[Sweets]

This is a theme that often goes hand-in-hand with end of the world scenarios, at least in people's minds, and a lot of the skills are going to be transferrable...

I've been trying to think of the most useful books I've personally read on the subject, both ancient and modern (ancient being a generation ago) and this is my short list so far:

Survive! by Les Stroud, the TV guy. The real one, not the one with the makeup artist to help him look dirty.

The SAS Survival Book by Lofty Wiseman. Maybe this one seems more useful than it really is, once I think about it, but I mean c'mon, Wiseman was real SAS.

The Book of Survival by Anthony Greenbank. Quite old by now but probably the first one I ever saw on the subject and written by a true pro.

There's another one about making authentic buckskin and related clothing that I can't think of the name of right now but since it's something I know nothing about is the one I would take if lighting out to the territories....

 

[CAVman]

There's another one about making authentic buckskin and related clothing that I can't think of the name of right now but since it's something I know nothing about is the one I would take if lighting out to the territories....

I'll Bet You Mean---

http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/John_McPherson_Prairie_Wolf.htm

But How Can You Leave Out---"Stalking The Wild Asparagus!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euell_Gibbons

GI2

CAVman in WYoming

 

[huntinghawk]

Edible Wild Plants

Mountainman Crafts & Skills
or
Indian Crafts & Skills

Survival Poaching

Raising Small Livestock

Any of the Tom Brown books.

 

[Palladin]

The Firefox books are also good at documenting rural survival skills like pig scalding, Moonshining, etc.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/180685548893?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y

 

[Essayons]

Here are a couple of my favorites:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Woodcraft-Camping-George-Washington-Sears/dp/1466203420/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317331492&sr=1-3"]Woodcraft and Camping by George Washington Sears[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/woodcraft-handbook-vacation-travelers-wilderness/dp/114975236X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317331358&sr=1-2"]Camping and woodcraft; a handbook for vacation campers and for travelers in the wilderness by Horace Kephart [/ame]

The Foxfire books are great, too. My mom had all of them and I loved reading them.

 

[CAVman]

Woodcraft and Camping by George Washington Sears

George Washington Sears = Nessmuk !!!

More of a 'Hell, I Was There!' Book---He Tells About His Own Solo Voyages and Treks into the Wilderness of Northern Michigan...as he says, 'after the Indians had left and before the Whites moved in'....
I have read his 'Woodcraft' Book several times...just for the 'flavor' of it...and would recommend it for fun, light reading!

CAVman in WYoming

 

[philjimpot]

Peterson's Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Of Eastern and Central North America could be helpful as well.

On my vacation, I tried a fishing technique from the Les Stroud book "Survive" and caught two fish within 10 minutes of each other. They were small but would have been good eating in a survival situation. I used a pole set up like a trotline. Worked great!!

I also have the SAS survival guide and the Peterson's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants.

 

[Essayons]

George Washington Sears = Nessmuk !!!

More of a 'Hell, I Was There!' Book---He Tells About His Own Solo Voyages and Treks into the Wilderness of Northern Michigan...as he says, 'after the Indians had left and before the Whites moved in'....
I have read his 'Woodcraft' Book several times...just for the 'flavor' of it...and would recommend it for fun, light reading!

CAVman in WYoming

It's not a "manual" but there is a LOT of practical information in there if the reader pays attention.

All the "ultralight" backpackers think they're doing something new, but Nessmuk and Kephard did it 100 years ago!

Here's another one: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/How-Stay-Alive-Woods-Self-Preservation/dp/1579122213/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317397442&sr=1-1#_"]How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter and Self-Preservation Anywhere by Bradford Angier[/ame] I first read the '56 edition as a kid in the '70s.

This one isn't a "survival book" per se, but is a great basic skills book, IMO: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Expert-Map-Compass-Bjorn-Kjellstrom/dp/1446544133/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317397617&sr=1-1"]Be Expert With Map and Compass by Bjorn Kjellstrom[/ame]

Edited to add one more: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Medicine-Beyond-First-Aid/dp/076270490X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317397747&sr=1-2"]Wilderness Medicine, Beyond First Aid, 5th Edition by William W. Forgey [/ame]

 

[Sweets]

Nessmunk- that takes me back, even further back than Bradford Angier- Nessmunk gives me memories that I never had. RNGR1 Both were skilled in the ways of the virgin north woods, something we don't have any more. Remember their elaborate descriptions about how to make a bough bed? They'd lock you up and take away your day permit if you even started one these days. (And, though I hate to have to say it, rightfully so.)

I've been trying to come up with the title of a survival book from Australia I used to read off the shelves of bookstores when I was a penniless student- it had a lot of talk about splitting matches into up to 12 parts (lengthways. with a razor blade, producing 12 little matches) and weird Borneo-Malay jungle inspired stuff like blowguns, I think they killed a aardvark with one so maybe it was South African- except they were being boycotted. "Bush Craft?" "Bush Something?" "How To Live And Kill With Your Diggerydoo?" Can't think of it, but it was unique in my experience.

 

[Gearjammer]

At Barnes & Noble got a reprint of "The U.S Airforce, Survival and mountaineering manual" don't recall what the actual military reference number was though.

 

[Strongbow]

Six Ways in and Twelve Ways Out
The survival and evasion manual of the United Stats Rescue and Special Operations Group
This book is the top dog, IMHO, for wilderness survival techniques.
I've heard it was "out of print," but I was able to mail order two of them directly from USRSOG after it was supposedly "out of print."
They don't do internet orders if you want one brand new. You'll have to mail order for a brand new one. When I ordered mine in the summer of 2010, they were $15 a book.
Google it!