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