Friday, August 5, 2011

Survival Wisdom and Know How

9781579127534Survival Wisdom & Know-How – Everything You Need to Know to Subsist in the Wilderness

http://www.workman.com/products/9781579127534/

About the book

Survival Wisdom is a large-scale practical guide, jam-packed with information on every aspect of outdoor life and adventure.
Survival Wisdom & Know-How is the most complete, all-in-one volume on every aspect of outdoor adventure and survival ever, from orienteering to campfire cooking to ice climbing and beyond. Culled from dozens of respected books from Stackpole, the industry's leader in outdoor adventure, this massive collection of wilderness know-how leaves absolutely nothing to chance when it comes to surviving and thriving in the wilderness—and appreciating every minute of it.
Topics include Building Outdoor Shelter, Tracking Animals, Winter Camping, Tying Knots, Orienteering, Reading the Weather, Identifying Edible Plants and Berries, Surviving in the Desert, Bird Watching, Fishing and Ice Fishing, Hunting and Trapping, Canoeing, Kayaking, and White Water Rafting, First Aid, Wild Animals, Cookery, and much more. Useful illustrations and photos throughout make it easy to browse and use. With contributions by the experts at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as well as the editors of Stackpole's Discover Nature series, Survival Wisdom & Know-How is the definitive, must-have reference for the great outdoors.

My Thoughts

When I first saw this book at Costco, I was amazed by the size of it.  This book is fabulous with the information it contains but the size of it is a bit awkward...  way too big to pocket it in a backpack while in the wilderness.  

However, if you want to learn to build an outdoor shelter, track animals, do winter camping, read the weather, identify edible plants, survive in the desert, fish and ice fish, hunt and trap, navigate without a map and a compass, learn to handle canoe and kayak, tye knots, administrate emergency first aid, avoid dangerous animals, recognize poisonous snakes, and cook outdoor, then this book is for you!

Going through it it reminded me of my girl guide days when we were building fire tables and cook on the fire.   During those years I had learned to identify the weather just by looking at nature, identified plants, learned how to survive when lost, learned to use a compass and much more.    It was good times.

This book contains interesting tips on fishing which I will definitively share with my husband.   He is always looking for ways on how to improve his fishing.  

More recently, I have looked into the book to read more on poison ivy.   My third son has unfortunately being exposed twice to the plant around our RV in the past month.  The second time, it was limited to some of his fingers but boy did he had a reaction.  I have learned that symptoms can take a few hours to a several days before appearing.   That if you come in contact with a poisonous plant like poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac, you should rinse you skin with water first to remove the oil from the plant and then wash it with soap.   In Ontario, we can encounter poison sumac or poison ivy.  

The book also contains some recipes, ways to collect water if needed, tips and tricks to do rock climbing, how to travel on land and water, great explanations and illustrations on how the weather happens  as well as first aid to name a few of the subject found in this book.

I was interested in this book because it can be useful for my kids to go through it as I don’t know what they will do in life and where they might end up.    As a homeschooler, I am always on the lookout to find books that will teach them skills that could be helpful one day.  This book is definitively one that can teach them quite a bit on survival and how to be wise while doing activities outdoors.

Survival Wisdom & Know-How is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca

Disclaimer: I received the product from Workman for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

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