SAS Survival handbook by John 'Lofty' Wiseman - Your Views.



Is it practical advice for survival 'in the wild, in any climate, on land or at sea' or is it just a nice read for aspiring 'Walters'?

I have the Collins Gem edition (water resistant paper and compact format, but a complete edition, I believe).

From memory, I found no glaring errors. Overall, I give it a 4 out 5. Some of the advice is fairly impractical, not wrong, but not something likely to ever be needed or very doable. Still, there's no harm in including it in what purports to be a fairly comprehensive manual.

I'm sure there are many errors or omissions to nitpick, and some of the advice is likely to be a bit dated by now, but I had no reservations in including it in my wife's BOB as a confidence booster and general guide.

Just my opinion . . .

Jeff

I still want a copy of the " Survival Flick Book"

I got this one, too.

Cost me about 10 bucks to order through an Israeli retailer - amazingly cheap by local standards. This confirms my theory, that the price of books is determined by an electronic weight.

I thought the advice was superb, but for one issue: water rationing. The author doesn't just recommend it, he insists that it must be done immediately. I can understand how a little dehydration might help you reduce water excretion, but isn't it something of a dangeous gamble?

One is either a Walter Mitty or one is boring. There is no in between.

The GEM and flickbook are valuable as BOB, real world durable carry items and well organised for quick reference ( one doesn't want to spend to much time looking up BEAR ATTACK while 'Old Ephraim' is charging us.)

The other books in the series are blatant marketing spins with repeated information winnowed into 'mountain,desert,Piccadilly Square specialty books that offer little or no additional information from the first text.


The Lofty wiseman survival parang is a 440A chunk of steel with a rubber grip at a 'Lofty' cost.

When you 'buzz' the flick book against your thumb slowly it makes a distinct 'ta poket tapoket ta poket' sound usefull for signalling other Walters in the area.

My understanding of the current best advice is to pretty much drink water at a reasonable rate while you have it, and that rationing at a level clearly below metabolic needs proffers no real physiological benefit. Still, it seems that many people in survival situations without water supply eventually get down to the thimble-full rationing level, anyway.

I once found that my water bag had leaked dry "out there." I was in absolutely no actual danger at all, and knew it. It was just an ordinary dry, hot day on a dusty trail, but not extreme heat or humidity, and I only had to hike about five miles over a ridge to reach certain abundant water, or turn back about four miles, or I could have grounded my heavy pack and come back for it once reloaded with water (I was loaded for an eight day backpack trip). Still, I found the experience very disconcerting. To this day, I still carry "too much" water, and hold an inviolate spare 1/2 qt in a separate container always.

Jeff

Our knowledge of human INDIVIDUAL metabolisms and CUSTOMS have improved since Lofty and Jonathon Higgins were seeing to it their squads were properly hydrated. People are just ( sometimes) intelligent sponges and at the start of a 'survival situation' may be drippping water or looking like a survival cracker.

I'm with Jeff. I carry a sleeping system rated for the arctic and lots of water in both internal and external canteens.

" Water is precious, sometimes more precious than gold."- Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I actually have both copies -- the smaller Collins Gem versions resides in my BoB.



Although the two books are very similar, the smaller one does not contain everything that the full sized version does. Although I've read the larger version and feel pretty knowledgable, I've obviously never actually had to bug out or face a PAW, so I don't really know what to expect my brain to do if ever found myself in that situation.

Preparedness is all about planning for the most likely contingencies, and I'd hate to think I'd ever be in a situation that required the knowledge of a skill that I previously had, but couldn't think clearly enough to implement it when I really needed it. Knowing that I had the answer at home in a book wouldn't help much, so I carry the smaller one just in case.

From a practical standpoint, sitting around a camp re-reading Lofty's book is a lot more beneficial use of my time than playing solitaire.

Jim

I reckon this, like many others I've thumbed through till the wee hours of the morning quelling an otherwise insomniatic episode, is a good place to begin the adventure. At least in the notion that it gets the mind to thinking, and maybe consider the matters relevent to solving problems not normally encountered in the everyday experience. I wouldn't consider any of them the end all, be all for survival knowledge. It's like learning how to ice skate from just reading a book. You get some idea of the theory, but until you actually get to the application and find out what it really takes in guts and reasoning capacity, it is just trivia.

"IMHO" Cody Lundins book (The Art of Keeping Your A** Alive)is better then this, but like benjammin says "it's great for an insomniatic episode"

Mike

I too have been trying to aquire a used copy of the SAS survival flickbook to no avail...
So lemme throw this out to everybody.... anybody have a spare copy they are willing to part with for a reasonable price? The only time I've found one it was over a hundred bucks.....
P.M. If ya have one and are willing. Thanks all.

-Bill Liptak

I'm going to give the confounding answer: yes. It, like everything else in this field, as Walter Mitty as it's owner is.

I find that it is a much more complete and up to date item than the timeless (and dated) DoD 21-76. It suffers from the focusless breadth of it's USGI counterpart, but it does have more depth. I think it is a little more focused on the primitive survival/bushcraft aspect, but once you've covered the basics, pretty much every manual over a quarter inch thick will have that problem. *Laughs*

I like it. I have a copy of the original British version, and the Pocket Books version. The later, I think, is the best form factor for a pack, although it is printed on simple, cheap paper, not waterproofed. *shrugs* Ziplocks. For the bookshelf, it should be joined by others- I rather like Lundin, but he is far from the only one.

Bu flickbook, do you mean the cards on a button that fan out?

I have the over-sized version. It was one of my first survival books and really got me thinking about survival and kits. It is one of my favorites. It is kind of a classic. I also have the flick book, which I picked up on ebay in the book section. There is a lot of stuff you won't use, but it definitely gets you thinking about different ways to do things.

If I had to pick another it would be Cody Lundins book (The Art of Keeping Your A** Alive).

My latest manual I obtained is kind of a home-made job. It has some good info but generally made for SERE guys.

http://www.usrsog.org/index.htm

Yea, the waterproofed cards attached by a grommet or some other fastner-thingie (that's the high tech word) so that they fan out

-Bill Liptak

My copy is from 1986. I don't agree with everything in it, but I agree with a lot also, well over 50%. For someone starting out from square one it should be very useful...

For me personally, it has too much information that I don't need. I don't envision myself ever being in the Arctic, so that stuff can go. I don't even go to the beach, let alone in the ocean. So that stuff can go.

True, but I figure that it is a "one book does all" kinda thing. Much easier than having an Arctic book, ocean book, jungle book (no offense Walt), etc...

I agree. There are multiple copies of the book in my BOB, hiking and fishing kits for years. I have tried many of the techniques (with vary degrees of success) in the book while I was in the Arctic, near desert and on or near the ocean.

Although some of the ideas and techniques in the book are outdated and or esoteric, I still think the book is one of the better references out there...and for the current $7.95 price and the very small size of the GEM edition it is a bargain.

I own the big one...it's kinda heavy. Not very good for a BOB. But makes for some ok reading.

This is the first survival book I bought. My favorite quote is:

"Seagulls can be caught by wrapping food around a stone and throwing it in the air. The gull swallows the bait while still on the wing, gulpind down the stone with it, and the change in weight causes the bird to crash".

Frankie

Not that I have done this , but if you throw bread into the air, the birds will grab it (once they know food can be had, you will have lots of them flying around you) and eat it, swap it out for Alka-Seltzer. Alka-Seltzer generates gas and birds can’t burp. Given a min and it’s crash time.


This post is for informational purposes only…

One of the prerequisites for judging any written work is the ability to read and understand the instructions. If you don't listen to Lofty Wiseman, Cody Lundgren or Chris Kavanaugh you can get et by a Tiger, die of thirst in the desert , get banned from ETS.

I've eaten seagull- long story.

Needless to say, it is one of the two things that I've ever eaten that tasted better going up than down. The other is cattail tuber. I'm not sure if I'd ever be that hungry- my toes might look tasty first.

<Picture me laughing>

Anything that smells as bad alive as a seagull can NOT be any better dead - cooked or not.

Kinda like the second Star Wars movie where Harrison Ford says “I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”

Ironraven,

It may be long....but it sounds interesting.....I have time if you are ever interested in typing it.....

I also have the Gem version which I bought for about $10.00 a few years ago. It provided decent survival information and I used it in developing some PSK's.

Mike

SAS survival flickbook at:
http://www.selfrelianceresources.com/selfrelianceresources/survival-general_books.htm
for $16.00

Thanks sheetbend, I'll give them a call as soon as I get off work

-Bill Liptak

Nope, doesn't have them. Hasn't had them in years. Just guess he never updates his website .
Oh well, the search continues...

-Bill Liptak

Not telling. It's that kind of story. Lets just say that hooch, a dare, and <21 year old pride were involved.

Its not whats in it that scares me it what they left out!

Not having looked at the flick book, what did they leave out? Or Wiseman's basic book? For a general outdoorsman, I don't see much missing.

Everyone has a pet technique if they are involved in this often enough, but that is generally a refinement of the basic principles of any technique or involve aspects of a fairly technical activity like climbing or caving or diving. I don't ding every writer who doesn't have a silcock key and a current detector in their urban book.

I have this book and have read it. It is good reading. Along with a well prepared psk and the knowledge from this board it has help me to better understand the meaning of "preparedness"
I have had the back cut off and then had it spiral bound so that I am able to copy some of the pages with the info that I want to Carry with me reduced in size when I go out. some other info I have retyped on to blank business cards and have had them laminated and carry them like a deck of cards with other info that I have obtained form the boards.

JerryS

I bought a copy of this when it first came out (the huge version).

I think of it as an "ideas" book -- especially regarding situations or landscapes I'm totally unfamiliar with (such as when travelling). It gives me a starting point.

My nephews like browsing through it because it's very visual.

It also gets the creative, improvising part of the brain going. So it's perhaps useful in inspiring positive thinking and positive action in a sticky situation. But then, so is any decent survival book.

Generally, I don't take any survival manual as "the whole truth." But when I browse three or five regarding a given topic, I have some idea of the right questions to ask.

I have a copy of the SAS Survival Flickbook available. Does anybody out there still want one for their collection and wish to make an offer for it?

I would like it to go to someone who will appreciate such a difficult book to find, not just bung it into a rucksack and eventually destroy it.

I am in the UK but that is not a problem these days.

I've got both the bigger book and the small one. The little one goes in my day pack. The bigger one is just fun to look through or for bathroom reading. Well worth the money, even if everything in there is not entirely practical (constructing a sod house comes to mind). My wife looked over my shoulder one time when I was perusing the larger of the books. She said, "Oh good, you know how to trap a wild pig now. That might come in handy!" We still laugh about that comment to this day.

But this one is the rare SAS Survival FLICKBOOK. Few and far between.

Yeah, I hear it's been much less of a problem since WWII ended.

If you're going to get the compact (3.25 X 4.5 X 0.9 inches) SAS Survival Guide for each family member's BOB, be sure to get the 384 page SECOND EDITION. It's the edition that was released about a year ago. It has generally more realistic scenarios, is better organized (but could use a word index in the paperback version) and has a goodly amount of updated information. However, I'm puzzled as to why there's not a single word in this new edition about surviving nuclear events (such as when to not take your iOSAT), yet this edition goes into great detail about what to do should gas balls come rolling down your side of the volcano (jump underwater and hold your breath). Overall though I think the 2E is about as good of a compact survival guide as is out there. I once saw the Chinese printed version of the 2E on sale at Wal*Mart for less than $5. Get two.