Kevin Kelly, former Executive Editor of Wired magazine and editor of the Whole Earth Review, is passionate about "Cool Tools". He and his collaborators seek out "books, gadgets, software, videos, maps, hardware, materials, websites or gear that are extraordinary, little-known, or reliably handy" in a wide range of hobbies and passions. If you happen to be interested in any of the areas they cover, Kelly's Cool Tools website is a fantastic reference. I've been reading it for half a year or so, and although I haven't run out and bought anything that he's suggested, I've made note of several things that I may pick up sometime later.

The Cool Tools book is a self-published compendium of information culled from the website, so strictly speaking, there's no need to pay for it when you can get the information for free online. I find, however, that I like to dogear and mark up catalogs, so I decided to buy the print version. I marked up dozens of pages, and although I'm not running out to buy anything, there are probably 50 or so items that I can see myself seeking out during the next couple of years, particularly as my son reaches school-age.

Each entry in the book features a review from either Kelly or one of his cohorts. The reviews focus on why each item is the best tool for its particular application, and at least in the areas with which I'm familiar, the picks are spot-on. I will defnitely avoid the medical items (in my opinion, Kelly has no business recommending herbs or medicines to his readers), but for camping and other outdoor activities, and for science and natural history, the recommendations look great.

Finally, a warning of sorts: the production values of this book are quite poor. Many of the pictures are hard to see, and the whole thing was obviously put together by Kelly himself without an editor or visual designer. That said, those flaws didn't bother me a bit.