RICH JOHNSON'S GUIDE TO WILDERNESS SURVIVAL: How to Avoid Trouble and How to Live Through the Trouble You Can't Avoid (Paperback)

by Rich Johnson (Author)
Key Phrases: wilderness survival, sparking rod, hot rock bed, Rich Johnson's Guide, Surviving the Elements, Medical Emergencies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Expert advice on staying safe in the outdoors from one of America’s best-known survival writers

The best way to survive an extreme situation in the wilderness is to avoid it in the first place, says Rich Johnson in this refreshing new guide to outdoor survival skills. Avoiding both the rigid "primitive skills" ideology and macho, military/survivalist posturing, Johnson focuses on proven, easily implemented methods to handle emergency situations in an easy, low-stress manner.

About the Author

Rich Johnson is one of America’s best-known experts on wilderness survival. An Army Special Forces veteran, Rich lived for a year in a remote region of Utah with his family, staying in caves, a wikiup, and an abandoned mine shack and eating snakes, lizards, chipmunks, rabbits, insects, just about anything that wandered by. Rich has written and starred in several non-fiction books and survival videos and has published thousands of articles on outdoor subjects.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (September 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071588337
• ISBN-13: 978-0071588331
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #289,600 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Intro to Camping, November 15, 2008

By	Outside - See all my reviews

This is a hard book to review. On one hand, it is easy to look through and well laid out yet the title is completely wrong for the contents. This book is about camping. Lots of information on the equipment with a scant few "survival skills" sprinkled in here and there. Most of the survival skills covered are done in such a way as to indicate the authors familiarity with the general concept, but lack of any real experience. In the chapter called "FOOD", subsection "Become A Hunter-Gatherer", Johnson covers very scantily, cattail, dandelion, thistle, nettle and rosehips. He mentions cattails have "...an edible root system" yet fails to mention anything about processing said roots. For hunting he recommends using a throwing stick to get birds and suggests finding their nests for eggs. Smoking out rodents from their burrows is also mentioned as is "...you can also capture frogs, crawdads, turtles and small fish." No mention on how to capture them or process them. Aside from a brief mention of insects, moths and muscles he offers no other information on getting food. And that is the whole section on hunting and gathering! More print is used in prepackaged camping foods and warning about Hantavirus and the like then about actually getting grub.
The book assumes you have water filters, tents, sleeping bags, tarps, a GPS and the like. Putting out a tarp to collect rain water is a no brainer and so is much of the information contained in this book.
Johnson tries to prop up his limited experience (yes I know he maintained a squatters camp in an old miners shack and a cave for a year) through lots of weak anecdotal stories and plenty of catalogue-esque pictures of himself modeling hats or water filters.
All-together disappointing as absolutely no new information was added to the survival world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 25, 2009

By	Bill E. Olsen (california) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent book for someone who is intersted in learning the skills of survival. The book is full of useful information, and makes a great companion to other books you might have read on the subject. I have yet to see a book that has everything that one needs to know, but this one comes close.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for the weekend adventurer, September 23, 2008

By	Leonora Ames "Lenny" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

After reading this book I feel I am well prepared to adventure off the beaten path on my varied exploring adventures. Mr. Johnson has covered all facets of solutions to possible mishaps in clear understandable language even the most novice of would-be woodsmen can follow. Mr. Johnson writes with enough humor to keep the extremely serious subject interesting. It is a must read for those who plan to take up camping/hiking in the future, and helpful hints for those more experienced in this field. Lenny, (Leonora)Ames, Maryland