Anyone have any suggestions on good novels to read that are in the vain of Louis L'Amour's Last of the breed or Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe ?

Swiss Family Robinson! I liked that one even better than Robinson Crusoe.

-Blast

Consider The Clan of the Cave Bearand/or The Valley of The Horses by Jean Aul - lots of very good stuff relative to survival, including firemaking, gathering, hunting, shelter building, etc., but (parental advisory) they are not suitable for children due to the sexual content. IMHO The Mammoth Hunters and The Plains of Passage aren't as good as the first two.

Frank2135

Thanx for all the suggestions, keep'em coming. I'll most likely read them all, i'm voracious when it comes to reading...

There are some good short stories in:

The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told
by Lamar Underwood (Editor)

It includes Jack London's "To Build a Fire" among others.

Alas Babaloyn by Pat Frank it's just been reprinted. and Lucifers Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell both are excellent books.

"Pulling Through" by Dean Ing and anything else he writes

A couple more came to mind, though a little off your original request:

Ice! and Adrift by Tristan Jones (or anything else he wrote, for my money). The first one is a tremendous true story of one of the most improbable arctic adventures imaginable. The second one is about urban survival, as told by a man who literally had been at sea for 30 years. If you find yourself having to survive in the arctic icepack with no food or in the Bowery in New York with no money, these are must reads.

Frank 2135

Into a Desert Place, by Graham Mackintosh.

True story of a guy from GB who is going thru a strange midlife crisis. Having zero camping/hiking/survival experience, he walks (in two stages) completely around Baja California, staying as close as possible to the shore. If nothing else, he becomes very good at getting drinking water from seawater.

Worldwalk, by Steven M. Newman.

This young guy decides to backpack around the world. By the time he has gone only a couple of days he pretty much ditches the solo survival backpacking idea, and becomes a world class mooch/bummer. He does prettymuch make it around the world, mostly by being taken in by friendly locals all over the place. It is interesting to see in which country he had the most dangerous encounter with locals...

Alive by Piers Paul Read and Survive the Savage Sea by Dougal Robertson are classic non-fiction, and are two of my favorites. I would also like to recommend a particular book about the Donner Party that I read years ago but I can't remember the author. I believe it was a woman. Any non-fiction about the Donner Party is going to be pretty compelling though.