Book Review: "Survive!" by Les Stroud

You may have seen Les Stroud as TV's "Survivorman" on the Discovery Channel networks.  His shows revolve around going into the wilderness, by himself, and surviving for 7-10 days while getting his own food, his own water, and filming it all himself.  For my mind, it's the most authentic "survivor" show on TV.  He also makes the viewer feel like they're right there with him due to his humble and no-nonsense approach.

In "Survive!"  Les brings his considerable skills, patience, and down to earth mannerisms to the survival book/manual genre.  He covers all the basics that you'd expect from a book such as supplies, food, water, shelter, clothing, first aid, and travel/navigation.  He also includes a chapter on some basic things you'll need to keep in mind when you're trying to survive when a disaster strikes at home.  You don't always see this in these kind of books that often tend to dwell on "bugging out" when things get hairy.  Les encourages everyone to to assess their surroundings and possible destinations whether they're trying to survive in a wilderness or urban setting.  For him, preparation and research are key.

There are also a couple of things that you won't find in this book that I believe are significant.  First off, Les doesn't spend time griping about modern life, advocating living off the grid, or bitching about governments.  He just wants to prepare you for various circumstances, minus the value judgments.  The other thing that's missing is the huge lists of the gear that some experts think you "need" to have on hand to survive.  Les provides some basic lists and some instruction on how the things on the lists might help you survive, but he isn't out schilling for outdoor supply stores.  In fact, he often talks about how simple and traditional methods and tools can be better than the modern high tech gadgets, especially when you consider that humans have been surviving with these methods for thousands of years.

In the end the book was very will written and I enjoyed it a lot.  Les provides a lot of good, basic survival knowledge that can help folks in many different circumstances.  I do wish he would have gone into a bit more detail with some of the aspects that he discussed, but it works as a general overview, especially if you pair it with his excellent tv show.  It's probably not gonna thrill the survival nutjobs or the gear junkies, but it's a fantastic tool for the rest of us who just might get stuck in a sticky situation someday.