Never read Justin's but my opinion clearly differs from your's on Skurka's. I think it is excellent for beginner's and would not have called it hard core.

This was my Amazon review of Townsend's 4th Ed Handbook:
It's been about 9 months since I read through the book so it's no longer fresh, but I did make some notes as I read it on things that stuck out or that I questioned. Overall, it's well written and the author is quite well-known and experienced. However, his experience is mainly with long trips with a fair bit of off-trail work, which corresponds to maybe 1% of the backpackers out there. Unlike Andrew Skurka, another accomplished long distance, off-trail backpacker, Chris Townsend has unfortunately not fully embraced going lighter so he's carrying more weight than necessary. For example, on his 75-day trip on the Pacific Northwest Trail (runs near the border with Canada) his base pack weight (everything carried in or on the pack including it) was about 20 pounds, which is pretty light compared to 20 years ago. However, Skurka's base weight never reached 20 pounds during his 6-month Yukon-Alaska trek and included almost 7 pounds of packrafting gear in some seasons.

While I did enjoy and appreciate Townsend's anecdotes, he had this annoying habit of saying he preferred various gear items that have long been discontinued. While I understand any "gear" book would quickly become outdated anyway, I didn't find it at all helpful to know about all this great stuff I can never get. He did at least give a fairly comprehensive overview of the various options available and provide some pros and cons. Unfortunately, he passed over or dismissed a few important things. One example is Frogg Toggs (or more commonly the even lighter DriDucks), which are very good rainwear for the average backpacker that won't be doing off-trail bushwhacking. The only disadvantage is they snag easily which is enough for Townsend to essentially dismiss them. Another glaring omission IMHO is no mention of any of the cool gear that can easily be made yourself except for a pot cozy.

He did have a small section on vapor barrier clothing, and even though it "performs well" he hasn't used it in years for psychological reasons. Hike Your Own Hike (HYOH) as they say. Some other things he said seem to go against everything else I've read like down losing loft with each washing. All other sources indicate you'd regain the lost loft with washing (properly, of course). He seems to take an inordinate amount of food (35 oz/day) vs the typically recommended 24 oz per day, but one would consume more on avg during a thru-hike. He also seems to use an inordinate amount of water saying he can "get by" on 2 quarts/night (for just food/drink, not washing/bathing) but prefers to have 4 or more quarts!

One thing I did learn was to seal the stitching on my shoes to help prevent abrasion. I had also never read that one could develop immunity to giardia. What probably struck me the most though was this statement on p 402: "Useful though it is, I would not like to see waymarking increase. I'd rather find my own way through the wilderness, and I don't build cairns or cut blazes, let alone paint rocks. In fact, I often knock down cairns that have appeared where there were none before, knowing that if they are left, a trail will soon follow. Painting waymarks in hitherto unspoiled terrain is vandalism." This sparked a lively debate on a forum I frequent when I asked how others felt this related to LNT practices.

So while it may seem that I'm being overly critical (it's easier to pick out the flaws), it still is a good book with lots of good info. He's had 4 chances now to get it right. However, I would recommend Skurka's The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide: Tools and Techniques to Hit the Trail instead of this one even though it has a couple errors. It is much easier to read, but packs a lot into fewer pages. It is more suitable to newbies whereas the Handbook is overwhelming and recommendations are not as easy to discern. Skurka also explains how to go lighter without being "stupid light". Having gotten into backpacking 3+ years ago in my early 40s (and being an engineer), I appreciate the common sense in doing more with less.