Official Book Thread!

[wareagle69]

also being a computer feller i'm sure you are familair with google just type in a key word such as firestarting or primitve fire skills or starting a fire w/o matches or natural navigation( ifn ya do that a great article by my mentor will come up)

[dbldrew]

Check out your local college to see if they offer outdoor field studies. For instance I just checked College of Dupage a local jr college that offers a bunch of outdoor classes
http://www.cod.edu/academic/field/courses.htm

Introduction to Outdoor Pursuits
Camping: Learning the Basics
Backpacking: Springtime in the Shawnee
Backpacking: Utah's Canyon Country
Canoeing: The Boundary Waters
Canoeing on the Blue River
Fly Fishing Workshop
Fly Fishing Adventure
Wilderness First Aid and CPR: Solo Certification
Wilderness Survival Skills
Winter Hiking in Our State Parks

Now your local college might not offer an actual wilderness survival class, (I’m completely surprised my local one did, I might have to check that out) but it if they offer some of the basic camping, backpacking and fishing classes it will be worth it for you just to get used to getting out into the woods. Most people who start looking into wilderness survival are already “outdoor” people, they camp, hunt, fish, etc. So getting started with the very basics would be a good place to start.

[trax]

Welcome to the wolfpack para (and ericka too) I'm surprised Sarge wasn't the first one all over this, but if you want to start with basics, I'm not kidding here dude, get a Boy Scout's handbook. Tack on the 1st Aid and some of the "how-to" workshops that Rick was talking about and you're on your way.

You're going to find that most stuff you want to learn is common sense, relative to the environment you're dealing with (wilderness or urban)

[chiye tanka]

Man! I hate to do this, but I have to agree with Remy as well! Even so, 1st Aid is STILL #1!!!! (Goes and washes his mouth out with Lye soap.)

That hurt, didn't it Sarge.

[Sarge47]

Welcome to the wolfpack para (and ericka too) I'm surprised Sarge wasn't the first one all over this, but if you want to start with basics, I'm not kidding here dude, get a Boy Scout's handbook. Tack on the 1st Aid and some of the "how-to" workshops that Rick was talking about and you're on your way.

You're going to find that most stuff you want to learn is common sense, relative to the environment you're dealing with (wilderness or urban)

The older Handbooks are the best. Trax, as my pupil you get an "A"!

[Rick]

A? Man, that guy sucks up to everyone. First Nell then Old Coot and now you. The next thing you know he'll want to bum some of my twinkies.

[AVENGED]

Among Other Books I Have. I Always Have "Edible Wild Plants And Herbs: A Pocket Guide" By Alan M. Cvancara And A Regional Animal Book With Me When I Go Out. The Animal Book Has A Picture, Tracks, And Strides For Each Animal In The Local Area. I Also Keep A "Rite In The Rain" Note Book With Me.

[Aurelius95]

First of all, welcome to the forum. Secondly, when I graduated college, I spent a year teaching English in Japan. What an experience! Thirdly, I didn't start camping/spending time outdoors until I was almost 30 years old. I didn't grow up with a family that spent much time outdoors, other than fishing or playing baseball. When my son was about 3, I thought it would be fun to take him camping, but I had no gear. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. There was a sale at Dick's Sporting Goods where I bought a 9x7 tent, 2 sleeping bags, 2 not so qualility sleeping pads, a couple of flashlights, and off we went. We stayed at a campground. You mentioned in your post that you don't want to do the "camping" thing with grills and electricity, etc., but I'd suggest you do it once. Even setting up your tent for the first time can be an experience.

Do an internet search of trails in your area and go hiking. Just being outdoors you will learn things you didn't normally consider.

Of course, this forum is filled with a lot of information. There are tons of other sites out there. Best of luck. Gambatte Kudasai

[trax]

A? Man, that guy sucks up to everyone. First Nell then Old Coot and now you. The next thing you know he'll want to bum some of my twinkies.

Oh stop pouting, muffin. A quick correction here...that guy sucks up to everyone except Rick, feel better now? You just wish you'd come up with my answer is all this is.

[Reiver]

parafish - I think the very best book I could recommend to you is:
John 'Lofty' Wiseman's
New Edition of SAS Survival Handbook
from Collins Publishers.
ISBN: 978-0-00-715899-7
RRP: US$24.95

As far as I'm concerned it's a must-have. Cheers, Reiver

[mcfd45]

parafish - I think the very best book I could recommend to you is:
John 'Lofty' Wiseman's
New Edition of SAS Survival Handbook
from Collins Publishers.
ISBN: 978-0-00-715899-7
RRP: US$24.95

As far as I'm concerned it's a must-have. Cheers, Reiver

I have to agree with you on this one. This book is in my lil kit I am working on right now. It has a COLOR (whippee) section showing plants and animals. It also has a lot of information packed into it. Welcome to the forum.
Jeff

[wildWoman]

A great way to learn heaps of homesteading skills, which it seems you're also interested in, is to go woofing www.wwoof.org. You stay with people who have a small farm, homestead or whatever, there's also people listed in remote areas who can probably teach you some "survival skills".

In exchange for working a few hours a day and learning new skills, you get free food and accommodation and can pick people's brains. The listing details what sort of set-up people have, what kind of skills you can hope to pick up (ie cabin building, bee keeping, growing fruit trees, raising horses etc etc etc). It's an international organization, so it's also an awesome way of travelling and meeting the local people. But there's heaps of places in the States, you should be able to find something in your area. Much better than sitting down with a book. It's really great, that's how I learned how to use a chainsaw and some rudimentary building skills.

I also wrote a blog on here about one way that works and makes sense for moving out into the country or bush, you can go and read that.

[Rick]

You know, WW, you always come up with great ideas. I would guess (that's all it is) that if you have an Amish (or similar) group near you that you could volunteer some time on the week-ends. The amount of knowledge you'd acquire would be pretty incredible since they rely on the "old ways" of doing things.

[Gray Wolf]

Here is the Canadian Boy Scout Manual in a pdf download file.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads...coutmanual.pdf

Here is a great Survival Training Manual in the same format called AIDS TO SURVIVAL
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/aids22.pdf

It's from the Western Australia POLICE ACADEMY COMMAND & LAND OPERATIONS UNIT. It covers many survival techniques.
The Command & Land Operations Unit was introduced to provide members of the Western Australia Police Service with the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their duties in outback Western Australia and to enable them to co-ordinate or participate in emergency operations and advise on outback safety.


Check this link, it has all sorts of training manuals, the above and many more. It includes The US Army Survival Manual, all the manuals can be downloaded.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=4344

[wareagle69]

i still say the best book is the one you make from google or what have you too many books go into to many different climate zones which i do not need to study at this time, comcentrate on the basics master them and own them then worry about what they do in australia, if your planning on going there then by all means study that terrain but other than that study your climate zone

[Gray Wolf]

WE, if you read or even looked at the AIDS TO SURVIVAL, you would have seen most of the information is basic and can be used anywhere. You really should take a look see.

[Reiver]

Thankya much.

[wareagle69]

i agree, cpr is cpr no matter where in the world you use it my point is that i am not going to pay for a book that is 50 percent based on survival elsewhere i want geographic specific, (alas i figured this out after my inital craze a few years ago of oh look a new survival book lets buy it) now i have some books i have not refered to in years for that very reason

[Gray Wolf]

WE, all those manuals in that link are free (in pdf files), just download and read any time you want to. And the one called AIDS TO SURVIVAL is more than 80% based on survival elsewhere.

[wareagle69]

well thats my point why do i want to read on survival else where i have enough to focus on here. i do not travel and if i did it would be in the boreal forest in which i live