Excellent survival handbook. It is very well written and has illustrations for everything that is taught, plus it comes the British SAS, a source that has been using these techniques for a long time. It provides extensive information on subjects that are critical and brief overviews of subjects that are unessential. You can use this handbook whether you plan to use it in a single climate type or in multiple climates. I use this book for my deployment in Iraq, I recommend this book.

I've found this book to be incredibly throrough and well written. The illustrations were very helpful as well. I wish I had had this book when I as teenager and had more time to put the knowledge into practice.

I did find, however that the book is more geared toward people who could potentially get caught in a survival situation for several weeks or even months; for example soldiers in enemy territory. Nowadays, an average outdoor enthusiast, if faced with a survival scenario, is probably going to be more concerned about signalling for help or getting out of there, than say, testing a plant for several days to find out whether it's edible or not; or setting up snare traps to catch animal food.

However, these are skills that I'd like to have anyway, and are unvaluable for anyone who spends time in the outdoors.

I am a novice in this field and I purchased this book for instruction. I was not disappointed and I'm sure that the pages will be well worn by the time I finally put it down.
Recommended reading.

This book handles a variety of topics very well. Trapping, tracking, foraging, hunting, etc., it's all covered. They are only covered in a basic sense though, so don't expect to know the "in's and out's" of tracking or identifying edible plants, but you will know enough to fare well in a survival situation.

The information in the book seems to be sensible, and I've heard some of the same tips from other sources - so I wouldn't hesitate to trust it in most situations.

Grammatically speaking, the writer is obviously influenced by British English so some words are a bit different. Thankfully, I know a bit of that background so it's not too unfamiliar. The author does misspell things quite frequently and uses improper punctuation at times, but that makes me believe what I'm reading a bit more.

Since it tries to prepare you for a lot, it's a rather long book, but it is definitely worth the time to read it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a comprehensive and understandable "how-to" survival manual.

I thought I would get a regular sized book. But I was wrong.
It is not bigger than my half palm.

My mistake of not reading the product dimension carefully.

Be sure this is the kind of size you want!

I've read no less than 7 or 8 survival and wilderness survival guides over the last decade or so. I have to say that this book is the most comprehensive and complete guide that I have read so far. It includes valuable information on every major climate you could possibly encounter, as well as excellent information on various plants & wildlife, including illustrations. The sections on food/water gathering, shelter, fire making and knots are outstanding. If you are into survival, camping or hunting you will not only get enjoyment from reading this book, but you will also learn alot of realistic & useful techniques. Truly the most complete and accurate manual for the money.

I am always a bit hesitant when purchasing a book without a recommendation, online and without feeling and reading a few pages. However this is one of the good ones. Its well thought out, informative and thorough not to mention value for money. If you're looking for a all round survival book than this is the best. Only problem is that its heavy if you want to take it with you on a hike or camping.

This book is a perfect addition to any camping pack. Filled with things as simple as the best ways to start a fire and identifying edible foods in the wild, to constructing shelters and first aid, this thing has everything.

It's a valuable resource that has lots of information, and if you ever found yourself in a bad situation, you would be happy to have it with you.

SAS world famous for their skills. Now you can be one of them. All you need to know in a pocket package.

Simply put, this is the best survival guide on the market today. Bar none. I am a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Army. Even the US Army Survival Manual is not as comprehensive as this guide.

This is a nice book for everything from scouting trips to real life survival situations.

Very cool book. Very informative and it even tells you that some techniques should only be used in dire need situations, as they can be against the law.

I found this book jam packed with information relating to survival in various conditions. It explains everything from the desperate situations to the mild encounters. It covers practical aspects of terrains, wildlife, how to prepare for the variety of situations you may face. Without going overboard or into far too much detail it remains easy to read by describing the facts and techniques in a non complicated manor. I would recommend this book for anyone planning traveling or even just with an aim to gain knowledge of our world around us.

That's what the hero in Terminator one and two said to Sarah Conner and that's what this book is saying to anyone that purchases it. I have lived off the land for several years, seen it all and this book still covers things I've not encountered. A most excellent book for the serious survivalist, or the guy/gal that just wants to mess around for a few days all alone in the wilderness. It's written plainly and easily so as to not confuse the issue at hand......especially when that issue may be causing a bit of panic. Put this in your backpack and take care knowing you've got a good friend coming along for the ride. wolfgang

I love this book. I was on a flight over the mountains recently and I was praying the jet would go down and I could use this book to help my fellow passengers and I survive. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Or is that fortunately it didn't happen? I'm not sure anymore. I'm so confident in this book I'm going to take up flying and crash in the mountains on purpose, just to put these techniques to use. You should too!!!!

I bought this book for my husband as a Christmas present, and it's the first book that he's gotten that has kept his interest the whole way through. I have begun reading it myself, and you can't find a better organized, better written, more concise book on survival out there than this one. It shared everything from edible plants, to how to carry an injured person, to how create a steamer for your food out of a hollow branch. I would say to take the plunge and buy it, you'll be pleased and very much so educated in any survival situation.

My husband is very hard to buy a gift for but I knew he loves Bear Grylls(SP?)and the discovery channel. This was one of his christmas gifts from me albeit the least expensive. He couldn't put it down. I hear him quoting stuff at parties (of course he doesn't credit the book) and his buddies think he's brilliant. hahaha.

This is a great general reference on survival and can give you a solid foundation on which to build further/region specific survival skills.

big but easy

unlike other books, it gives alternatives. and things for difrent situations. i have 2 other highly rated books, and they are nothing to this book. easily guided. best anything book.

great survival handbook. not a issue SAS Field Manual like the US Army Survival Field Manual put out by the Department of Defense and issued to US Army soldiers in mountain survival school.

No need for a long review here. This book was written by a professional soldier who was in the SAS, or the Special Air Service. For those not in the know, that's an elite unit of the British Army trained to carry out operations in ALL parts of the world. Eventually, the author became a survival instructor to the SAS, so you can be sure that this guy knows his stuff.

The book covers all you'd ever want to know about the essentials of surviving in climates such as: the polar region, mountains, seashores, islands, tropical regions, or even at sea. Here's few of the many topics the book covers:

-food, what you can and can't eat
-animal tracking with numerous pics
-color pics of edible plants
-pictures of traps and how to trap things
-how to handle animals you've killed for food
-how to make a camp and various shelters
-knot tying pics
-first aid
-color pics of medicinal plants
-picures of dangerous/poisonous critters
-things to have in a survival kit

A very handy resource for anybody who enjoys outdoor/wilderness activities, it's just a darn good thing to have around in case of emergencies- or even just to look at the pictures! Also recommend Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff if you have a shoulder problem that is interfering with your outdoor activities.

Excellent resource, and easy to read. However, I wonder who "proofread" this book...
It's full of simple mistakes that most any word processor software would pick up on. That's really my only complaint. It gets 5 stars for its content and readability. It is quite a matter of factly written book, which is something I for one appreciate in a book of this nature. It gets to the point and doesn't beat around the bush (ha).
Plant pictures are good, animal tracks are good enough to do the job and the cooking instructions for animals and plants are invaluable.
It covers an awful lot of territory, but it does it in a concise and understandable manner. If another author had taken on the challenge, the reader would probably end up overwhelmed. Lofty did a good job. It just doesn't look like he used spellcheck (I know he's a Brit, and Brit spellings aren't what I'm talking about).
I'd reccomdend it over the US Army book, unless you dig poor readability. Besides, the US Army book ought to be free for US (taxpaying) Citizens. They should hand it out right next to Guideon Bibles .

I am a CERT instructor and work for our city's Emergency Preparedness Dept. and I think this book provides a lot of useful information and advice. Probably 99% of it I will never have a need to use, but the point is learning the skills to know how to take care of myself and family, not necessarily having to use them all. People shouldn't assume that by reading this book that they are being "survivalists" or "alarmists"- this is just good information, well written and compiled, for the average person to expand their self-sufficiency and prepare for the unexpected.

Overall this is a great book. Not just for survival but for an appreciation of the small details of the outdoors. How do birds fly heading to and returning from water, where is water likely to be found, what are the requirements for survival?

As others have noted this is the ultimate survival manual written in an easy to read format. Beyond that it contains a world of general knowledge about the outdoors, living outdoors, what's good, what's bad and how to tell the difference.


Even if you never plan to be out of range of a 5 star restaurant the book is a fun read. If things go bad you are better prepared and if this is in you kit you are well prepared with the information needed to survive.

Great gift for inquisitive kids who might in future years be on a safari in Africa, trek in Tibet or bike race across Australia.

Highly recommended

If you like survival like me then this is the book for you. at first i thought it would be bad becuase it was so long but it was the best book i ever read.

Very dry reading, most topics are not covered in detail, very general direction/instruction is given. Seriously, the book covers way to much for a novice. Survival experts might find this book useful because it can give them refresher training, however, for example, the fire bow section is less than half a page. This can be misleading for a novice who might think it is just that simple. Do not buy this book if you are a novice unless you have other books to learn from first. Try everything you want to learn at home, before setting out into the bush. Make a fire in your backyard using the fire bow first, then try it in the bush with a lighter in your pocket!

I think this book is very good for certain situations, but I feel that it does not meet the needs of most average folks in case of major catastrophy.

I would recommend Ron Foster's practical guide for all scenarios. Since he works in the field of emergency response, he has the most up to date and useful methods of urban and rural survival.

If you seriously want to learn more than "how to live off the land" short term, I would highly recommend Mr. Foster's publication, "The Rural Ranger: A Suburban Manual & Field Guide of Traps and Snares for Food and Survival".

I know how to live off the land if one can even get to such a ideal location, but hunger, thirst and the elements will wear out the millions of people trying to vacate their huge cities all at once.

This book gives one a fighting chance no matter what your skills are or where you live.

Seriously,
David Highum

This book is gold. If you decide to donate money to homeless people STOP. Donate this book instead. They will be able to live forever with the helpful survival tips in this book. It sits on my coffee table and has been a talking point with everyone who sees it. It has everything in it - including 'Emergency Child Birth in the Bush'. The trapping and food sections are amazing. This book was everything and much more than I thought it would be. Easily the best few dollars I ever spent on a book. Thanks to the sling traps I have no more stray cats claiming my yard as their own! Then using this book I was able to skin, prepare and cook these cats. I was also able to discard the offal that was not nutrient dense. Note: No cats have really been caught or cooked yet - but I could if I wanted to.

With the new tv shows showing actual survival skills in the wild my family and I have developed a real interest in this topic. I am enjoying the book. It was written in a very easy and understandable way. I feel confident that with this book by my side that I could survive quite well in a variety of situations.

I found this book to thoroughly take me through the fundamentals of survival, however, I am always thinking of some very particular situations that I could find myself in that weren't addressed.

For instance, what about the "trapped in a cabin by avalance" that we're all fearful of? I play it over and over in my head. Most likely it would be 3 or 4 of us on a weekend ski trip. I've always felt that it would be best to go ahead and turn on the others very early on in the event of an avalance instead of waiting for starvation to decimate the group.

For one, each day trapped in that cabin means that everyone will be burning calories, making themselves thinner and thinner, not leaving much of a meal if natural course is left to do the dirty work of finishing them off. Not to mention, you might be too weak for a death match days later.

Also, turning on them early will almost assuredly be unexpected, since ditching ethical behavior at first opportunity is not the norm and especially with so much food still in the fridge. You're going to need that element of surprise, b/c let's face it, when you start helicoptering that timber axe over your head, the line will clearly be drawn in the sand and its 1 versus 3 at that point. You'll need to mow them all down very quickly. Don't worry that you aren't hungry yet, as there should be plenty of snow at the windows that can be used to keep the bodies from spoiling.

But I definitely liked the informative chapter on which leaves are ok to eat and which are poisonous.

Contains just about anything you would want to know about survival. I am reading the whole thing, and it is quite interesting!

This book is full of useful and practical survival tips. Full color illustrations helps outline edible and poisonus plants. From setting up camp to tracking and killing animals this book has it all. I recommend it to anyone interested in camping and wilderness survival.

No book this size can even come close to delivering what the title claims. There are indeed some good illustrations and pointers to go along with them, but a survival manual this is not. Great for a bar on a slow night or as a coffee table book.
Why one star??-------->
Two examples of shoddy research and/or lack of experience: The section on bow making is only twenty seven lines (it has a thirteen line introduction with a seven line description on how to actually make a bow. This is matched by seven more lines on how to fit the string to your new hunting weapon). Look at the Bowyers Bible, a set of three books on bow making by some of the best in the business.
The "Spear Thrower" section is flat wrong, illustrating that the author not only never made/used one before, but never saw one in use or otherwise. There are other shortfalls, but I'll keep the description to two. Don't believe me? Make one as described in the book or do a google search on "Spear throwers" or "Atlatl".
There are some things he describes well and clearly has experience with, perhaps the publisher urged him to include things beyond his experience, but that does not excuse the inclusion of manufactured "facts" especially when the reader may be staking their life on that erroneous information.
All in all good for the survival book collection with a few good bits, but lacks too many details.
Remember when reading these reviews that it is often a case of the blind leading the blind as owners of newly purchased copies are not qualified to recognize if a skill is thoroughly covered. Just because the table of contents lists a skill does not necessarily translate to the reader being able to accomplish the skill. Ask a survival school or instructor with real experience which book they would recommend. Any way you slice it, the skills must be practiced regardless of the book you buy, don't wait until you need a shelter to build one or a fire lit to attempt lighting it.

If you ever watch any of the survival shows on the discovery channel, lot of whats in this book will seem familiar to you. At the very least it should give you a better strategy then running through the woods screaming and waiting to get eaten by a bear.

This is the 2nd time in the past week I learned after-the-fact that the newest edition is half the size of the original.

This is great if you are looking for a pocket book, but if you are used to the larger size of the original paperback you'll be sorely disappointed.

This one's going back (Amazon Marketplace had a seller who still had a copy of the original paperback).