Top 3 Survival/Bushcraft Books?

K Williams

K Williams

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 17, 1998
Messages
3,284
What do you consider to be the top three survival and/or bushcraft books that cover the environment of N. American?
 
Bushcraft by Kochanski.
98.6 degrees by Lundin.
Tossup for 3rd place. I'll go with Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen.

Take care,
J.
 
Wow those are three great ones for sure Studio!

Bushcraft is my favourite.
SAS survival is a classic of the genre and covers a huge range.
98.6 is good as is the other Lundin book, When All Hell Breaks Loose.

But that Olsen book is really great too.


How about this: for my third I am going to go a different route than everyone else here would.

From Log to Log House, by...Sven Gunnar Hakannsen if I am remembering right!

Not a survival manual at all...but if you are going to be staying out there and don't plan on coming back this is one of the best books I have seen on building with logs, and in general there is at least a great respect, if not preference, for hand tools in the book (except for when drilling.)

From selecting the trees to laying out a homestead to drying the logs and dealing with fungus, you will learn a lot from this book!
 
Man - that is tough.

Field guide Wilderness Survival - Tom Brown.
Bushcraft - Kochanski
SAS Handbook by John Wiseman
98.6 Degrees - Lundin

I would say a close 5th is the new one by Les Stroud - I found it to be very nice.

TF
 
Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book has lots of info, almost like an encyclopedia.

The SAS book good as well.

The Bushcraft book is probably my next purchase.

I just got the Les Stroud book. Seems like a much better read than some of the others. Not so much an encyclopedia, but chalk full of info.
 
SAS (lofty wiseman)
Bushcraft (more Korchanski)
the outdoor survival hand book (ray mears)
the Tom brown books have alot of good information, but you have to filter out alot of stuff to get to it
 
I gt the Skookum bush tool and the Kochanski book as a set and sold the knife but kept the book. Excellent reading.

Anything by Ragnar Benson ,like Survival poaching and mantraps.
 
98.6 ~ Cody Lundin

Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness ~ John & Geri McPherson (second book is good too)

Bushcraft ~ Mors Kochanski
 
Quiet Bear said:
98.6 ~ Cody Lundin

Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness ~ John & Geri McPherson (second book is good too)

Bushcraft ~ Mors Kochanski
Click to expand...

As of right now, exact same 3 for me :thumbup: The SAS book is pretty good too.
 
The way I see it they are:
Wilderness Living & Survival Skills - Mcpherson
Tom Brown Field Guide to Living with the Earth
SAS Survival Manual
 
I have all the books mentioned here with the exception of Les Stroud's (which I will pick up), From Log to Log House, and Ragnar Benson's man trap and they are all good. :thumbup:

Actually I have a few :rolleyes: more than this, but I could never pick the best three, possibly with the exception of (Northern - [earlier copy]) Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski, as one of them, because it is a little different than most.

What would be easier would be to pick 3 of the ones mentioned, so far, as presents for a good buddy, who was wired like me, and that being the case, I would pick McPherson's first book, Mors Kochanski's bushcraft, and Ray Mears' Outdoor Survival Handbook, although it's still a tough call given the calibre of the other books mentioned.

The other thing is, to pick the 'best three', you would have to have seen all the books available and that is pretty well impossible.

Also, survival and bushcraft aren't necessarily the same things.

A truly remarkable book is 'Survival Skills of Native California' by Paul Campbell- an excellent book for a primitive skills person, but not so much for a person wanting basic wilderness survival skills.

I'm sorry if I'm not much help, but any of the books mentioned would help someone get a good start.

Doc
 
Last edited:
I agree with Doc - There is a difference between survival and Bushcraft.

98.6 degrees is an example of survival - in fact Lundin says his book is written to survive for three days - he says the average time before rescue.

Bushcraft and Tom Brown's book is an attempt at craft you need to survive indefinitely in the bush.

TF
 
Good point on the distiction between survival and bushcraft...
For bushcraft I really like Bushcraft by Graves
Long term Survival I like the McPherson books Into the Wilderness
Short term survival Camping Wildlife Survival by Tawrell just because of the volume of material covered.
AI
 
Great thread. I only have the book by Graves, so I'm ordering SAS, Kochanski and 98.6. The idea of being able to survive 3 days (98.6) sounds most useful to me. I always carry enough gear to survive one night, because I let my wife know where I will be and would ordinarily be rescued in one day. "Ordinarily" is the key word. I've seen enough rescue stories to know 3 days is not uncommon. I'll study the short term stuff first and then get into the extended situations.
 
Bushcraft essentials by Ray Mears
Bushcraft By Mors Kochanski
Wilderness survival BY Tom Brown.
 
I just got both Mors and Les's books from amazon, both seem a step up from the usual stuff that's out there.
 
One that I really like, and that hasn't been mentioned yet, is On Your Own in the Wilderness by Bradford Angier and Townsend Whelan. Awesome book with great suggestions, pictures, drawings, etc. My Dad gave me a copy when I was 9 years old and I've been using ideas from it for almost 40 years.

AJ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top