THE BEST Reference

Originally published back in 1953, Hervey Garrett Smith’s book The Arts of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing and Ropework is a great reference for mariners of all experience levels to learn about shipboard skills, along with detailed illustrations and directions for working with rope and tying various useful knots.

While Google is our go-to for many answers, we still keep a copy of Thomas Glover’s Pocket Ref on hand. It’s loaded with more than 850 pages of reference tables, formulas, constants, and conversions, and is one book we’d want in our bug-out bag if the internet ever blew up. The larger Desk Ref has 1280 pages.

This unique deck of playing cards isn’t just fun and games, it’s packed with useful knowledge about photography. Each suit is dedicated to a theme: Spades are camera basics, Hearts are composition, Clubs are technical, and Diamonds are shooting styles. They come with a black back, or a limited-edition Kickstarter green.