They tell you to use them because they have no real experience or care, they just want to sell books. To me research is the key to gaining knowledge to write a book because you want to teach people or entertain them.
I have two types of mats the large holes ones used in bars for draining glassed made by San Jamar, look them up and you'll see the size. Then I have two different sizes of plastic food grade mesh coming to see which one will be best for use with draining camembert. The mesh I have already for cheese cloth replacement is too fine for camembert, the holes are .025" x .025", I put some water on it and water did no go through the mesh, it needs to be pressed through as when it's used with a press. With holes that small surface tension comes into play and water will not pass, so I've got a few different sizes comeing this week test.