Customer Reviews

SAS Survival Guide Handbook (Collins Gem)

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The British Special Air Service (SAS) is an elite military unit trained for long range patrols,sabatoge and covert operations far behind enemy lines. The U.S. Navy SEAL teams are trained on principles developed by the SAS nearly fifty years ago. SAS troops are deployed to some of the most remote regions on the planet and for this reason, must be experts in outdoor survival. John Wiseman is a former SAS survival instructor, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the best available information. The techniques desribed in this book are simple, functional and extremely clever, all hallmarks of SAS operations. The section on traps and snares is spectacular! All drawings are clear and easy to understand and the book is organized into specific geographic regions according to climate(i.e. deserts, jungles, etc.). I have spent most of my professional career in the woods (I'm a biologist by trade)and I use the information in this book on a daily basis, including training fellow employees in the basics of land navigation, improvised direction finding, and basic "woodsmanship". Additionally, I apply the SAS mindset to daily problem solving and find that it serves me well. The book comes in two sizes and I can highly recommend the pocket sized version for your pack or field bag. I can not say enough good things about this book. I have over fifty survival books in my personal library and this is the one I use as my bible. I can also highly recommend the SAS Escape,Evasion and Survival Manual by Barry Davies. It contains the same high quality info. as this book plus some additional goodies!

The first time I read this book, was as a teen. I "borrowed" the copy belonging to my brother, and have never been without a copy since then.

The information contained within is aimed at surviving in the most extreme conditions. Granted, not many of us will be stranded in the North Pole - but if we were, we'd know not to eat a polar bear's liver, because the amount of vitamin A contained therein is toxic!
More usable information includes:

- Beautiful, accurate pictures of edible and poisonous plants
- How-to advice on setting up temporary camps
- Basic first aid and medical care
- How to survive a nuclear attack, war conditions, fire/ice/extreme weather conditions
- A virtually complete instruction on how to set up different traps to catch your food,
And other amazing pieces of information simply too numerous to list.

All in all, there are probably more professional, intensive survival guides - but this is by far one of the more approachable, with common sense advice that we can use even in a non-survival situation.

My husband and I wanted a little guide for our house and cars, so we'd be better prepared in case of disaster. We were hoping for something that would help in just about any situation: plane crash, getting stuck in the car in a blizzard, a natural disaster that cut off power and access to our house, and so on. This book meets that requirement beautifully. The SAS Guide (as opposed to the regular SAS Handbook) is a pocket-sized book, so it easily fits in the glovebox, and it's surprisingly complete for such a small book. I'm also grateful that it's completely free of any weird political agenda. It's just straightup information without even the slightest hint of a paranoid subtext. I'm thrilled with the purchase, and I'll buy more copies for other people in my family.

I love survival and have a ton of survival references. I have both the "Survival Handbook" and the "Survival Guide", by Lofty. The Handbook is by far the best reference I have found. Most other survival books are just knock-offs of old Army survival manuals. The Guide is an abreviated version of the Handbook. The Guide is an excellent size to carry with your survival kit. Most of what is cut out of the Guide is foundation to make for easier reading and is not very noticable unless you actually compare each book side-by-side. There are a few exceptions. To save space, some of the pictures of useful plants that are in the Handbook are missing from the Guide.
Overall, a solid buy!

This book has a lot of helpful survival tips which hopefully you would never actually need, but it is interesting to read. If you like to spend a few days out "living off the land" this book can give you some help. I was a bit surprised by the small size of the book. This is a very small book which was not evident from the main listing. The dimensions are listed down in the details, but it will fit in a shirt pocket and has very fine print, so if you don't have perfect eye sight, a magnifier of some sort would be helpful. The US Army and Ranger survival manuals, also available through Amazon, are more along the lines of a larger size paperback book as far as page size goes.The SAS book will fit easily into a backpack pocket.

I am a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, and if there is one book that I would consult on all of my survival issues, this is it. It does, however, deal with some issues that most people probably don't need to know, such as long-term living, but more does not hurt. I would reccommend this book to anyone interested in the subject. As a final thought, the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, uses this book as one of their references in teaching their elite survival courses for U.S. Special Forces!

Ihave found this book very helpfull on various camping and backpacking trips around England.The instructions are very clear and easy to follow with some partiularly good illustrations.Dont let other peoples negative reveiws put you off buying this book,you never know it may save your life one day.Keep practicing the skills you have learned.REMBER the 5 Ps.PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE.

I have read a few books on survival and this is the best one I have found up to this point. I have even read the U. S. Army's handbook and this is better.
I purchased the full size book first and then ordered this version so I could pack it easy in my backpack or day pack. The Gem version has all the same information the full size book has. I was going to purchase some survival cards to pack, but have purchased the GEM size book after finding out it was available through a survival seminar I attended with the Boy Scouts.

This is the best survival manual I have ever read, and I collect survival manuals. This book is the bible, its scope,detail, and practicality is unmatched. I've had this book for years and I still find myself going back to it for techniques to practice. If you are only going to read one survival manual this should be it.

this book is exellent, it covers a wide range of topics including fire making campcraft and trapping. it explains each subject in great detail without becoming to complicated. it also has the best flora and fauna guide i have yet seen in a survival book. the book also covers survival at sea, desert survival and has a comprehensive kit guide. in short i recommend any body considering buying a book of this type to buy this one you won`t be dissapointed