Sorry Adventureboy, you just lost me. Your argument doesn't make sense. I don't need to do something foolhardy or dangerous to know that it is. Good judgement and common sense don't needed to be gained by trial and error - at least not by me.

I think the heart of the Bear issues comes down to asking yourself what's survival versus what's adventure. I really like his new book, and am even reading it with my kids. Man vs. Wild is a different story. We watch that too. It's a fun show but IMO, it's an adventure show that shows some great survival stuff along the way, not the other way around. We're naive if we think we can or should do everything he does on that show just because he gets out at the end.

Example? When he climbed that train bridge in his urban survival show, even my seven year old asked why he didn't just walk under it to the other side. And when the train came along and he had no escape except to outrun it or jump 100 feet to his death? That's the stuff of pure adventure, not smart survival.

EDIT: I started the thread about Bear's book to discuss the book. I gave a nod to the debate about the controversy surrounding him, not to start the debate again, but to stop it from sidetracking to discussion about the book. We've got a tendancy to do that around here.