Wildwood Wisdom [Paperback]

Ellsworth Jaeger (Author), Lloyd Kahn (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1992

This historical guide, originally written in 1945, includes information on making fires, canoeing, using axes and knives, and crafting shelters from hand-gathered materials. Readers also learn about clothing, gear, and useful plants. This book also is an account of life in the 1800s, when survival in the wild depended on one's skill and ingenuity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 520 pages
• Publisher: Shelter Publications; 2nd edition (1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936070129
• ISBN-13: 978-0936070124
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Survival Skills
  • #11 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hiking & Camping > Instructional
  • #29 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Horticulture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best outdoor book ever written. period., September 22, 2005

By 

Roland J. Wells "Crooked Creek Rol" (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wildwood Wisdom (Paperback)

My dad put a first-edition copy of this book in my hands when I was in first grade. It taught me to read. I still read it regularly. I have 15-20' of outdoors, camping, Scouting, hunting, survival and edible wild plant books on my shelf. This one book outshines them all. I bought copies of this book for each of my sons the week they were born, and have found copies for each Eagle Scout produced by our troop. If you want to understand wood lore and camp craft from a master, who collected it for a lifetime in the first decades of the last century, this is a masterpiece. Some of the first aid stuff is outdated, but things from canoe design, crafting your own primitive camping equipment to edible plants are written in a wonderfully winsome manner. Particularly if you wonder how people camped and canoed before we had all the high-tech junk we drag around today, this book will amaze you. Fresh every time I read it.

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diagrams to please, June 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Wildwood Wisdom (Paperback)

This book is very informative. It touches upon all aspects of survival in the woods. Starting with basics of shelter and the finer details including furniture and tools.

There are many diagrams with patterns and measurements to follow which are easy to duplicate. The techniques in this book would be excellent in teaching a survival class to youth or adults.

There are also many nature craft ideas coming from the Native American background. These ideas would do well in a cultural art class.

I have had the chance to see this book in a previous print which was very old. The newer version is quite like the old one and proves to be just as good.

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thee ultimate sourcebook on survial in North America, September 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wildwood Wisdom (Paperback)

If you can get your hands on this book it will be worth it. This book contains "lost" information that was used during the early days of American exploration and indian occupation on survival techniques, from making stone knives and tomahawks to leather jerkins and wooden canoes--and more, such as how to use "natural" compasses. Very educational.