Good 'how to survive' books.

[Keith Z]

My personal favorite is 'Wilderness Living' by Gregory Davenport. It is the only wilderness book i've seen with a detailed description on how to make buckskin, a process that requires more info than a paragraph or 2 (trust me). I also like 'How To Stay Alive In The Woods' by Bradford Angier, it has a very good section on how to get food and i like the pictures. Which ones do you guys like?

[Incahiker]

Have you read the SAS survivor hand book, It is awsome and will keep you living for a while in the wilderness. Pretty much covers everything you need to know.

[take-a-knee]

FM 21-76

http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf

I too like "How to Stay Alive in the Woods", Angier was an old school backwoodsman.

[Bob S]

Les Stroud has a new book coming out soon.

Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive (Paperback)

[shelterbuilder]

Angier was great. "How to Live in the Woods on Pennies a Day" was another of his books. He and Colonel Townsend Whelen co-authored "On Your Own in the Wilderness" - a late 1950's how-to manual, which was fantastic, although somewhat dated equipment-wise when I first read it in the 70's. (Equipment aside, the tips and techniques are great; I enjoyed this one the most of any I've read.) Larry Dean Olsen's book "Outdoor Survival Skills" takes a primitive approach to survival skills (late 60's). "Mountain Wilderness Survival" by Patterson(1979) was straight-forward, but spinkled with personal stories and anticdotes. "The Survival Book" by Nesbitt, Pond, and Allen (1959) is comprehensive, but technical and somewhat of a "dry" read; lots of charts, facts, and figures (probably too much). And for food gathering, there's "Edible Wild Plants" by Medsger (1939) - complete with line drawings and some very good B/W photos.

[Survivor Dave]

Thread moved to Media Forum.

[Hikes in Rain]

While not strictly a survival book, Horace Kephart's "Camping and Woodcraft".

[mkmangold]

Way back in grade school, we read a novel about a kid who ran away from home and survived using skills he picked up from God knows where. It was very instructive and practical and I'd like to get it if anyone can thnik of what I'm trying to remember. Anyone?

[unclemjm]

It was "My Side of the Mountain" I bet.

[JAK]

I think the best survival books are written as a series of stories, including lost of good practical advice. Story writing is a very natural and powerful and traditional way to impart such knowledge. When we are in a jam in the woods and our own personal experience fails us, I believe we more apt to fall back on practical knowledge if it was gained through a story than something in more of an encyclopaedic form. I like older books especially, perhaps because they aren't so cluttered with modern gear and pretense. Or perhaps just because they are the stories which have survived.

Here are two of my favourite so far...

http://www.pbagalleries.com/search/item.php?anr=109911&PHPSESSID=d3c9ee2c0e053f61130459679298fd50&PHPSESSID=d3c9ee2c0e053f61130459679298fd50

http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol17no4/sixmicmacstories.html

[JAK]

It was "My Side of the Mountain" I bet.
We read that also and I loved it. It really struck a cord with me. I have heard it criticized but it is an excellent source of inspiration and confidence for children, of all ages. When Margaret and I go for our long hike this summer that is the book I will bring to read to her. Last summer it was Six Micmac Stories.

[Heater]

It was "My Side of the Mountain" I bet.

I don't think so. No that was a Disney film I think.

There was a thread a couple of months back but I cannot remember the name. Kid got lost in Maine and spent a few days on a mountain.

Someone will chime in soon, I'm sure.

[JAK]

It was a book first, then the movie. I still haven't seen the movie.
Here is the book...

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

[JAK]

The story of Donn Fendler is the one you are thinking of.
Unlike 'My Side of the Mountain', it was a true story.

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

[FeO2]

Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

This is a really good read on survival situations with a look at the physiology and psychology of the people involved. What is going on in the mind that makes the difference of life and death? Read it and learn!!!!

[Ramble~On]

98.6 Degrees - The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive by Cody Lundin
A very in your face approach to survival.
http://www.amazon.com/98-6-Degrees-Keeping-Your-Alive/dp/1586852345


Outdoor Survival Skills -Sixth Edition by Larry Dean Olsen ~Excellent book. How to tan, make cord, traps etc.

Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales Deep Survival isn't an instructional book but rather a detailed look at different scenarios and who survives and why. True stories of events and what went wrong and what went right.

[Keith Z]

I think the best survival books are written as a series of stories, including lost of good practical advice. Story writing is a very natural and powerful and traditional way to impart such knowledge. When we are in a jam in the woods and our own personal experience fails us, I believe we more apt to fall back on practical knowledge if it was gained through a story than something in more of an encyclopaedic form. I like older books especially, perhaps because they aren't so cluttered with modern gear and pretense. Or perhaps just because they are the stories which have survived.

Here are two of my favourite so far...

http://www.pbagalleries.com/search/item.php?anr=109911&PHPSESSID=d3c9ee2c0e053f61130459679298fd50&PHPSESSID=d3c9ee2c0e053f61130459679298fd50

http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol17no4/sixmicmacstories.html
I thought that the Hatchet series was pretty good.

[gaga]

FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL, download here free and look around on that site,is the best there is whiteout the B.S.
http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Primer.htm

[JAK]

Thanks for that link. Real army publications are always the best, and free is always good. As far as taking field guides with you, I haven't done it but I've often thought it would be good to compile your own from several different sources, with plenty of extra pages for writing you own notes along the way. I think in basic training we called that an Aid Memoire. I think its important to be familiar with stuff before you rely on it. So excerpts from many different sources, on many different subjects, put together by yourself, specific to your area and your style of hiking, than adding your own field notes as you go. That's something I would like to do if I ever get around to it.

[Hikes in Rain]

It was a book first, then the movie. I still haven't seen the movie.
Here is the book...

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



I saw it. Quite forgettable. I thought the book was far better. There were a couple of sequels, written far later than the original, so much so they had to change the premises a bit to fit the facts that several decades brought about. Enjoyable, but not quite as good as the original.

[Smudge]

"My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George... I think I read it in 6th grade... Never saw the movie, don't care to...

She also wrote a book about the Everglades which I loved since growing up in FL, I was fascinated with the River of Grass

[Wise Old Owl]

Keith,
I have read several books and watch the shows, and have not learned as much until I found these important in depth sources. Just as WB here is to backpacking, these magazines are written by a wide variety of people from different views of life. Off grid living, storing food, detail of indian life, survival basics, frontier living, trapping, building windmills, etc. Also included would be taking care of animals from skinning, to raising. Sorry for taking so long this took awhile to put together for you.


http://www.backwoodsmanmag.com/ (http://www.backwoodsmanmag.com/)
http://www.backwoodshome.com/ (http://www.backwoodshome.com/)
http://www.wwmag.net/core.htm (http://www.wwmag.net/core.htm)

http://www.survival.com/survival_basics_.htm (http://www.survival.com/survival_basics_.htm)

[minnesotasmith]

Here are a couple:

1) http://www.grandpappy.info/indexwil.htm

2) Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living"

[Ramble~On]

:-? Tom Brown hasn't been mentioned yet ?

Primitive living skills takes common wilderness survival skills and kicks it up a bit..teaching how to "live" in the "wilderness" rather than simply survive a short term situation. There are schools, books and regular gatherings that teach primitive living skills.