Why Knot? - How to Tie More than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots!

On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center's twin towers, where he performed for nearly an hour. During this history-making walk, and many others throughout his celebrated career, knots have always been indispensable components-the guardian angels protecting his life in the sky.
After years of hands-on research, Philippe presents Why Knot?, a guide to tying his essential knots. Philippe's own practical sketches illustrate original methods and clear, clever tying instructions. Photographs in which special knots were used during spectacular high-wire walks, quirky knot trivia, personal anecdotes, helpful tips, magic tricks, and special tying challenges ensure that, if you're not already nuts for knots, Petit will transform you into a knot aficionado.
Praise for Why Knot?:
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"In reading Philippe's book we are cogently reminded that without the ability to secure a rope, or tether a goat, or make fast the sheets of a galley, much of the civilization that we take for granted would disappear as easily as a slipknot in the hands of a Vegas conjuror." -Sting
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"Philippe Petit is an artist of knots: We get taken and sprung free at the same time. This is a dynamic book, eclectic, fun, and practical. From Nabokov to the World Trade Center to improvised handcuffs! Wonderful." -Colum McCann
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"Read this book and pop it in your pocket. . . . One day it may save your life!" -Melissa Leo
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"This is not your normal book for Boy Scouts. This is for those with a sense of poetry-the poetry and the mystery of the Bowline in the Bight, the Highwayman's Hitch, and the Monkey's Fist-revealed to us by a man whose life depends on ropes and knots." -Werner Herzog
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"Petit's distinct and deeply insightful philosophy through the guise of mere knots forever binds us to surprising new joys." -Elizabeth Streb
"The book describes, among