Read Bushcraft 101 A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival Dave Canterbury 9781440579776 Books

Product details Series Bushcraft Paperback 256 pages Publisher Adams Media; 1 edition (September 1, 2014) Language English ISBN-10 1440579776

Bushcraft 101 A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival Dave Canterbury 9781440579776 Books Reviews

• Most books about survival and outdoor skills don’t become “bestsellers”. But somehow Bushcraft 101 made it onto the 2014 New York Times list of Best Selling Sports Books. Why was that? In our opinion this book was popular because it’s a good, basic beginner bushcraft/wilderness survival book that can also be enjoyed by an experienced outdoors person because of the author’s credentials, writing style and content.
  
  Written by Dave Canterbury, known to many people as one of the original two survivalists on the TV show “Dual Survival,” where he was teamed with Cody Lundin (Dave was the one that wore shoes), the book focuses on Dave’s view of bushcraft; a view that means taking advantage of what nature makes available to you and using a minimum of gear to survive and thrive in the natural world, carrying “the knowledge and skills needed to create items straight from the landscape”.
  
  The main way that Dave’s book differs from the first two books on our favorites list is due to his focus on the skills necessary to thrive in the woods – not just the skills essential to surviving in the wild in an emergency. Because of this much of the book is based on Canterbury’s “Five Cs of Survivability” – items chosen since they are extremely hard to make in the wild and directly impact controlling your body’s core temperature. Dave’s Five Cs are
  
  1) Cutting Tools – to manufacture needed items and process food
  2) Covering Elements – to create a microclimate of protection from the elements
  3) Combustion Devices – for creating the fires needed not only to preserve and cook food, but also to make medicines and provide needed warmth
  4) Containers – to carry water over distances or to protect collected food sources
  5) Cordages – for bindings and lashings
  
  The book also shows how Dave has a “systems” mindset (e.g. never carry anything unless it can perform multiple functions).
  
  The book has sections on
  Gearing Up
  Your Pack
  Tools
  Rope, Cordage, Webbings, and Knots
  Containers and Cooking Tools
  Coverage
  Combustion
  In The Bush
  Setting Up Camp
  Navigating Terrain
  Trees the Four-Season Resource
  Trapping and Processing Game
  Appendices
  Conserving and Utilizing resources
  Wild Edibles and Medicinal Plants
  Bush Recipes
  Glossary
  
  Dave’s detailed section on Tools is especially helpful for people new to camping. We also like Dave’s “Four Ws” relating to setting up a camp – Wood, Water, Wind and Widowmakers. Having 256 pages, measuring 5½ x ¾ x 8½ inches and weighing ~10 ounces this is probably a book that you learn from but do not take on the trail with you. Although shorter than all of our other recommended books, Bushcraft 101 is not intended to be all encompassing – since it is only intended to cover the “20 percent of bushcraft that is of the most value”.
• Not a lot of Bushcraft technique taught. Things were generally glossed over and if you packed everything that was recommended to take with you you would have more in your pack than you have in your home. I was hoping for some very primitive detailed information and the simply fell short.
• This book contains lots of useful information, but falls short on details of many things it mentions. I guess it's a good starting point, but you will need other books or additional training to actually learn how to do some of the things mentioned in the book.
  
  For example, there is a section about knots, but only a few of the mentioned knots have diagrams, and none of the diagrams show step by step how to tie them. Another example is the section on primitive traps and how great they are, especially with the use of toggle triggers, but there aren't any examples of how to set up any primitive traps using toggle triggers, or even a description of what a toggle trigger is.
  
  I also picked up three other bush-craft books from Canterbury, and I hope some of those will go deeper into some of this stuff.
• Very disappointed. The information is general, not very clear or concise, hard to follow and woefully lacking illustrations. Cover design was great and I judged this book by its cover when buying it. Don’t do that.
• There was really very little information you probably don't already know but if you need the very basic equipment list for camping (almost half the book) this is for you. It gives all you could ever want to know about what you need to pack in your backpack for camping but goes over other basics (like trapping) in a cursory manner and with expectations that you have a camping supply store nearby to purchase a ready made trap. I was really disappointed.. There was a very long discourse on how fire is achieved and the science behind it. I think there might have been a bit of a struggle finding enough material.
• There are so many things I love about this
  1) quality and cover texture this should almost fall in a category between hrs back and paperback it's one of the most well made paperbacks I've seen
  2) the wide array of survival topics that are covered
  3) the book uses diagrams in almost all its explanations so if you really needed to use this info in the wilderness you would have a diagram to follow to make sure you were doing it right
  4) and best of all PRICE!! I paid $10 and as pointed out in my last photo msrp for this book is &16.99 )!!!
• If you’re new to woodcraft/bushcraft, or just interested in learning a few new tricks in the wilderness, this a GREAT book. Canterbury provides great explanations and insight, and provides a lot of things to consider that you otherwise may not have.
  Provides a great breakdown on gear, fire making methods, shelter building, food, and plenty more. It’s packed with information. Have read through it, and will often just flip open to a random point and reread parts when I’m bored or going to bed. He provides some good illustrations, and instructions, and is just a great resource. I keep it in my pack as point of a reference, and just for ideas for projects/things to practice while in the woods and camping. I also highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel.
• I'm not sure what the target audience for this book might be. It's a broad-based overview of outdoor stuff and skills, broad enough to cover most topics, but brief enough that a) it's not 15,000 pages long and b) there's probably not enough detail on any topic for a newbie to become enlightened. It's not that the author is wrong -- and he clearly knows his stuff -- it's just that he doesn't seem to have struck a balance such that one could pack this book in a bug-out-bag and end up OK.