Bad Information In Survival Books

Ok let me start this off by saying if you don't practice your skills when you don't need them you will not be able to do them when you need them that being said a lot of the information in survival books and magazines are wrong or just a plan out lie.

Why do you say this Bishop.

Your answer is I practice the stuff I read in these books and have found that the same pictures have been passed from one book or magazine to the other and who ever put it together did not practice the skills to see if it was even right

SAS survival book

How to throw a bola is wrong




How to make one is right how to throw bolas is all wrong I will go through some more books and post other things like this that's wrong what do you know off the top of your head that's wrong.

 

Here is a awesome weapon the spear thrower yeah right how the hell are you going to throw a spear with that




What this should be showing is a atlatl.

 

First thing that comes to mind is a solar still -- digging a hole, putting bucket at the bottom, then covering the hole with plastic and, like magic, water will drip into the bucket.

 

I don't really know about this category, but I think if you see the same skill or method in different survival books you can probably trust it. If it is a loan mention in a book or guide you are not sure about you probably have your answer there!

 

That's the thing some of this stuff gets copyed over and over by people that don't go out and test it them selves


Read about Christopher McCandless a survival book may be what helped to do him in.

I hear people all the time or see post about

If I was stuck in the woods I would rub two sticks together and I would have a fire in no time kill a deer and live the good life

fact if your not doing it now in the convenience of your home your not going to be able to do it when you are stuck in the woods

Fact it's not as easy as it looks on TV or on YouTube to do a lot of the skills I know because I go out and practice them my self it's taken me a long time to get the skills that I have and if I don't keep practicing I will loss the ability to do the skills well

So if you really want to try a skill do a fire with Flint and steel they show you in the books how to do it and most are wrong Flint high carbon steel and some twigs hit the spark into the twigs and you have a fire am I right or wrong

 

I doubt that razor blade method is mentioned in many books. My point is that if the method is mentioned in several books it is probably good, if it is just mentioned in one or two it may be wrong or even harmful. I think you may have misunderstood my meaning.

 

When I'm considering whether to purchase a new survival manual I come across in a bookstore, the first thing I do is look to see if the author recommends building a survival still as a viable/sustainable means of providing fresh water. For the uninitiated, the solar still consists of digging a hole, putting a cup or bucket at the bottom, covering the hole with plastic, and placing a small rock on the plastic just above the hole. The theory is that water will condense on the underside of the plastic and drip down into your bucket. The reality is you'll lose far more water from sweat and exertion than you'll get from the still.

As ridiculous as the still is, it is still recommended in the vast majority of survival manuals I find on the shelves today. If an author recommends it in his/her book, I put it back on the shelf.

 

I have never read a survival book that didn't have at least one great big howling mistake. I've mentioned this in other forums. The worst ever book was Lofty Wisemans Urban Survival Guide.....such utter shite that some chapters are actually likely to cause injury. His SAS guide contains quite a bit of bullshit as well, see his net making , what a joke.
Also a personal favorite of mine is Richard Graves writing that you can extinguish a campfire in an emergency by throwing FLOUR on it.....yes...you could if you wanted to lose your eyebrows, suffer minor burns and make the entire area aware of your presence with the flash of flame and smell of burned toast.

 

I generally like the "Complete Idiot's Guide" books as well as the "For Dummies" ones. However, the CIG to Disaster Preparedness was a dud. At one point, the author suggests that getting drunk during the disaster isn't the worst idea and could be an enjoyable way to spend the time?

 

I would now be wondering about the books I have on edible plants. My brother and I have gone out on hikes and worked at identifing plants that were edible. But now I am wondering about some of the information.

 

I would check over it really good before eating stuff you don't know about I took a class on edible mushrooms we had a guy in the class that seemed to be very knowledgeable on mushrooms when he was telling our instructor about one he always ate as a kid growing up the instructor said well that explains a lot because that mushroom was a hallucinogenic mushroom also think about poke weed boil it three times change water boil one more time then it's good to eat my ass it is how many people died to get to that many times boiling it

 

I have run across quite a few survival guides with bad information myself. But I have recently purchased one that had alot of useful information that early settlers used to great effect. It has over 300 great survial tips and remedies. Its definitely a must have for me and my family. Check it out https://tinyurl.com/ydhwqbqa