While Munros get much of the attention, there's a wealth of walking to be found on Scotland's vast number of lower hills. In fact you could have a very full hillwalking life without ever setting foot above 914m. That's the focus of this handy wee guide, which offers attractive routes on 40 of the best mountains in Scotland under 3000ft.

It's a solid premise for a book, and the forty summits picked by author Kirstie Shirra make a compelling case that biggest is not necessarily best. Major stars are well represented: the rugged individualists Ben Loyal, Suilven and Stac Pollaidh in the far north; the unmatched coastal viewpoint of Ben Resipol out on the western seaboard; the gothic grandeur of The Storr; perennially popular Ben Vrackie; the not-so-mini island monolith An Sgurr.

If you assumed that Kirstie's 'small mountains' necessarily equate to short days, the chapter on Rois-bheinn, An Stac, Sgurr na Ba Glaise and Druim Fiaclach will soon put you right - that's 18km (1600m ascent) on terrain that tramples all over most Munro rounds for toughness. Some other routes are full-value too, either in terms of distance or ground or both, so don't think every hill listed is one on which you'd be happy taking younger kids or less able friends. At the opposite end of the scale are a few quick family-friendly jaunts, such as the deservedly popular trail up Ben A'an. If anything I'd actually like to have more of these.

As ever with selective guides, the content is defined by its exclusions as much as by what it does include, and hill anoraks might enjoy discussing and debating Kirstie's choices. We all have our personal favourites, even guidebook writers. For instance the selection spans the Highlands and Inner Hebrides, while the many worthwhile possibilities in the Central Belt, Galloway, the Borders, the Northern and Western Isles don't make the cut. The author has gone comparatively heavy on Corbetts while omitting a large number of genuinely pocket sized rockets. As any Corbetteer will attest, among the 2500-2999ft peaks you'll certainly find some of Scotland's best mountains of any height, but also plenty that look and feel nothing like small.

The aim is clearly to offer variety in terms of length and difficulty, by gently subverting the convention that divides peaks by height. But 'under 3000 feet' is a huge slice of mountain bandwidth and perhaps there's a case for two volumes, one covering Corbetts and the beefier Grahams (Scotland's Best Medium Mountains?), the other concentrating on the really little stuff. After all, you could pack a small Scottish hills book with elevations that barely even tickle the 600m contour, and it would more than hold its own.

Still, what you get are Kirstie's choices, and one thing for sure is that she's not skimped on quality. Scotland does just have an embarrassment of riches in the sub-Munro stakes.

Some of the routes described are the standard days on their chosen peak, familiar from other guidebooks and websites (not least UKH) albeit presented here in a concise and clear way. Others are more creative; I'm intrigued by the round on Creag Dhubh and the Argyll Stone above Rothiemurchus for example, not an option that the Munro-blinkered heading for its quite distant parent peak Sgor Gaoith might have entertained (guilty as charged, and I bet you are too). And on some of the more popular inclusions, it's useful that this guide details a number of route options to help you mix things up.

Pictures include some nice atmospheric landscapes that give a good flavour of each hill, while the addition of a few friends-and-family snaps works in this case, since while they're not very slick in a glossy magazine sense they do reinforce the message that smaller hills can be accessible and inclusive in a way that chunky Munro rounds probably aren't. It's just a shame that a Quinag photo has found its way into the Suilven chapter, leaving a blank space where it should have been placed.

Layout-wise it's clear and easy to follow, condensing a lot of info and visuals into its pocket-sized format. This is very much a book to use out in the hills, not a showy coffee table tome, so the emphasis is naturally on portability and usability over design elegance. Having field tested routes on Ben Loyal and Cul Mor in recent weeks (with the squashed midges between the pages to show for it), and skimmed through others I know, I'd say the route descriptions are accurate and adequately detailed, and do a good job of selling each walk. It's nice that Kirstie has included info boxes with interesting snippets of local history. OS mapping very usefully supplements the words, and you could practically head out with just the book and no map (don't...).

First published in 2010, Scotland's Best Small Mountains was originally intended as an antidote or substitute to the many Munro guides, encouraging readers to look beyond height and enjoy quality days on lower but by no means lesser peaks. That sentiment is just as valid today, and it's certainly one I can get behind. Grouping the hills in a way that perhaps no other guide quite emulates, this book would be a useful addition to any walker's shelves.