Excellent post Aimless. What separates TCW from other books, other than its comprehensive amount of info is that Fletcher approached backpacking gear as systems that need to work together.

I have a feeling from reading gear posts is that many people start out buying what looks neat rather than what works with what they already have or intend to buy or they buy gear at random because it is on sale. I've got some stuff that fits both those categories that I haven't taken anywhere for a long time.

TCW isn't necessarily aimed at experienced campers, but for a beginner, it is a gold mine of info. Fletcher's other books like The Man who Walked Through Time and The Thousand Mile Summer are classics that anyone interested in the outdoors should also read. I learned a lot from TCW and bought my first copy back in the 70's. I still have TCW 3d Ed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Fletcher

Believe it or not, TCW has sold over 500,000 copies. For a book about a relatively niche activity, that is phenomenal.