Customer Reviews

Bushcraft: An Inspirational Guide to Surviving in the Wilderness

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

British survival expert Ray Mears' newest book "Bushcraft" will give you good advice for when you wonder out in the wilderness. It covers all basic survival skills, from where to find food and water to how to make shelters and fire, and it does this for all kinds of environments, from the desert to the arctic. Although Mears himself looks like your average English office clerk, his knowledge of nature and survival, partly learned from hunter-gatherers like Australian Aboriginals and African Kung San bushmen, is truly impressive. Through a number of survival courses I did myself, I found out that the techniques described in Bushcraft work well, but they often do require quite some practice to master.
The book is filled with attractive colour photographs from Mears' trips to remote locations like Alaska and the Honduran rainforest, also covered in his BBC television survival series. You have to realize though, that because of the book's weight and dimensions, it's not really a practical field guide for in your rucksack but more a book that you would comfortably read at home.
And it almost looks like Mears was in a hurry to finish the book, because the last chapter, about finding food, ends rather abruptly and contains very little information on hunting and trapping while Mears acknowledges that these are fundamental bushcraft skills. Finally, a note to foreign readers, you might need a dictionary for translating the English plant, tree and animal names.

I have Ray's The Outdoor Survival Handbook, which is far more suitable as a real handbook. On the other hand, nobody promised that Bushcraft will be the same, or even similar. It's seriously big for field use. You have to read and learn in your home, practice in the backyard and use the knowledge on the field. Anyway, because it have far more informative illustrations and more verbose text, it's far easier to get a complete knowlege about basic surviving techniques, meanwhile the handbook may have a pocket in your backpack.
It was quiet frustrating to get it after almost three months of waiting with the unquestionable evidences of its origin. Shame on Amazon to simply buy the item in a nearby bookshop.

This is a great book. After seeing Ray Mears on the Travel Channel, I had to get this book! It has great pictures and illustrations... a must-buy!

A good coffee table book,But far too heavy and impractical for taking with you camping/travelling.Illustrations dark and not clear.Same old information,which has already been written by others.

A good coffee table book,But far too heavy and impractical for taking with you camping/travelling.Illustrations dark and not clear.Same old information,which has already been written by others.