I thought this was a well written and concise guide. It would be perfect for including in your backpack, or car trunk for emergencies. I intended to stash this book in my emergency supplies which I keep in my camper, but our house burned down before I was able to do so.

One of the things I found informative was the discussion of some of the psychological effects of trying to survive, which isn't usually discussed in other similar guides I've read.

Unfortunately, I'm trying to write this review from recall, since I no longer have a copy of this book, but I will definitely consider purchasing it again to replace the one I had. ( )

Review of The Outdoor Survival Guide. I received this book through the Early Reviewer Program at LibraryThing. With over a dozen survival books in the house, a new one must be pretty good before I will add it to the collection as being a valuable additional resource. This one has some problems, some rough edges, but even so I found it had some very helpful explanations.


I would not classify this a good first book, The Survival Handbook by Colin Towell or The Complete Wilderness Training Book by Hugh Mcmanners would be my recommendations since they have many more illustrations. This book has a section of nice color photographs on wild edibles but other than that there are relatively few ink illustrations.


On some of the more technical areas I found this book to be very helpful to me personally. I especially liked the explanations given in the sections on making deadfall traps and on using a signal mirror.

The section on navigation was ok, but he only covered using a card compass which in my opinion is the most difficult to use in the wild. For navigation and compass use I refer to a pamphlet from Silva and The Green Berets’ Compass Course by Don Paul.

The section on first aid was decent but I highly recommend you get a book dedicated to first aid and take some basic courses like the ones offered by the Red Cross.

An area that peaked my interest but that he did not go into detail on was the calculation of water loss (mainly through perspiration) and the balance between the water lost in getting more water, and the gain from that water.

My main complaint with the book that the charts are poorly laid out. The charts have good information on them but they are not organized in a clear and logical manner(see 1.1 and 4.1).
I still have another chapter or two before I finish the book but I wanted to get this review up since its taking me a while to get through it. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. ( )

This book is a great addition to my library. IT covers nearly anything you would need if you found yourself stranded alone in the wilderness. Naturally, it would be better if you read the book before going out, but if you had it with you, you could be quite comfortable until rescued.
This book now stays in my trail pack, just in case. ( )

Although the first couple chapters of Outdoor Survival Guide by Randy Gerke read like a self-help book (and I suppose that, in a way, that's exactly what this book is), it contains a lot of very valuable information on how to survive in a wide variety of scenarios, from getting caught in an avalanche to surviving a remote plane crash. It is broken down into easy chapters on finding or building shelter, building a fire, finding food, signaling for help, etc. The only thing I really question is how good a book is in an emergency situation. Unless you are physically carrying the book with you at all times (and while the book isn't huge, it does weight enough that you're not going to throw it into your backpack on your next hiking trip), it's not going to help much unless you've drilled some of the techniques. Book learning is no substitute for actual hands-on training. I will try out some of the things in the book, such as fire starting without matches, in a controlled environment just to make sure I can do it before I actually need it to survive. ( )

I have read many survival guides and Randy Gerke's Outdoor Survival Guide is my favorite. Mr. Gerke has been teaching survival techniques since 1978 and knows how to get the information across in a simple, organized, useable way. The presentation of the information is do-able even for beginners. The step-by-step instruction will keeps you focused on the task at hand. It instructs the order of your priorities and what to do to succeed at each. This book explains everything you need to know to survive outdoors and has a handy list to prepare survival kits. I would highly recommend this book. ( )