SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
by John Lofty Wiseman
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Book Summary Information
Author: John Lofty WisemanBrand: Liberty Mountain
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-03
ISBN: 0060578793
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Collins
Book Reviews of SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
Book Review: Another reprint... Same errors as before.
Summary: 3 Stars
Wiseman's venerable SAS Survival Handbook has been around for over 20 years at this point & keeps getting reprinted regularly. Yet every time I look at a copy, it seems to be an exact reprint of the original - same diagrams, same chapters, and (sadly) the same errors.
Wiseman tries to write a comprehensive, world-wide, all-season survival manual & he's successful to a degree. Realistically, given the difficulty of effectively covering all the topics adequately, we should stop trying to buy/write/publish such comprehensive 'encyclopedias' & focus on excellent regional manuals.
As an outdoor survival instructor in western Canada I've always recommended my students get the small pocket editions as a worthwhile addition to their library - but that was after I'd pointed out some of the glaring weaknesses in this book such as:
1) In trying to be a do-all book, Wiseman (and other authors in other books) winds up mentioning a plethora of survival skills, but with the more primitive skills he gives such a cursory overview that I believe no novice reader could ever successfully implement such techniques in their backyard, let alone in a survival emergency. Specifically, sections such as bow-drill fire making, making bows & arrows, and making stone tools are all about one column (half page) in length. No one without previous experience is going to have any success with those techniques nor are those already competent going to learn anything new.
2) The ridiculous spear thrower (atlatl) design that has graced every edition of this book is completely inefficient & not found anywhere in the world wide archeological record of spear-thrower designs. Anyone w/ a modicum of physical coordination, athletic ability or common sense understanding of physics will immediately recognize this awkward design will add very little (if any) performance increase to casting the dart. Actually, his design does show up in one other place... the caveman fantasy movie "Quest For Fire"... yes, really.
3) The most dangerous error is in the knot tying section. The Sheet Bend illustration (a safe & sturdy method of joining 2 ropes, even of differing diameters) is completely WRONG. In the diagram, the thinner black rope does not drop down through the bight in the larger white rope, but merely weaves under itself & stays on the same side. The method shown slips into what's called a Thief Knot... completely unstable & unsafe.
Do I think John Wiseman doesn't know how to really tie a sheet bend properly? Not really, I'm just annoyed that he or the publisher have never corrected a dangerous error in the illustration.
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Summary of SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely practical and is illustrated throughout with easy-to-understand line art and diagrams.
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