Book Description
The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely practical and is illustrated throughout with easy-to-understand line art and diagrams.
Customer Reviews:
Good if you are not in a megalopolis.......2007-10-12
I think this book is very good for certain situations, but I feel that it does not meet the needs of most average folks in case of major catastrophy.
I would recommend Ron Foster's practical guide for all scenarios. Since he works in the field of emergency response, he has the most up to date and useful methods of urban and rural survival.
If you seriously want to learn more than "how to live off the land" short term, I would highly recommend Mr. Foster's publication, "The Rural Ranger: A Suburban Manual & Field Guide of Traps and Snares for Food and Survival".
I know how to live off the land if one can even get to such a ideal location, but hunger, thirst and the elements will wear out the millions of people trying to vacate their huge cities all at once.
This book gives one a fighting chance no matter what your skills are or where you live.
Seriously,
David Highum
Amazing survival book - Incredable - Can't stop reading it!.......2007-10-10
This book is gold. If you decide to donate money to homeless people STOP. Donate this book instead. They will be able to live forever with the helpful survival tips in this book. It sits on my coffee table and has been a talking point with everyone who sees it. It has everything in it - including 'Emergency Child Birth in the Bush'. The trapping and food sections are amazing. This book was everything and much more than I thought it would be. Easily the best few dollars I ever spent on a book. Thanks to the sling traps I have no more stray cats claiming my yard as their own! Then using this book I was able to skin, prepare and cook these cats. I was also able to discard the offal that was not nutrient dense. Note: No cats have really been caught or cooked yet - but I could if I wanted to.
SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea.......2007-09-27
With the new tv shows showing actual survival skills in the wild my family and I have developed a real interest in this topic. I am enjoying the book. It was written in a very easy and understandable way. I feel confident that with this book by my side that I could survive quite well in a variety of situations.
What about cabin avalanche?.......2007-09-19
I found this book to thoroughly take me through the fundamentals of survival, however, I am always thinking of some very particular situations that I could find myself in that weren't addressed.
For instance, what about the "trapped in a cabin by avalance" that we're all fearful of? I play it over and over in my head. Most likely it would be 3 or 4 of us on a weekend ski trip. I've always felt that it would be best to go ahead and turn on the others very early on in the event of an avalance instead of waiting for starvation to decimate the group.
For one, each day trapped in that cabin means that everyone will be burning calories, making themselves thinner and thinner, not leaving much of a meal if natural course is left to do the dirty work of finishing them off. Not to mention, you might be too weak for a death match days later.
Also, turning on them early will almost assuredly be unexpected, since ditching ethical behavior at first opportunity is not the norm and especially with so much food still in the fridge. You're going to need that element of surprise, b/c let's face it, when you start helicoptering that timber axe over your head, the line will clearly be drawn in the sand and its 1 versus 3 at that point. You'll need to mow them all down very quickly. Don't worry that you aren't hungry yet, as there should be plenty of snow at the windows that can be used to keep the bodies from spoiling.
But I definitely liked the informative chapter on which leaves are ok to eat and which are poisonous.
Great!.......2007-09-14
Contains just about anything you would want to know about survival. I am reading the whole thing, and it is quite interesting!
Book Description
Do you have what it takes?
You’re alone in the wilderness with nothing but a knife and the clothes on your back. Will you survive? Do you have the skills to feed, clothe, and protect yourself? Mark Elbroch, a master tracker, and Mike Pewtherer, a woodland skills educator, put those questions to the test when they embarked on a 46-day, unprovisioned, unequipped journey into the dense wilderness of the northeastern United States.
Wilderness Survival is their highly practical and uniquely observant introduction to survival in the deep woods. Mark and Mike tested generally accepted truths, questioned conventional solutions, and distilled the best techniques for making fire, obtaining shelter, finding water, and hunting with primitive weapons. They give you:
• A life-saving handbook of survival skills that explores man's place in the natural world
• The secret to surviving in the wilderness as part of nature—not its adversary
• Explanations of more than 30 wilderness survival skills, including hunting and gathering food, fashioning tools, and preserving and storing food
Customer Reviews:
An Authentic Account.......2007-09-25
I really enjoyed reading this book. Some of the transformations that Mark went through, and insights he shared, during his 46 day wilderness survival experience will always stick with me. I got the feeling he was trying to be as honest as anyone could be about his experience. Especially the part about coming to the deep realization that he was an animal playing by the same rules that all other nonhumans have to follow in the biological community.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in wilderness surival, the living community, or seeking insight into the question what are role is on this planet.
Great Book, Great Story.......2007-08-17
This is a great book that tells a great story of wilderness survival. Mark has some of the best field guides and this book can be added right along side those. Being that this is told from first person makes it that much more intersting. Anyone into wilderness survival, tracking, and primitve skills, this book is a must.
An easy and educational read.......2007-08-09
A first hand personal account of living off the land. This book captivated me more than any spy novel.
Worth the read.......2007-08-03
I enjoyed reading Wilderness Survival by Elbroch. He writes in an style that is easy to follow and fun to read. If you like to camp at all, I'd certainly recommend reading the book.
Best book ive ever read.......2007-06-26
This book teaches you everything you would ever need to know about survival. Good diagrams and everything. get this book it is the BEST! and the journal is an amazing read.
Amazon.com
Be very, very afraid. When you step through your door for an innocent excursion, grave danger awaits. You might be mugged; tied up; attacked by scorpions, piranhas, or tarantulas; trapped in a falling plane or elevator, a runaway train, a car on a cliff, a sandstorm, a riptide, or a riot. But now it's safe to take that vacation anyway. Just pack The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel, and you'll know what to do when you find yourself, say, leaping between rooftops: "Because you will not be moving fast, it is safe to roll head over heels, unlike jumping from a moving vehicle." Now you'll also know what not to do: never pick up a tarantula, as the spines on their abdomens are like little harpoons, and don't yank the reins of a runaway camel ("Pulling on the nose reins can tear the camel's nose--or break the reins"). You may have the sense, if a leech invades your air passage, to gargle with a 50 percent solution of 80-proof alcohol--but without this book, would you remember not to inhale?
In short, this is the most delightfully terrifying, all-true, laugh-out-loud hilarious book since the original Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, which covers such horrors as alligators and quicksand. Don't leave home without it! --Tim Appelo
Book Description
If you have to leave home, TAKE THIS BOOK! The team that brought you The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook now helps you navigate the perils of travel. Learn what to do when the tarantula crawls up your leg, the riptide pulls you out to sea, the sandstorm s headed your way, or your camel just won t stop. Find out how to pass a bribe, remove leeches, climb out of a well, survive a fall onto subway tracks, catch a fish without a rod, and preserve a severed limb. Hands-on, step-by-step instructions show you how to survive these and dozens of other adventures. An appendix of travel tips, useful phrases, and gestures to avoid will also ensure your safe return. Because you just never know...
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Choice!.......2007-05-14
I purchased this book as a gift for a friend, and it was exactly what I was looking for! This book offers solutions to travel nightmares, very handy for an inexperienced traveler.
A Series of Worst-Case Events.......2006-01-20
Two things you should know when considering whether to buy this book:
1. When they say worst-case scenario, they really mean worst-case scenario. It advertises advice on surviving volcanic eruption, not on losing your travelers' checks.
2. It is humor. On page 48, they advise "earplugs are useful when you want to sleep in a battle zone" which leads into the next section "How To Survive A Hostage Situation." This section, by the way is a kind of awkward read post-9/11 (as near as I can tell, the book has not been revised since before that event or at all). They also recommend that you wave for help when stuck inside the trunk of a car, so there you go.
If you are looking for humor, I recommend it. If you are looking for something more serious in the light of New York, Madrid, London, Thailand/India/Sri Lanka, New Orleans, etc. in the past five years, you will need to look elsewhere or you will be disappointed.
Hilarious and handy.......2005-01-03
This book was so funny! My friend and i have nothing better to do, so we went and sat there and read all of the worst case scenario book, and i must say, this one was bomb! i loved the emergency phrases in the back, such as: Why is the water brown/green/yellow?
I actually learned something from this book too. The section on how to stop a thief and how to survive a mugging are good for anyone to learn, not just travelers!
[...]
Light reading for the adventurous tourist.......2004-10-26
This book, like the others in the series, is tongue in cheek. Some of the advice and scenarios are practical but others are completely in fun. My favourite was the advice of what to do if you are threatened with alien abduction. You should not let your mind give in to them. In other words, stop hallucinating and you will be just fine. :)
At the same time some of the advice is practical and could be useful to everyone, not just travellers. For example it gives advice on what to do if your car ends up hanging over the edge of a cliff. While not an everyday occurrence it almost happened to a friend of mine during a snowstorm on the highway.
Not up to past standards.......2004-08-25
The "Worst Case Scenario" people are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Surviving an airplane crash and building a snow shelter can be important! But encountering aliens, while offering both an extreme scenario and a touch of humor, isn't specifically travel-related. The same with a plummeting elevator, or losing someone who's tailing you. On the other hand, they've omitted some important items, like getting arrested in a foreign country, or losing your passport. This series is losing steam.
Book Description
The Ultimate Desert Handbook is the first truly comprehensive handbook on desert travel and exploration, presenting the desert not as an alien environment to be overcome or endured, but rather as a fascinating opportunity for anyone eager to learn about and enjoy a different kind of outdoors experience. Assuming no prior desert know-how, this detailed guide is intended for hikers, backpackers, campers, and 4WD vehicle travelers, along with a wide range of other adventure enthusiasts pursuing their chosen activities into the desert - rock climbers, birding enthusiasts, pilots, nature lovers, and wildlife/landscape photographers. Even dayhikers and occasional visitors to desert destinations will find the book easy to understand and extremely useful. The Ultimate Desert Handbook is packed with information and includes descriptions and histories of deserts around the world, a complete survey of the North American deserts, their indigenous peoples, plants, and wildlife; expert advice, including historical background and the latest technical developments in desert hiking, backpacking, camping, equipment, footwear, and clothing. Also included are chapters on desert mountain biking, first aid, wildlife observation & photography (including tips on film cameras, digicams, and night optics), desert hazards and survival, finding & treating water from all manner of desert sources, as well as preparing and using desert vehicles and animal transport. Last but not least is the most thorough section on desert navigation ever published - from using the stars to map, compass, sextant, and the Global Positioning System - and easy-to-follow advice on everything from selecting a low-impact campsite to signaling and rescue communications. * A Ragged Mountain Press Outdoors Paperback * 5½ × 8½ * 291pp * 80 photos and illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Read it and be prepared!.......2006-08-17
Awesome book! We bought this book as a guide to prepare for a backpacking trip to the West Texas deserts of Big Bend and the Devil's River earlier this year and its advice came in handy on more than a few occasions, especially the section on camping advice, equipment, and clothing. The book's use of real-life excerpts of news stories (from those who didn't take the desert seriously enough) was effective at getting the book's message across on to anyone preparing to hike the desert, as well as the drive back. In fact we ran into a couple who didn't bring enough water and when they got back to the trailhead, their truck had blown a radiator hose. They were hurting. As the Scout motto says, read this and be prepared before you go.
It's the best desert hiking and survival book.........2006-07-21
The Ultimate Desert Handbook is the best book on desert hiking and survival I have found, and I have read them all. That's not just my opinion, but also that of all my friends who like to backpack and hike in the desert. Unlike other books that claim to cover the subject of desert hiking and survival, this one actually does so. Water, acclimatizing the body, clothing and equipment, navigation, backpacks and gear, information on different deserts of the world - nothing is left out.
Johnson's book is actually both well-written and very well organized, with the most important aspects, such as finding water, trip planning, etc. in the first chapters, progressing in order. The criticism of the book as somehow biased towards vehicle travel is completely off-base, and makes me wonder how carefully the critic read the material. It has a single solitary chapter on desert vehicles and preparing them for desert conditions (makes sense, because unlike other places, you may have to drive for miles through remote, waterless areas just to get to the trailhead!). In fact, the book is primarily oriented towards hikers and backpackers - probably 250 of the book's 296 pages are devoted to the subject - especially those preparing for treks in remote desert. The book actually covers a wide range of subjects - adapting to different desert conditions, trip planning, backpacking and camping gear, desert first aid, snakes and other hazards, and it has the best chapter on pathfinding and navigation (read: staying alive) in the desert I've found to date.
As to gear and equipment, the author does take space to provide suggestions on advantages and disadvantages of many items, including the newer methods of water purification, ultralight equipment, GPS receivers, water storage, Camelbaks, and so on. But rather than the usual generic discussion, the information is nicely geared to desert hiking: in the case of drinking tube systems, right down to the need to insulate one's drinking tube and choose light-reflecting colors, a tip omitted by other books. I personally found all of this very useful information, and I can't see how it possible how learning something about one's gear for such a different environment as a desert could be either impractical or frivolous. The author did probably assume the reader is intelligent enough to realize that you can't possibly bring everything along, and to make one's own choices regarding total pack weight. Suggestions are just that, not everyone will agree with them, but such is life. For myself, I'd certainly want to know the practical applications and limitations of various types of gear and clothing, especially as they apply to desert hiking. If you don't like it, you can skip the chapter - doh! I find it very strange that anyone could condemn a desert travel book with a single-star rating because it allegedly reviews 'too much' equipment, then criticize it yet again with the trivial complaint that the book left out the manufacturer's address for one's preferred brand of compass. Bizarre.
I found the Ultimate Desert Handbook to be the first desert hiking book I've read that acknowledges the differences between the major U.S. desert regions AND provides information throughout the book useful to each desert region, not to mention other deserts of the world. This material is provided throughout the book, and is NOT limited to the brief descriptions in the introductory chapter. This is significant, as many hiking books that purport to deal with desert travel or survival base a lot of their material on experiences gained from one particular desert, guidance that isn't always applicable to others.
There's a lot of material here I've never found in other desert survival books (or nature 'walking' guides for that matter), and that includes the U.S. Army and Air Force survival manuals. For instance, I've always read that barrel cactus may be used for water in an emergency - but was surprised to learn that there are several look-alike subspecies with pulp that are poisonous or sickening, something the Native Americans knew but apparently the Air Force doesn't, so this book tells how to identify them, just in case. Many books tell you about the solar survival still and transpiration bag, but the author takes care to point out their fatal flaws. You can find information in this book I've never seen in any other hiking book that could only be of value to someone walking long distances in the desert: how to work primitive, wind, or solar-powered windmills, find directions from winds and eroded rocks, siphon water out of a covered aqueduct, hide a water cache, hike lava fields or sand dunes, find directions from desert tracks and trails, treat desert blindness, or perform first aid for arterial bleeding. Again, not something you're likely to find in the Audubon guides. Although the book isn't strictly a desert survival text, it's no surprise to see that it's very popular with park rangers, thru-hikers, desert expedition members, and those familiar with extreme desert travel.
Now, there are some things the book isn't, which is obvious to anyone who bothers to look over the chapter titles. It isn't a nature guide to desert flora and fauna - beyond telling you which plants, animals, and insects can hurt or help you, which is the point of the book. For example, we get extensive advice on avoiding potential injury from rattlesnakes (individualized to species where necessary), while learning there's no need to stomp on the local tarantula that comes close to your campfire. The book does takes care to demonstrate the fragility of the desert environment where indicated and provides advice on low-impact hiking and camping. This duality may bother some people used to strict genres such as 'hiking book', 'survival book', etc., but not to fear - it's all seamlessly integrated into a comprehensive guide to desert hiking, survival and travel. And since the book deals with BOTH desert hiking and desert survival, it teaches not only what to do in case of disaster, but how to prevent disasters in the first place through preparation, acquisition of expertise, and development of one's hiking and pathfinding skills. The book also isn't a long, novelistic narrative of one man's voyage of discovery and personal growth, so it could hardly be criticized for not including such material (how anyone could mistake it for such a book is baffling to me). The author is more concerned with providing objective information (as he should be in this type of book) to the reader rather than an homage to Ed Abbey, great a novelist as he was.
So, if you're a big-city dweller just looking for a good winter read, or the Latin scientific appellation for the local deer mouse, you'll need to go somewhere else. But if you need the best desert hiking and survival guide, this is it.
Overrated-Oversized-Inadequate-Superficial.......2006-07-14
Although it may be of some use as an introduction to persons who have never walked on a desert trail or been to the American southwest, and though the book constitutes a useful primer on equipment, navigation, & survival techniques, the book is poorly organized and edited with much less information than one might expect from a book of its physical size. It is not handy enough to throw into a knapsack nor is it well designed or beautiful enough to qualify as a coffee table book. The author appears to have done just enough research to cover the subject and satisfy his editors. There are no first hand descriptions of desert hiking or any first hand descriptions at all to suggest the author has any experience whatsoever. Less than one page is devoted to animal transport, ten pages to bicycle transport, and 32 pages to motor vehicles. One may thus conclude that the author has probably never walked more than a few hundred yards from a motor vehicle. The extremely modest effort made to be inclusive (to justify the title) by tackling all the world's deserts results in a text that suffers exceedingly with regard to specific characteristics of North American desert regions namely the Great Basin, Mohave, Sonoran, & Chiricahua. The few paragraphs dedicated to each of these is utterly insufficient in doing more than indicating their geographic location. The list of plants, animals, and insects for all is inexplicably conjoined and superficial (only 43 species of flora and fauna including reptiles and insects) and inadequately illstrated. Albeit a number of new species are introduced in the chapters on hazards and survival but these are not illustrated or very well described as to habits, distribution, & frequency. So much more is available from any decent nature guide (Peterson's, Audubon, etc.) Indeed the Golden Guides offer better coverage of Southwestern desert life & local culture despite their diminutive size. The author includes many lists of recommended supplies but little explication as to the rationale for their inclusion or their practical use. The author simply cribbed official sources including military manuals for much of this information. The assumption seems to be that you can carry all this stuff in a motor vehicle or helicopter. Though poor in describing North American desert regions and their ecology the book is nevertheless a decent introduction to certain technical aspects of desert hiking such as navigation and survival strategies. However all this information is readily available in other more thorough and entertaining hiking, camping, and survival guides. The skimpy two page bibliography inexplicably omits anything specific to the ecology of American deserts or to any of the well known, extremely useful, and entertaining works by Colin Fletcher ('The Man Who Walked Through Time', and 'The Complete Walker') or those by Edward Abbey ('Desert Solitaire') nor does it contain any comments on the usefulness or entertainment value of what is listed (How useful or entertaining is the ca. 1325 travel description by Abu Ibn Battuta?) The 'Resources' appendix is likewise superficial and omits a source for an important orienting product discussed and illustrated in the text (Suunto). In short, the book appears to be an editorial commission that though workmanlike as a piece of technical writing it utterly lacks any flavor or sense of what is purported to be described. The most useful chapter in the book is probably 'Water Supplies' with the paragraph on hyponatremia being the most important but there is no discussion as to how to make your own remedy for sodium deficiency until six chapters later when an inset describes the internationally accepted re-hydration formula.
Almost a necessity for desert backpacking .......2006-03-05
This is without doubt a really useful book on desert backpacking and general camping and hiking. It's not a trail book, but really a general and in-depth training guide on exploring deserts and planning/preparation for such places. Unlike a lot of these types of books, this one is written in an absorbing manner. The chapters flow naturally, one to the other, and have plenty of illustrations (all black/white, though).
I picked up this book on a whim before heading out to Arizona and Utah and was surprised at how well it covered the subjects you might expected to need when hiking the desert. For example, in the desert navigation chapter, you aren't just told to 'carry a map and compass and look for landmarks'. The book leads you step-by-step through reading and understanding a map, different kinds of desert (rock, dune desert, etc.), likely desert landmarks and common mistakes in desert navigating, how to choose the right compass and GPS receiver, the weak points of these instruments, how to recognize trail 'signs' or traffic, and on and on.
Desert planning and equipment is also a great chapter. What boot soles work well on desert rock, what shoes to wear in loose sand, how to plan water loads, desert camping tips, how desert heat and different terrain will affect your mileage, etc. The author illustrates nearly every point with real-life news accounts of desert survivors (and victims) who experienced the issues encountered in desert situations.
By the time you reach the end of the book you know how to plan a desert hike, buy the right hiking and camping equipment and clothing, employ first aid for desert illnesses or heat exposure, avoid plant/animal dangers, survive if you get into trouble, and get your truck (or mountain bike!) desert-ready. Not bad.
In conclusions, this is the best outdoors guide I've read in a long time. Definitely check this book out if you are planning a desert trip.
Highly recommended.......2006-01-24
I found Mark Johnon's book both interesting and highly informative. He thoroughly covers all the areas you would expect in a book on desert survival (shelter, water, navigation, plants & animals, first aid, etc.) then adds useful information on desert transportation and photography. He manages to cover all these topics in sufficient depth without droning on forever and boring you.
The author's warnings regarding suspicious people and unexploded ordinance are sound and valuable advice. I was surprised to see that one reviewer considered this hysterics. I grew up in the South and remember reading a newspaper account of someone injured by an old shell from guns silent since 1865. I suspect unexploded bombs from WWII could be at least as dangerous. The same reviewer also appeared to think map care and being properly equipped were unnecessary as well, so I guess we'll just have to disagree.
Book Description
With over 3,600 illustrations and pages of information, Camping & Wilderness Survival provides a wealth of information on how to travel, make a camp, understand your environment, and choose equipment. A book no survivor should be without!
Customer Reviews:
From Camping to Survival, It Has It All!.......2007-08-23
One of the best outdoor books written. Simple to read and to the point. Many, many pictures and illustrations. A wealth of information and a great reference book. A longtime proven source of information that you will go back to time and time again.
Big and good.......2007-06-01
It's a bigger book than I thought but it still fits in my backpack :-) An excellent book with all the info a serious amateur or pro camper needs. If not for brushing up then for looking up.
SUPERB INFO- Easy to grasp & apply.......2006-11-05
Alright- this book is a classic! For the family or individual who loves to get out & enjoy nature, this is the book for them. Our original purchase was done in the Sequoia's (of California) for a 10 year old boy who loves outdoors, survival techniques & nature. After reviewing the book ourselves, we decided we had to have one - plus three more for Xmas gifts to famillies! This is one you'll keep!
A great buy, at that price..........2005-04-08
For what you pay (less than 20 bucks), this book more than satisfies. The sheer breadth of the topics covered is astounding. But it seems that Tawrell went for quantity instead of quality when he wrote this. A lot of the information included in the book is too brief, whetting the reader's interest and then leaving him hanging. This lack of depth hurts Tawrell's credability a bit, but for a book this size, I can understand his need for brevity. The book would have been much better (but more expensive) with photos instead of illustrations. Also, a few reviewers have mentioned the grammatical errors that abound in the book. This bothers me too (I'm an editor), but I can look past it. It almost seems to give the book a sort of old-fashioned charm. The layout of the information is a bit messy sometimes, but again, I'm sure it was done to cram as much information into the book as possible. This is a great source to introduce readers to the wilderness. It almost functions as an encyclopedia of sorts, since it covers such a broad area. You won't be disappointed with this book. It's well worth the cost. Trust me.
Survival is to try this.......2005-04-01
I bought this book because of the boy scouts and my son and to re-freash my outdoor life.I found the book to be very good and full of good thing and after reading other peoples thoughts of this book is wrong because until you try it out or the tricks of how it works and they do for I tried them or most of them on campouts and a few classes I went through its just you trying it more then once on a few of them others no problem at all.The one that work of you keep them in mine and the ones that don't keep trying them you will find the loop hole as they say.. I would give this book a very good try specally for scouting.
Book Description
With concise explanations and detailed illustrations, survival expert Gregory Davenport covers the five basic elements of survival--personal protection, signaling, finding food and water, travel, and health--providing the reader with complete information on how to stay calm and alive until rescue arrives.
Customer Reviews:
Wilderness Survival.......2007-09-22
This review is based on the first edition (1998) of Wilderness Survival. In his introduction, Davenport writes: "The five basic elements of wilderness survival are personal protection (clothes, shelter, and fire), signaling, sustenance (water and food), travel, and health (dealing with traumatic injuries, environmental injuries, and stress)." This book's emphasis is on surviving, getting out, and being found. It is not about connecting with nature or exploring the possibilities of a primitive lifestyle.
After a perfunctory chapter on climate, Davenport covers those "five basic elements of survival" in the order he listed them in the introduction. There is no discussion of natural cordage or the use of bark or clay in constructing containers of any sort, nor does he illustrate improvised fish hooks or even discuss how to derive one -- all of which Raymond Mears does, scattered through the chapters of his 1992 book The Outdoor Survival Handbook, the book I read before Davenport's.
There are 8 pages on snares and traps, some of the illustrations taking half a page. There are 2 pages on skinning, gutting and butchering an animal, and 2 on tanning an animal's hide. That's 12 pages out of 172. Anyone serious about finding food in the wilderness would seek more detail than the 37 total pages devoted to it here. That, of course, is a limitation of any survey of survival techniques, and why there can be entire books devoted to only a few facets of wilderness survival.
In fire making, for example, both Davenport and Mears spend time explaining the construction and use of the bow drill, but only Mears mentions the hand drill, and neither of them even hints at the possibility of the fire plow, the method used by Tom Hanks to start fire in the film Castaway. Both of them assume you have at least a knife, and so neither of them mentions the dire need in wilderness survival to be able to tear, break, and cut things, nor do they mention any method of devising a cutting tool from the natural environment. Les Stroud, in his Survivorman series, has established the practical value of a multi-tool for survival where there are man-made objects that could be disassembled or cannibalized in some way and used contrary to their original purpose; but even Stroud demonstrated flint-knapping to make a rudimentary cutting edge while in the Utah desert.
Davenport, with his origins in the U.S. Air Force survival school, apparently hasn't considered that not everyone will find themselves trying to survive already equipped with a knife and ready supply of parachute cord. In an appendix, he illustrates 7 knots and lashes: square knot, double sheet bend, overhand fixed loop, bowline, double half hitch, square lash and shear lash. But not having shown us how to make cordage from the environment around us, if we don't have any man-made equivalent, his helpful illustrations may be of no help at all.
His discussion of compass and map navigation and of how to locate North without a compass is clear and useful, but a curious reader would probably wish for more detail. He doesn't, for example, extrapolate from using an analog wristwatch in locating North to using an imaginary or drawn circle divided into 12 segments and your knowledge of the time from some other source; and from his instructions on how to locate the North Star using the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia, you'd never imagine the star was part of the Little Dipper. In his pursuit of concision, he sometimes fails to teach.
The book is designed like a semi-expanded outline, with no peripheral comments. This makes the book easy to read and study. If its limitations of content are not a concern, it is a good first look at surviving in the wild.
Second Edition.......2006-08-11
Davenport's second edition is worth the purchase. He has updated the signaling chapter and expanded all others making it even better then it already was. If you want the definitive guide to learning outdoor survival skills, the second edition of Wilderness Survival is the book.
Both Interesting and useful - highly recommended.......2006-02-19
Wilderness Survival is a valuable source of information on woodland survival techniques. Like most books on this subject, he covers shelter, acquisition of water, food, fire building and signaling to search and rescue personnel. A significant bonus is the excellent section on land navigation included by Davenport. The illustrations are nothing to write home about, but still quite clear and effective. This book includes a surprising amount of good information considering how little time it takes to read. One reviewer criticized the book because the material was "almost word for word from about 10 different books I own". From my perspective, any single book that provides the information of 10 is worth owning.
Teaches you how to think.......2004-10-01
Although it would be nice to have everything you needed for a survival situation, that isn't always the case. Davenport's book teaches you how to think through a survival situation and promotes the art of improvising when things go wrong. His book is straight forward--helping the reader identify survival needs while showing a myriad of methods in which to meet them.
It is a textbook! One I highly recommend!
Useful and informative.......2003-08-05
I've read many wilderness outdoors and survival books for different country (mountain, forest, desert), and Wilderness Survival is one of my all-time favorites, along with Mountaineering The Freedom of the Hills by Don Graydon and The Ultimate Desert Handbook by Mark Johnson (both of which I also highly recommend).
Customer Reviews:
The 10 Bushcraft Books.......2006-02-16
I was fortunate enough to win a copy of Graves' book 'The 10 Bushcraft Books' in 1976. It is in hardcopy and probably covers the same type of content that is included in this other bushcraft book; ropes & cords; huts & thatching; campcraft; food & water; firemaking; knots & lashings; tracks & lures; snares & traps; travel & gear; and, time & direction. It was printed by Hogbin, Poole (Printers) in Sydney, Australia (no printing or copyright dates). FYI, on the dust jacket it gives some background on Graves. He initiated and was the Commanding Officer of 'the Australian Jungle Rescue Detachment, assigned to the Far East American Air Force'. These were 60 specially selected soldiers who 'successfully effected more than 300 rescue missions, most of which were in enemy-held territory, without failure of a mission or loss of a man'. It goes on to say, 'An essential preliminary for rescue was survival, and it was for this purpose that the notes for these books were written. These notes were later revised and prepared for a School of Bushcraft which was conducted for 20 years'. And very accurately states that there 'is nothing quite like them, nor is any collection of bushcraft knowledge under one cover as comprehensive'. The ISBN was/is 0 909824 24. This book may be another option, though probably just as hard to find. Good luck!
Old Faithful.......2003-12-08
I picked up a copy of Bushcraft in 1983 and it has been my constant companion. As an Instructor at the Marine Corps Jungle Survival School in Okinawa I used its lessons extensively and have never found a better manual of wilderness survival. Later, as an instructor for the National Outdoor Wilderness school, I taught my students some of the skills I learned from Bushcraft. If you can find a copy, buy it!
Bushcraft.......2003-01-29
I bought this book way back in the mid 70's when I was in High School. I used it for a reference on my "Extreme" camping adventures. I then found it to be even more valuable and usefull while serving in the 82'd Airborne. I "Lent" this out to a friend and it was never returned. I know that info presented in this book has been used by my friend while assigned as a survival instuctor for a very elite unit in the U.S. Military. I would recommend this book to all who wish to have a practical guide to survival and I'm pleased to finally get a copy back in my hands.
Bushcraft is superb!.......2002-02-07
I purchased this book back in 1983, and I referred to it frequently while I was in the US Army. This book is an excellent read for novice or expert alike, and Graves makes the message simple with straightforward instructions and illustrations. It is a shame that I cannot purchase this book again since I have just about worn out the copy I have!
Kenneth Smith
Forget the Rest!.......2001-11-12
I bought this book 20 years ago, when I was a boy scout in the Pacific Northwest. It accompanied me during my Marine Corps enlistment -- and has been to more countries and climes than most people.
GRAVES writes in a straight forward and brief style that stays on message. Judging from GRAVES experiences and the few pics inside the book, it appears he was in the Aussie SAS -- although he never comes out and says so.
There are numerous sketches in the book that clearly demonstrate his ideas and methods.
I find it amazing that this book has not been reprinted. It is a shame...
Book Description
Do you need to get away from the pressures of the world and the gaze of Big Brother for a while? Do you plan to live or work in a remote area where you need to be able to take care of yourself? Do you want to develop the skills to remain undiscovered in the back country - even if others are searching for you? If so, Wilderness Evasion is for you. You don't have to be on the run to benefit from this unique survival book: it includes skills you can use every day in your real life. Whether you're heading into the woods for evasion purposes or just a little relaxation, you should know what this manual can teach you about survival medicine, emergency caching, communications, food and water procurement and storage, counter anti-tracking, and the psychological aspects of being alone in the back country, among other things. The ability to remain alive, self-reliant and in control of your environment - even in the remotest of areas - is one that few people possess these days. Learning the skills taught in this book can keep you alive for as long as you need to be in the wilderness. For academic study only.
Customer Reviews:
Tremedously Entertaining.......2007-07-05
I can't say I'm planning on running away into the wilderness, but I definitely think that if you are, this is the book. It's a good read whether you're planning on running off, or just reading a good book about survival.
If You Go Into The Woods - READ THIS BOOK.......2007-04-28
I have to confess to being a fan of the author Michael Chesbro. His books offer lots of practical information, and "Wilderness Evasion" is no exception. The ability to stay out of sight in remote and wilderness areas has its place even today. Wilderness Evasion teaches you how to avoid being tracked, how to build low-key shelters, how to avoid dogs, find food, and generally 'stay lost' when you want to.
I am not a big outdoorsman, but I do like to take weekend backpacking trips, and this book has taught me how to avoid and evade the two-legged predators one sometimes meets in remote and out-of-the-way place.
GREAT BOOK - Get It While You Can!
Wilderness Evasion.......2007-04-10
Anyone interested in the outdoors should read this book. Lots of useful information. I am an avid hiker and tracker and have read many books on these subjects as well as backcountry medicine and this book had many things which i had not even considered. Good read!
Good but basic book.......2007-04-10
Good but basic. I guess this can be said about most of these books, you'll have to buy several and do your own personal research no matter what book you buy. I picked up quite a few new skills and great ideas from this book so I highly recommend it. Most of us aren't fugitives but we do want to know how to keep a low profile when we are in the wilderness and if need be to know how to escape if someone happens to be following us for whatever reason. My advice would be, buy this book.
If you're nuts.......2006-11-04
This book isn't too bad if you are a fugitive and would like to know how to evade the police if they should ever come knocking on your door at 2am. If that were the case you could easily jump out of your bedroom window and get to your wilderness, that you have previously prepared for such an event, and live for months on the cache's that you hid. I guess there are a few things in this book worth taking a look at but just know that unless you are constantly looking over your shoulder for big brother you aren't going to get much out of it.
Book Description
Survival topics include winter survival, constructing traps and snares, poisonous and edible plant distinction, fire making, locating and purifying water, building shelter, protecting your feet, tool construction, fishing, and getting full use of your knife. Almost 300 hand drawn illustrations provided that wil help you identify plants and fungi as well as demonstrate various techniques to be used in the outdoors. Hamper's guide will help you avoid common mistakes and will provide practical advice so that you can make use of sticks, leaves, nails, string, feathers, shells, and even buttons. AUTHORBIO: The late Stan Hamper enjoyed the Scouting program as a young boy, earning the rank of Eagle Scout with Silver Palm and as an adult was the recipient of the Silver Beaver. His hobbies included watercolor portraiture, pen and ink, wood carving, and model design and building, as well as collecting early American lighting. His first book on wilderness survival was sold nationally and served as a textbook by the National Camping Association and the Colorado Outward Bound School. REVIEW: Scouts, hunters, campers, hikers, canoeists, pilots, and all others unprepared to meet the challenge of the wilderness will survive with the help of this book. Originally published in 1963 as Wilderness Survival, the manuscript has been expanded by the author. Sections on protecting your feet, making shelters beds, finding survivor-friendly plants, enduring outdoor weather, constructing traps snares, and using fire and your knife are included, as well as much more.
Customer Reviews:
A treasure trove of fascinating information.......2002-02-06
Filled with black-and-white sketches depicting its descriptions of types of fishhooks, edible and poisonous plants, techniques for building a fire and much more, Wilderness Survivor's Guide: A Manual Of Basic Survival Techniques is a superbly presented primer to life in the outdoors. Written in easily understandable language accessible to the lay reader Wilderness Survivor's Guide is a treasure trove of fascinating information for campers, hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, and armchair travelers alike.
Book Description
How to survive in almost any outdoor environment with little or no purchased equipment, relying only on what nature provides.
Customer Reviews:
Not useful.......2007-07-31
I don't understand why this book gets such high praise. It is not a how to book but more of a show and tell. If you want to learn survival skills look elsewhere. I bought this book thinking I was going to learn something. It just shows you what a shelter is and what this is or that.
Fun to Read, by a man who knows his stuff.......2006-07-30
This book is still used and recommended by the Boulder Outdoor Survival School, possibly the most reputable school in the business. Larry Dean Olsen, the author, is a guru in the field, and quite an amusing writer as well. This book is a classic, having come out originally in 1967 (my copy is the 30th anniversary edition from 1997). This is not a book for weekend backpackers, it is a text for those who want to explore and preserve true primitive survival skills - living off the land, friction fires, etc. If that is what you are looking for, this book is a great choice.
I can't believe.............................2004-10-09
On reading some of the foregoing reviews, I can't believe we're talking about the same book. I received my first copy of Outdoor Survival Skills in the late 60's and it was the first of the best. There have been many excellent survival/primitive living skill authors since - Tom Brown Jr., John McPherson, Richard Jamison, Kochanski, Mears, Graves, Janowski, more recently, Cody Lundin, and the list goes on. By the way, the reason it was my first copy, was because I lent it to someone, who I guess, appreciated it as much as I did, so I never saw it again.
Even though the first edition came out sometime in the late 60's
the information is just as thorough, valuable, and accurate as it was then. Anybody that does not find this book so, should stick to outdoor writer's like Cliff Jacobson, who it appears, believes the only reason to carry a knife in the outdoors is to spread peanut butter.
Well done, Mr. Olsen, I thank you.
Not a "survive until rescued" book.......2004-07-14
This book is meant for the survival enthusiest. I.e. someone who likes to go out and intentionally spend weeks at a time living off the land. For them, this is a good book.
It is NOT useful for hikers/backpackers/boaters etc. who are worried that if they get lost or stuck they need survival skills to last until rescued.
It has a information on topics such as building a bow and arrow, setting trap lines of 100-200 traps, making stone tools, and tanning hide (all things that require considerable time, energy, and practice). What it does not have is any information on getting rescued - not even a mention of what makes a good distress signal.
I haven't read many survival books, but if you're looking for a "survive until rescued" book check out The Complete Book of Outdoor Survival by J. Wayne Fears.
Survival skills.......2003-07-26
I have read many survival books including: Wilderness Survival; the October 1970 edition of the Army Feild Manual; Living off the Country;Tom Brown's Feild Guide to Wilderness Survival;and this one as well as many others. Aside from Tom Brown's feild guide, this book is definately one of the best I have read. I would rate Tom Brown's feild guide higher than this one, but the two together make a great pair. Both cover topics such as the four great needs: shelter, water, fire, and food, as well as weapons, edible plants and animals et cetera, but they both explain different techniques and different ways of doing the above mentioned topics. The back of this book has color photos of many plants that are edible.
I strongly reccommend buying both books, they are very similar yet you can learn more from both than you can from just one.
If you don't wan't both then I reccommend Tom Brown's Guide. Either way you go, try to use your library and the internet in conjunction with the books.
Books:
- Secrets of Dripping Fang, Book Six: Attack of the Giant Octopus (Secrets of Dripping Fang)
- Spirit of Animals
- Steam Power Engineering: Thermal and Hydraulic Design Principles
- Steep Trails
- Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (Adventure Press)
- Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado
- The Circus in Winter
- The Conch Book: All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Queen Conch, from Gestation to Gastronomy
- The Dogs Who Found Me: What I've Learned from Pets Who Were Left Behind
- The Embroiderer's Country Album: Flowers-Wildlife-Cottages-Churches-Barns-Village Scenes-Country Landscapes
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Board Member's Guide to Fund Raising
- Old Dog, New Tricks: Understanding and Retraining Older and Rescued Dogs
- Moon Time: The Art of Harmony with Nature and Lunar Cycles
- History: Fiction or Science
- Music for Mechanics
- The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens
- One Hundred Desert Wildflowers of the Southwest
- A Workforce Divided: Community, Labor, and the State in Saint-Nazaire's Shipbuilding Industry, 1880-
- Occupational Information Overview
- Western Africa Mining Industry Business Opportunities Handbook: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameron, Cape V
Camping
| Hiking & Camping
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
The Dangerous Book for Boys
US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76
Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places
