Why buy this book? Because this is the best book for Joe Schmo and his wife Shirley. It's simple to read and unique. There are lots of hand-drawn cartoons and illustrations. If you don't like silly insights, you might not like this book. Nearly every day in my fly shop, I commonly tell Joe Schmo (or Shirley) how to catch a big fish in our local waters. I show them hand-draw diagrams and put their flies on top of the picture. I explain what is happening blow-by-blow with the fish and the flies underwater. Then, I send them on their way. They usually come back to tell me how useful this chat was and to show me their fish-on-a-phone. (I get a lot of "fish-on-a-phone" stuck in my face.) I decided to put my daily advice in writing, starting the book with walking up to the stream and fishing, then putting the parts about picking a rod and selecting flies at the end. That may seem out of order but that's how I operate: I go and do things first. Afterward, I seek the details. Joe Schmo can take the rod he just bought (he'll call it a pole for a while) from a general sporting goods store and if he reads the first chapter of this book, he may have a good chance at catching a fish. Maybe even a big fish.