"the Best Survival Book"

Discussion in 'Books' started by Pragmatist, Mar 11, 2020.

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  1. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    https://www.chicagotribune.com/cons...0200311-r75yt5hx3vgijov7y7duys4j6e-story.html


    Per ...

    I am not a new survivalist but still prefer visual aids for plant identification.

    A survival book with a "broad range of ... " is just too encyclopedic. Escape methods and techniques from a stuck elevator in re urban survival to field expedients for a lost dental filling is too much for 1 book.

    The old days are gone.
     
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  2. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Agree, urban survival is a whole book unto itself, Rural survival is a world not know by urban folks. One book cannot hold and disclose the details needed.
     
  3. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I used to buy most of the Survival Guides as they came out but basically they got repetitive. It isn't plagiarism, there are just so many ways that you can describe how to build a fire, figure 4 trap, find north, or any other survival skill. The SAS is probably the most informative all around. I even have a very small paperback, somewhat abbreviated version of it.

    The fact is that at this point of time in my life I don't need to know how to build an igloo or survive at sea. Now I find books about primitive LIVING skills to be of more use. I am bugged in. the Foxfire books have a lot of old-time country living ideas in them. For the woods, I think that the Tom Brown survival guide may have had the greatest influence on me. Where the other wilderness survival guides basically taught you how to win the day to day battle against the wilderness Tom Brown proposed more of a learn how to live with the wilderness rather than fight it. It is a little philosophical but packed with information.

    Some of my survival library books are not for me so much as for the future. I have a book that is a little thick that is called Highschool Courses Self-taught that is amazing. If you learn what is in it you truly would be considered educated. It covers math through trig and Early Calculus, Spelling and sentence structure, Writing, American and World History, Literature, A basic explanation about the properties and principals of Biology, Physics, and Chemistry.

    Survival requires shelter. I have books all about that from overnight huts through log cabins to house building. For Food, I have Identification guides, Gardening, preserving and cooking. I cover water from finding to purifying. There is very little that I don't have a book for. I have always felt that in a postapocalyptic world the books that can REeducate people in real-world knowledge that m Parents, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents mostly took for granted as the knowledge that everyone knows will be invaluable.

    If you are going to bug in, instead of a survival guide you need to put together a survival library that is especially focused on survival where you live and then a smattering of other ideas. I doubt that I will ever see enough snow to build an igloo but if we slide off into the next ice age as some are predicting my kids might need that information.

    Don't buy the books new. You can have the same for so much less buying quality used books. I do a lot of business with able Books.

    https://www.abebooks.com/?cm_mmc=msn-_-US_Brand-_-naa-_-naa&msclkid=e3c0aa5516db19b8782ff43c46280bb2
     
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  4. varuna

    varuna Tree killer & a cat person
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    Any credible survival book should only cover narrow geographic region. A book that was written based upon methods, local constraints of specific region is most likely isn't applicable outside that specific region (albeit the basic principal remain the same). The same thing also applicable for urban survival. Every city or region has their own specific culture, custom, local conditions that will render any generalist urban survival book useless.

    Personally I never read any nor have any interest of those survival book (whatever that is). What I do need (and interested in) is narrow subject reference work of specific geographic region that cover the local customs & culture, animals, plants life, weather & climate, etc.
     
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  5. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    There are some things that are applicable no matter where you live and unless you have someone to personally teach you then books are the best source. I would hate to watch someone build a trap for animals that have never done it and had no knowledge of how to do it. A figure 4 four trap is pretty easy and works well on small game but if you have never seen one built you would have problems figuring it out.

    Books are like seeds. They offer you a start that with time and work will bear the fruit of true knowledge. Without the practice and actually doing the various things all you have are the seeds.
     
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  6. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    Books like this are my interest and only my interest with a side order of the spy craft. I don't read fiction, novels, etc. Started reading about this stuff when I was 30. I'm now 39. I have books on SAS fighting techniques, survival, tracking, a book about survival written by a Navy SEAL, how to stay invisible in a digital age (involves carry cash and major life changes), I read about the CIA, NSA, etc. The only issue is that it's so damn much information it's hard to remember it all. Like try as I might, I went over a chapter in my book on how to hot wire cars and still can't remember it. I do know the car has to be made prior to 1999 I do believe. That's a handy skill if you have no gas, etc, etc. I also know how to pick locks, have all sorts of lock picks and can open a digital safe using a rare earth magnet. But if I can just remember half the crap I read in books and on the Internet I'd be a damn genius. LOL Good thing it's all it's paper and not in digital book form. That's rife for disaster. If there's no electricity I can always reference what I need. Not so to those that think a stupid E-book is the best thing since sliced bread. I loath that crap. I love my books and I love my bookshelf. The only E-book type thing I have now is the Bible in audio form. I plan on hearing the whole thing. It's just hard for me to read and hearing it is better. I'm on chapter 41 of Genesis now.
     
  7. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I think that some people are able to learn anything from books and some people don't do well with them at all and are more the show me types. Books have been invaluable to me. I learned enough about machine work from a three-volume set of Audells books to talk the talk and got a job as a journeyman machinist when I was 19. I learned appliance repair from Service Masters. I learned mechanic work and made a living doing that for a while from Chiltons and Motor manuals. I learned AC and heating and got my license from knowledge from books. I have built houses, done foundation work, repaired slabs, roofed, did plumbing and wiring all from books. I learned and worked as a Gunsmith from Books. The list of things that I do and have learned is long and varies. I have done all of these things professionally and very well and never had a single day of schooling in any of them.

    That is a knack that I have. A good memory and only having to be told or shown something once made my life pretty interesting. I would do something for a few years and if I got tired of it or bored I would do something else. I started working when I was 15 and was from a poor family. I never had the money to hire people to do for me but I could buy a secondhand book and after that do it for myself. I bought my first car from a farmer, a 2 door 56 Chevy Belaire. It was in his barn and had not run in several years. I rebuilt it myself, brakes, clutch and rebuilt the engine, with a Motor Manual and my Dad's tools. I was 16. By the time I was in my late 20s this had just become my lifestyle.
     
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  8. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    That's pretty impressive.

    I used to be a handy man of sorts when I was younger, but now my back is messed up with me missing a disk that I don't like to do strenuous work.
     
    TMT Tactical likes this.
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