Official Book Thread!

[Gray Wolf]

Sorry WE, I meant; AIDS TO SURVIVAL is more than 80% based on survival anywhere...

[wareagle69]

ok that might help i will check it out since i respect and value your advice and opinions

[samfranklin]

Collines Gems SAS Survival Guide

[crashdive123]

Deja vu all over again.

[ragin_cajun]

My hometown is Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Actually, right now I have been teaching English in Japan for 2 years. I'll be coming home in December. I left my job after college to come out here for adventure. I'll be going back home soon and will probably have to work another computer job.

Dude!!!! You live less very close to one of the most pristine natural environments in the US, teaming with fish, wildlife, lumber, and mild winters--the ATCHAFALAYA BASIN. When you get back home, buy a flat bottom boat with a trolling motor, a GPS, and start exploring. Get a camp in the swamp. Start hunting and fishing like everybody else in South Louisiana. Start camping in the swamp, and just get more and more primitive. If you have to survive, boil water and eat gators/nutria/fish. Deer everywhere. Read books about tropical medicine, because survival here is the easy part. Staying healthy would be the hard part.

[crashdive123]

Wow! All kinds of advice and information in your first post. How about heading over to the introduction section and tell us about yourself. Thanks.

[Rick]

Gators? See? That just screams "Stay out of the swamp!"

[cajun swamp hunter]

Rick when I hear gators what I hear is grease popping on the stove and the smell of fresh gator cooking to a nice golden brown. Équipez qui est consommation d'un certain bon

[primeelite]

I am with you on the picking up survival as a hobby as I enjoy hiking, camping, and the whole deal too. Glad to see all of the help her and recommendations for books, etc.

[mcfd45]

Me and Sam went book shopping last week and I found and AMAZING book. The title is "The Urban Homestead, Your Guide To Self-suffiecent Living in the Heart of the City" It is by a husband and wife team that lives in Los Angeles. It has some cool projects and advice. It has some humor to it, the writer often worries about zombie invasions. The next book in the series is called "Prepare Now" It is about preparing for any sort of disaster. I plan to get that next trip to the bookstore. If it is anything like the last I will enjoy it.

So what books have you guys (and gals) found to be helpful, preparedness wise. There already is a thread on survival books.
Jeff

[trooper]

I got an interesting book called "Zombie Survival: 101 ways to survive the living the dead." not a bad read but kinda dull... lol.

[endurance]

Deep Survival: Who live, who dies, and why by Laurence Gonzales The best book I've ever picked up on the subject of the psychology of survival (and my BA is in Psych). If nothing else, browse the 12 Rules of Survival on Gonzales' website (link). The book is well crafted, enjoyable to read (he's a great story teller, especially if you pick it up on audiobook) and has researched the topic thoroughly. Avoid his latest book, Everyday Survival, it's a waste of paper, IMHO.

If you work in the urban jungle and fear the world coming around you and want some of the lessons learned from 9/11 burned into your soul, then The Unthinkable: who survives when disaster strikes and why by Amanda Ripley is another well researched book on the psychology of survival. While I do think she gives a little too much away to luck, her collection of stories and research on disaster survival is compelling and up to date. It covers everything from why people stayed in New Orleans during the Katrina to the Morgan Stanley security guard who saved thousands of lives in the WTC on 9/11.

A World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler is a new novel that tells the story of a small upstate New York town 15 years after the global economic, political, and social collapse following Peak Oil and a number of related disasters. There's no question from the first page that the author has done his homework in researching our societies vulnerabilities and what technology with fail and survive after the grid goes down. Frankly, the book should scare the hell out of you because he's so right on. While he goes in some directions that are a little funky in places, the overarching story is compelling and a page turner that will keep you up late at night to get to the next chapter.

[ride_gnu]

I am reading right now, Walden by Thoreau. So far (about half way through) the physical survival has been extremely minimal. It focuses more on the need to escape and survive and the reason to do it. Survival may be tough, but not near as tough as shattering the shackles that hold us to society.

[SurvivorMan002]

Ive been reading Tom Brown's Field Guide wilderness survival.It's a great book to read and learn from but, it was written in 1983. I wanted to get a few more Survival books to read but, alittle more up to date. So if anyone has any suggestions on some good books i would love to know about them.

[SurvivorMan002]

...and i saw Les Stroud has a new book out. Anyone get a chance to look at it?

[Aurelius95]

Just finished a book called, Blood Riveer, by Timothy Butcher. He is a journalist who covered many war-torn areas, but became obsessed with The Congo. His intent was to follow the route that Stanley took charting the Congo River back in the 1870's. Butcher made his trek in 2004, published the book in 2008. It's crazy to see how bad off the Congo has become.

This is not a survival story, and no doubt this guy took chances and could have wound up dead by a rogue bullet. However, it's a pretty good read.

[SARKY]

You asked for it so here is my list:
1: Nature Bound, pocket field guide: Ron Dawson
ISBN 0-9609776-7-8
this a great pocket book that should be a part of your kit!
2: Camping & Wilderness Survival: Paul Tawrell
ISBN 1-896713-00-9
well writen and covers most of what you need to know
3: The SAS Survival Handbook: John Wiseman
ISBN 0-00-217185-6
There are probably a couple of others that I am forgetting right now.

[endurance]

I am reading right now, Walden by Thoreau. So far (about half way through) the physical survival has been extremely minimal. It focuses more on the need to escape and survive and the reason to do it. Survival may be tough, but not near as tough as shattering the shackles that hold us to society.

Great book! I took an entire semester-long course on Thoreau in college and was amazed at how many layers each paragraph contains. He was an incredible author, but I would agree; it's not so much about physical survival as about coming to terms with society through learning to view it from the outside.

[doug1980]

...and i saw Les Stroud has a new book out. Anyone get a chance to look at it?

I just finished his book and thought it was really good. Lots of good info.

[RBB]

I just finished reading "The Final Frontiersman" by James Campbell. It is printed by Atria books. This is what is written on the back cover.

Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally form Wisconsin, Heimo traveled to the Arctic wilderness in his feverous twenties. Now, more then three decades later, Heimo lives with his wife and two daughters approximately 200 miles from civilization -- a sustainable, nomadic life bounded by the migrating caribou, the dangers of swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily existence. The Korths wait patiently for a small plane to deliver their provisions, listen to distant chatter on the radio, and go sledding at 44 below zero -- all the while cultivating their hard-learned survival skills that stand between them and a terrible fate.

This is a very good book. I believe it accurately describes how hard it is to live in the bush and why there are so few people doing it.

I met Heimo once briefly a few years ago when he was in Fairbanks. This was before I read about him in the Alaska trapper magazine when he was voted "Trapper of the year". One day I would love to visit with the man. I found this book on the shelves at my local Fred Meyers. I recognized the name and bought the book. I'm glad I did.

Excellent book!