Inspiring books....

[Dirty Karlos]

Bushcraft/exploration/nature related.....what do you recommend?
I'm just about finished with 'Call of the wild' by Guy Grieve, an excellent read.

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

"98.6 the Art of Keeping your bottom alive" by Cody Lundin, is not a story of survival nor is it totally a survival guide it focuses on the effects of panic, fear, cold etc rather than technical skills, a good read. it is reviewed in Woodsmokes review section

http://www.amazon.co.uk/98-6-Art-Keeping-Your-Alive/dp/1586852345/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214420362&sr=1-1

Woodsmoke Review: http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/p/v//News/Bushcraft+Book+Reviews/

from the review - "You will find no tutorials on fancy spoon carving and basket weaving; instead, expect extremely useful chapters on water, psychology, survival kits, and 'the most common way to push up daisies in the outdoors' - thermoregulation"

__________________________________________-

Another good book is "Why We Run: A Natural History" by Bernd Heinrich

amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Run-Natural-History/dp/0060958707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214420571&sr=1-1

this is also on the woodsmoke review page.


I am currently reading both and am finding them fun and interesting.

 

[Dirty Karlos]

Fun & interesting, that's what I like. 'Call of the wild' has made me LOL several times

 

[fishy1]

The white spider is good, about the early attempts on the eiger. It has a good ending, wont say what though.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

There was a similar thread last year, however THE LONG WALK and Ranulph Fiennes Antartica crossing are both good. As well as ALIVE,by Nando.

Nick

 

[malente]

A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson

 

[demographic]

The bok that first got me interested in that kind of stuff was My Side of the Mountain.

 

[Indoorsout]

For more craft and paleological skills you can't do much better than the 2 Primitive Technology books by the Society of Primitive Technology.
Amazon links:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Primitive-T...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214519603&sr=8-2
Synopsis
Presents skills for producing objects from natural materials using methods similar to those of prehistoric cultures. Contains instructions for the construction of shelters, tools, weapons, ropes, and baskets from such basic materials as bone, stone, wood, and plant fibers. The text is accompanied by clear drawings and many photographs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Primitive-T...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214519603&sr=8-1
Synopsis
Originally published in the Bulletin of Primitive Technology , 79 articles describe basic technology and skills practiced by our ancient ancestors. Aimed at the general reader, the articles cover such topics as eating wild plants, cooking in primitive pottery, making bows and arrows, tanning hides, etc

I have the first book and am hankering after the second

 

[Twoflower]

A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson

Gets a big big thumbs up from me .. so well written and laugh out loud funny (hmm i sound like a newspaper review), so much so that I had to stop reading it in public as with all his books.

For UK - Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I'm not sure I can get across, to those that have never read his stuff, how good a writer he is. (ok, he's not bushcrafty, but then neither am I)

I always find a bit of Palin goes down well when i've not been out for a while, although I have not yet read his newest one (something about eastern europe).

And for a good wake up call about how wild the wild can be Into The Wild and if you can see the movie after you've read the book.

 

[lou1661]

Depends what you are after!!!
This is a good book and full of cracking ideas, well worth a read
http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vehicle-dependent-Expedition-Guide-Field-Manual/dp/0953232417/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1214523106&sr=11-1

 

[Paddywacker]

You could check out a book called Giant Steps by Karl Bushby. Ive read it and its good. This dude is walking around the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bushby

 

[sandbender]

'A Time Of Gifts' and 'Between the Woods and the Water' written by Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE.

In 1933 at the age of eighteen Patrick Leigh Fermor decided to walk from the Netherlands to Istanbul. These books describe his journey across a Europe that now no longer exists, one that was swept away by the war and its aftermath.

Well it describes most of the journey, he has been spent the last twenty years writing the final installment which will describe his time in Bulgaria and Greece, forty years past before the first book was published so I may have to wait some time yet before I can read the third volume.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Leigh_Fermor

 

[In Wood]

I have to admit I am a bit of a read-aholic, I love a good book.

Just to list some of the ones I have read and recommend, but as mentioned before Guy Greaves, call of the wild is a good entertaining read, 98.6 Degrees is great, and Cody has a good sense of humour. I am on with his other one “When all hell breaks loose” at the moment.

But in no particular order I recommend these:

Camping & Woodcraft by Horace Kephart (excellent bushcraft book)
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (better than the film)
One Mans Wilderness by Porenneke
The Good Life by Dorian Amos
The Good Life Gets Better By Dorian Amos
(Warning reading these two may make you up sticks into the wild for good)
Woodcraft & Camping by Nessmuk
Any or all of Ray Mears books
Food for Free Richard Mabey
Foods that Heal & Foods that Harm (Readers Digest)
The Tom Brown books (most all of them)
Bushcraft by Kochanski
211 things a bright boy should know by Tom Cutler
Primitive living, self sufficiency, survival skills by Elpel
Lord of the Rings (I know, but it’s a great book)

The list could go on, but these are ones I have read / still read and enjoyed.

 

[bothyman]

Currently reading " The Last River Rat": Kenny Salwey's Life in the Wild. by J. Scott Bestul, Kenny Salwey, and Mary Kay Salwey

A real down to Earth Nature/Bushcraft story.

I will be buying his other book when I have read this one.

 

[Mike B]

Bushcraft/exploration/nature related.....what do you recommend?.

I know the thread isn't that old but I'm surprised no-one has metioned "Song Of The Paddle" "An Illustrated Guide To Wilderness Camping" by Bill Mason a great read and a good source of reference.
Mike B...

 

[forrestdweller]

You could check out a book called Giant Steps by Karl Bushby. Ive read it and its good. This dude is walking around the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bushby

read it several times. he uses a lot of high-tech stuff when he walks across the bering street(not exactly bushcraft in my eyes), but it's an absolutely amazing story!!!

a few other suggestions are:
-the books of ruediger nehberg, a german survival expert and human rights activist
-"last of the nomads" (w.j. peasley); the true story of a couple of aborigines whose marriage is against tribal law and who-to avoid punishment- hide for years in the desert. their onliest tools are an axe, spear thrower and spears, a wooden carrying dish,a piece of canvas, some old tins and their dogs(to keep them warm at night)
-"derzu usala"; the true story of a siberian trapper by the russian explorer vladimir arsenyev
-benedict allen's book about his crossing of the amazon basin

"disappointed by the monkeys, god created man. then he renounced to further experiments." mark twain

 

[fatduck89]

I cant believe no one has mentioned Robert Twiggers Voyagueur; Across the Rocky Mountains in a Birch Bark canoe. The only book I have read twice.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Must see if it's a free download for my PDA, about to go on hol for 6 weeks.

 

[keyser Soze]

Some great books listed there guys, i have read and i recomend the following as must reads.

a long walk,
As far as my feet will carry me,
The sheltering desert,
118 days a drift,
Touching the void,
Adrift 76 days at sea.

i would like to hear some peoples reviews on these books.

keyser.

 

[fatduck89]

I read a really good book recently called Cache Lake Country, the lake is rumored to be in either, Ontario, New Brunswick or Maine. It is about a man who finds the lake of his boyhood dreams, perfect.

It has been reprinted recently and is availble on amazon.co.uk.

The writing isnt cambridge but its simplistic reality can really teleport you from your living from to John Rowlands cabin. Its definatly worth a read.