Survival books suck, I think, in general.

Most merely reiterate the same old information; often, it's clear that even the illustrations are derivative of other books. Because fat books sell better than skinny ones, they tend to be full of esoteric and useless information about scenarios you'll never encounter and last resorts you'll never visit. Some of the information is wrong -- the authors, to give them their due, couldn't possibly do it all -- and some of it is impractical (e.g., the solar still).

Personally, I think it's much more useful to read up on real-world cases, to find out what works and what doesn't when the rubber leaves the road. So I don't buy survival books anymore, but since Les Stroud is the local boy who made good, I bought his.

And it's actually pretty good. The first thing that jumps out is that it's not like the show -- he advocates carrying things he never has on TV, emphasizes the need to get found, and so on. And as someone already mentioned, he separates practical methods from last-ditch methods (which, wrt fire starting, are what he usually uses on TV).

He also debunks a couple of myths.

I don't find the thing about eating snow in the least controversial. Every kid in Canada ate snow and icicles growing up, and we didn't all come home hypothermic. It's not an issue if you're physically active.

So overall, I think a good book -- better than I expected.

But if you already know the territory, I don't think any book will contain stunning new insights, so no, Scafool and Meadowlark, don't rush out to buy it.