Bushcrafty books that also tell a gripping story........?

[Lou]

Des anyone have any recommendations of Bushcrafty books that tell a good story too? I have just bought my husband a Kindle and want to load it up with some books that are based around the bushcraft/travel themes, could be biographies too. He has just read "Born to Run" from cover to cover and is now asking for more.

 

[RonW]

Guy Grieve's Call of the wild.... definitely!
And wilderness survival by Mark Elbroch and Mike Pewtherer is very good too, I think!

 

[chris_irwin]

The Long Walk, by Sławomir Rawicz. I read this a few months ago - great read.

or Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe if you haven't already.

The Road by Cormac Mcarthy

 

[Biker]

Second vote on the Long Walk book. lent my copy to a Dutchman and haven't seen it since. Didn't they make a film based upon it recently? I'm so out of touch with films etc.

Robinson Crusoe also.

Jupiter's Travels is an interesting read. About a bloke who rode around the world on a Triumph in 1973. I'm reading it again and enjoying it as much. Ewan Macgregor and Charlie Boreman did the same thing with 2 support vehicles and a doctor in tow back in 2005 I think. The book's enjoyable enough too it's called The Long Way Round.

Can't comment about The Road. Heard some nasty goings on in that which put me right off getting a freebie copy in the book gift it on thread.

 

[Lou]

Oh that's great you mentioned The Long Walk, I have literally just bought that one for him too, the reviews on Amazon were fantastic. I look forward to reading that too and great, I have that Guy Grieve book on my wish list - on the strength of his cookery book 'The Wild Gourmets' he did with the masterchef lady Thomasina Miers with recipes for a year of living off the land
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Gourme...=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307883943&sr=1-4........
will be nice to read a little more about him, he sounds like an interesting character, didn't he spend a year in Alaska? Something my husband tried to do but only lasted a couple of weeks!

Talking about Alaska, I enjoyed reading 'Into The Wild', by Jon Krakauer and the film was really moving too.

Jupiters travels sounds right up his street, will look that up, thanks!

Any more book recommendations would be appreciated!

ta

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Cannot recommend Jupiters travels highly enough he'll love it, but for the real tale of the english have-a-go gentleman adventurer it has to be Eric Newby's A short walk in the hindu kush.

 

[sandbender]

"...Jupiter's Travels is an interesting read. About a bloke who rode around the world on a Triumph in 1973. I'm reading it again and enjoying it as much. Ewan Macgregor and Charlie Boreman did the same thing with 2 support vehicles and a doctor in tow back in 2005 I think...Can't comment about The Road. Heard some nasty goings on in that which put me right off getting a freebie copy in the book gift it on thread..."

Another vote for Jupiter's travels, didn't Ewan and Charlie meet him in Mongolia during the TV series?

Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' makes for a grim read, not much bushcraft as I recall, much if not all of the worlds bush having been killed off by an unexplained cataclysm. A good read though and not nearly as grim and violent as some of his earlier works.

 

[santaman2000]

I still like the old ones; Tarzan comes to mind. In fact there are 20 or 30 in that series.

 

[mayfly]

Voyageur by Robert Twigger is great.

I'd also like to second A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush by Eric Newby, a real classic.

Chris

 

[TomBartlett]

The Hatchet, it's aimed at younger readers, but still good fun.

 

[chris_irwin]

Second vote on the Long Walk book. lent my copy to a Dutchman and haven't seen it since. Didn't they make a film based upon it recently? I'm so out of touch with films etc.

Robinson Crusoe also.

Jupiter's Travels is an interesting read. About a bloke who rode around the world on a Triumph in 1973. I'm reading it again and enjoying it as much. Ewan Macgregor and Charlie Boreman did the same thing with 2 support vehicles and a doctor in tow back in 2005 I think. The book's enjoyable enough too it's called The Long Way Round.

Can't comment about The Road. Heard some nasty goings on in that which put me right off getting a freebie copy in the book gift it on thread.

Yes they did make a movie, switched it off half way through. The movie itself was OK, but if you are expecting it to be like the book, it's rubbish. Almost a completely different story.

 

[outpost31]

I'd recommend wai wai ,can't remember the author though.it's about a victorian expedition to the amazon,completely immerses the reader in the time and place.

 

[mark wood]

Last of the Breed by Louis L'amour - first book on my new kindle!

 

[tobes01]

"White Waters and Black" by Gordon McCreagh, an unintentionally hilarious account of a doomed Amazon expedition.

"Rogue Male" by Geoffrey Household - classic 30s novel with an underground dwelling...

 

[tiger stacker]

The Sledge Patrol & We Die Alone are worth reading.

 

[Tiley]

"Selkirk's Island" by Diana Souhami. It tells the story of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. As is so often the case with these things, the truth is actually a lot more absorbing and interesting than the fiction.

 

[eel28]

"The Book Of The Bivvy" is quite a good read. Although fact based, it reads more like a story than a text book - if that makes sense??

 

[sandbender]

Long out of print, but still available from Amazon dealers or proper independent bookshops, Escape or Die by Paul Brickhill. Six or more tales of escape and evasion during the Second World War, one tale tells of an escape in the jungles of South East Asia with quite a few bushcrafty elements.

In a similar vein (but not so bushcrafty) and well worth a read are the 'War Diaries of Weary Dunlop'. Sir Edward Dunlop was a medical officer on the Burma-Thailand Railway, the book details the ways in which he attempted to either save lives or ease the suffering of his charges, often using only those items his staff could find in the jungle or scavenge from rubbish tips.

For example and old broken bicycle was transformed into a centrifuge to prepare blood plasma.

Both of these titles can make for grim reading, be warned.

 

[Tengu]

I found The Road quite heartening in its father son bonding.

A Book I enjoyed recently was `The Spotted Lion` by Gandar Dower. A lot of very pointed views on Big Game hunting, Touristy Africa and Other Writers.

What he does to cure his dull africa malase is Not To Be Reccomended.

 

[MartiniDave]

"As far as my feet will carry me" by Josef M Bauer is pretty good. The true story of a German soldier captured by the Soviets in WW2, and his escape from the mines of Siberia, alone & on foot. Really good.

Dave