Best survival book...

[Skyowl's Wife]

That's an excellent question. You've given us an excellent research assignment.

First thing that pops into my mind is aloe. One of the ladies mentioned pigweed on another thread.

[TheUnboundOne]

Fellow Survivalists,

It sounds like everybody has made some great selections, whether I've read them or haven't. The ones I've read are great (esp. The S.A.S. Urban Survival Handbook, The Foxfire Series, Back to Basics and The Encyclopedia of Country Living. The others that I haven't yet read, I am adding to my "to-read" list.

I have several favorites:

The Bluejacket's Manual (U.S. Navy book with tips for survival at sea. My Dad has an old copy somewhere. It details how to stay afloat with a pair of sailor's pants. That alone is worth anything you would pay for this book.)

U.S. Army Survival Manual FM 21-76 (Any version is better than none, but the best version is the one with color pictures of flora and fauna in the center. Contains an nifty acronym to make survival techniques easy to remember.)

The Complete Handbook of Outdoor Survival by J. Wayne Fears. (Tons of improvisational methods for attaining shelter, fire, food, water, tools, and your sense of direction, all from things and phenomena found in the wild. Profusely illustrated and filled with photographs.)

How to Survive in the Woods by Bradford Angier. (Pocket-sized classic with some very creative methods detailed that even few hard-core Survivalists think about. The most ingenius thing was how to make a fire with something found only in the dead of Winter. I won't spoil it. Read it for all the details.)

The Art of Shen Ku by "Zeek" (A great work that expounds upon the ways and means of survival targeted to the traveler of the journey of life, no matter where the journey takes place or how far that journey goes. It was written by a man who claims to have circumnavigated the world twice in a sailboat. Naturally, it includes sea survival techniques, semaphore signalling, and names for parts of a sailboat. It has many black-and-white illustrations and a cast of interesting characters to demonstrate the methods. It also includes exercises, martial arts katas, yoga stretches, and weight-lifting techniques. As a bonus, which you can take or leave if you wish, "Zeek" throws in some interesting extra things that are more the province of Cultural Antropology e.g. Reading Runestones, Accupuncture points, Yin-Yang dieting, etc.)

And for the little ones:

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal and Conn Iggulden and The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz.
(These are kind of like Scouting manuals, except that they are useful whether kids are involved with Scouting or not. Both of these books have a list of Every Day Carry (EDC) items for kids that, in many ways, coincide perfectly with the EDC of adult Survivalists. Both are filled with projects and crafts from a by-gone era before iPods and MySpace, including Survival-related ones like how to make and shoot a bow and arrow, how to make and shoot a slingshot, how to camp, how to make a tree house, knots, secret inks, codes, and much more!)

[kenno]

As a Lifeguard I had to pass the "Stay Afloat" test using inflated trousers. Unlike others who used denims I used WW2 USMC Herringbone Utilities. Those trousers held air like a champ and I floated like a bouy!

[forever_frost]

I like "How to survive almost anything", my Ranger Handbook (grabbed it before Ranger school), My urban assault and desert survival books and I'm looking up this encyclopedia of country living

[forever_frost]

I just got encyclopedia of country living. I love it.