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annieb123's review
5.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Meateater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival is a general guide to wilderness and emergency survival skills presented by Steven Rinella. Due out 1st Dec 2020 from Random House, it's 512 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
For readers unfamiliar with the author, the title MeatEater refers to his online presence and brand. This is a general guide for emergency and self-sufficiency wilderness skills and is an impressively comprehensive treatment of the subject. The book is arranged in logical sections starting with what to pack and wear, securing water and food, avoiding being something else's dinner, securing shelter and staying warm, navigating in the wilderness, and medical/safety.
One of the most impressive parts of this guide is that besides being a comprehensive treatise on keeping body and soul physically moving and alive, the author also expends a great deal of effort talking about and illustrating the importance of psychological preparedness for survival - evaluating situations, minimizing (as much as possible) mistakes, and compensating for unforseeable situations which crop up.
This is probably the best overall survival guide I've ever seen. This would make a sensible addition to the smallholder's library, self-sufficiency folks, off-grid, campers/hikers/wilderness and the like. It would make an excellent gift for the outdoorsy folks as well. Very well written and accessible.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Meateater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival is a general guide to wilderness and emergency survival skills presented by Steven Rinella. Due out 1st Dec 2020 from Random House, it's 512 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
For readers unfamiliar with the author, the title MeatEater refers to his online presence and brand. This is a general guide for emergency and self-sufficiency wilderness skills and is an impressively comprehensive treatment of the subject. The book is arranged in logical sections starting with what to pack and wear, securing water and food, avoiding being something else's dinner, securing shelter and staying warm, navigating in the wilderness, and medical/safety.
One of the most impressive parts of this guide is that besides being a comprehensive treatise on keeping body and soul physically moving and alive, the author also expends a great deal of effort talking about and illustrating the importance of psychological preparedness for survival - evaluating situations, minimizing (as much as possible) mistakes, and compensating for unforseeable situations which crop up.
This is probably the best overall survival guide I've ever seen. This would make a sensible addition to the smallholder's library, self-sufficiency folks, off-grid, campers/hikers/wilderness and the like. It would make an excellent gift for the outdoorsy folks as well. Very well written and accessible.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
melgonvyn's review
4.0
Everything you never thought you’d need to know is in this guide
I’m not into any extreme outdoor activities myself, but I enjoy the casual walks and hikes on existing trails. I still think there is a lot I learnt from this guide to help me out when planning and executing my next hike. However, this guide is definitely complete enough if you are thinking about more daring outdoor adventures!
I loved the author’s point of view on the subject and his personal experiences really helped illustrate a lot of the themes he tackles. It seems like he knows what he is talking about and learnt a lot by experience, or even trial-and-error; as he says so himself: “The greatest survival challenge you might encounter is the person staring back at you in the mirror.”
This is a very complete guide for anybody thinking of doing anything outdoors, from a small hike to a few weeks of surviving in the wild. I would recommend this to people looking for a good recent and up-to-date survival guide to the North American wilderness!
I’m not into any extreme outdoor activities myself, but I enjoy the casual walks and hikes on existing trails. I still think there is a lot I learnt from this guide to help me out when planning and executing my next hike. However, this guide is definitely complete enough if you are thinking about more daring outdoor adventures!
I loved the author’s point of view on the subject and his personal experiences really helped illustrate a lot of the themes he tackles. It seems like he knows what he is talking about and learnt a lot by experience, or even trial-and-error; as he says so himself: “The greatest survival challenge you might encounter is the person staring back at you in the mirror.”
This is a very complete guide for anybody thinking of doing anything outdoors, from a small hike to a few weeks of surviving in the wild. I would recommend this to people looking for a good recent and up-to-date survival guide to the North American wilderness!
jamice's review
5.0
Despite the title, I think everyone, including those who are not meat eaters, should have this book. This book is so detailed, that even a beginner would find this useful if they were in a survival situation. I also love how love Steven Rinella debunks the common myths, that people including me believed. I had no idea moss didn’t just grow on the north side of trees. This would be a great gift for Christmas when it is published. I for sure will be buying a few copies.
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