This is the first of Tom Knauff's excellent texts for new soaring pilots, preceding After Solo. He also has written Transition To Gliders for power pilots adding a glider rating.

Tom's writing style is clear and easy to understand. His books are well organized and very complete, yet not too wordy. He gets to the point without making your read through a lot of fluff. Tom writes as an authority in the field with many years of experience as an instructor with a superlative safety record, as a first class competition pilot, and as holder of several world soaring records. For these reasons, Tom's works have been widely adopted as standard texts for new and transitioning glider pilots in the United States.

The chapter list for this book is:

1. The Flight Training Program
2. Pre Solo Syllabus
3. Your First Flight in a Glider
4. Nomenclature
5. Instruments
6. The Wing
7. The Primary Flight Controls
8. Flying Lesson Number One
9. Written Test Number One
10. Stability
11. Written Test Number Two
12. Flight Number Two
13. Cockpit Checklist
14. Shallow, Medium and Steep Turns
15. Written Test Number Three
16. Ground Handling
17. Preflight
18. Written Test Number Four
19. SSA Signals
20. Aerotow Takeoff
21. Aerotow
22. Running the Wing
23. Forward Stalls
24. Written Test Number Five
25. Turning Stalls
26. Written Test Number Six
27. Flight at Critically Slow Speeds
28. Thermalling Technique
29. Slack Rope
30. Pattern Entry
31. Landings (TLAR)
32. Written Test Number Seven
33. Rope Breaks
34. Slips
35. Crosswind Landings
36. Ground Reference Maneuvers
37. Solo!
38. ABC and Bronze Badges
39. FAI Soaring Awards
40. Test Answers
41. Basic Glossary of Aviation Terminology
42. Index

This is an excellent first text for new soaring pilots. I don't know where you would find a better or more thorough treatment of the subject. Knauff's books have become the standard for soaring flight training manuals in the US, and for good reason.