I know the book well and it is a worthy read. Mankind ( and for our lady readers I mean the old sexually equal germanic rootword) is a TOOL using animal. Yes, an experienced woodsman could run naked into the great outdoors and survive. But I garantee when he/she walked out they would possess a flint blade, gathered tinder, animal gut for waterbag, woven cordage and moss lined footwear. Ishii's band perished , because prospectors stole their entire tool kit for souveniers. Look at the clothing and assemblage of the "Iceman" mummie discovered in the Alps. It's all there but the Altoid tin, and just as sophisticated and needed. Getting a tribal tattoo and eating raw lizards while squatting over a smudge fire is more emotional identity. I have a drivers license if I forget that.

I believe the McPherson's have done just that, except they left the clothing behind as well. It's all documented in their book, " Naked into the Wilderness".

addendum; Chris, sometimes I climb on the soapbox or podium to quick. Native skills and materials ( I hate the perjorative "primative" ) are the result of generations of trial and error. There is a very compelling emotional desire to mimic this "Noble Savage" purity. But these are social values and have nothing to do with simple survival. My complaint is with the people that promote this over modern skills and materials. My two associates on our island misadventure are recent examples. I know many of these skills, use these skills. Still, I wouldn't ( or probably would) be caught dead without my contemporary tools.

Yes they did. They have the best single tome on primitive skills. I recovered a body off Tillamook bay Oregon, one of the nastiest bodies of water in the world. The victim had brand new diving gear. When we checked the dive shop, they related he admitted to no instruction or experience. But he had the money and had read this book.

So your objection to the "Noble Savage" idea is that people are really just wanting a social escape? <br><br>Personally, I feel that the less modern technology that I rely on, the better. Maybe people want some degree of control over their environment, that if they lost their computer, car, and leatherman tool that they would still be able to survive. Maybe we are learning to survive not to exist, but to keep our sense of control over our own destinies? (A destiny hinging on what others produce for us, versus what we produce ourselves?)<br><br>Food for thought: if mankind is a tool using animal, who is using us? :)<br>

No, not at all. My only objection ,or for a better word,caveat ,is this: The object of any survival skill is a return to a state of normalcy, be it in a skyscraper or windblown yurpi tent. Dryer lint and seal oil both provide tinder. I can teach the average person how to gather lint much easier than seal oil. People need too understand survival . Fabricating self backed bows can come later. We are digressing from the forum. Email me if you wish, or blow a conch shell. I have both. LOL

You guys are gettin' too heavy for me. I'm gone.

Actually, I thought the thread was getting interesting. There's a large philosophical gap between people who see survival as a reversion to the primitive and those who don't, which I think is just a subset of the huge gap between people preparing for permanent disruption (apparently there have always been those), and those who prepare for temporary emergencies. "Survival" means drastically different things to each camp.<br><br>I don't think it undermines the implicit philosophical foundations of this site to discuss the difference... but it's not my call.<br>

O.k. I just thought I might be alienating some folks, or getting into interesting disscussions, but outside the sites focus. There is a sub discipline in Archaeology ( want a doctorate? invent a specialty) called experimental or replicative. These are the folks who literally duplicate lost skills, from Roman catapults to entire iron age villages. My experience has shown, that far from being inferior, these skills are often extremely sophisticated. I destroyed several imported flint nodules before fabricating one fair hand axe If I was in a survival situation I could, and have started a friction fire or knapped a blade. I would prefer (and so would any traditional person) a box of matches and a steel knife. Unfortuneatly, many, not all instructors are selling a package that includes a philosophy or world view. Again interesting, but not to me crawling out of a crumpled sailplane in the snow.

Sorry, I didn't get alienated. I meant that in the friendliest of ways. I very much appreciate the responses from you guys. Thanks.