I believe I'm the one who keeps bringing up Colin Fletcher on this forum.

I have been reading and re-reading The Complete Walker III for about 20 years. I have hand-stitched the binding at least twice, so that tells you my esteem for this author and this book. These days, I mostly browse through the brilliant mini-essays he embeds in amongst the how-to sections. Highly readable and highly recommended.

I also found the first edition of The Complete Walker, complete with book jacket, at a second-hand store. Absolutely fascinating to go back in history regarding equipment, technique, first aid, etc. etc.

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Another book you should really have, relating to survival in hard times (but not backpacking), is Barry Broadfoot's "Ten Lost Years 1929-1939, Memories of Canadians Who Survived the Depression". ISBN 0-7737-7094-1. I believe this was re-printed upon the author's death a couple of years ago. These are short excerpts of interviews with people who lived through those times, what they experienced and how they got by. I go through it again every year. Essential reading IMO.