diagram of the knot given there. This is evidently an extremely useful function