The Book, "Hatchet"

Falconoffury · Expert Joined: May 25, 2004 Posts: 1370

The book actually got me thinking about surviving in the wildlife. It's about a boy who survived a plane crash in northern Canada in one of those tiny planes that land on water. The pilot died of a heart attack during the flight, and they were the only two on the plane. The book goes on about how the boy used the hatchet to survive in the wilderness. He carved sticks to make a bow and arrows, he figured out how to strike his hatchet against flint stone in order to start a fire, and chopped down large branches to construct a wooden wall to protect against bear attacks. It's a great book in that it shows how a single, sharp metal tool can mean the difference between life and death. I recommend anyone interested in learning basic survival skills to read the book.

I was thinking about getting a nice survival knife like Rambo had in the movie, "First Blood". It's one of those ceramic or metal alloy survival knives that stay sharp for a lifetime. It would be very useful in a situation where we are forced to live off the land.
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Kurobei · Guest

That was a good book, and it was pretty impressive what the main character could do. However, I heard about a book called Alas Babylon which describes a family surviving after a nuclear war.

It was seen as a survival guide, showing the things the family had to do to keep alive, might be a more relavent read. Especially if the majority of oil crash survivors aren't going to be living in far off, isolated wilderness.

Chicagoan · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 315

Try to find your old Boyscout handbook. It has lots of good information.

MadScientist · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2004 Posts: 152

Whitecrab · Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:46 am Post subject:

I have a reprint of the first ever US Boyscout book. That thing's hilarious. To become a top Boy Scout, one of the things you have to do is save a WHOLE DOLLAR in the bank. And real Boy Scouts try to stay cheerful in the face of adversity and help the elderly. And did you know Abraham Lincoln is the perfect model of what a good American boy should be? It's true!

I think there's also a very roundabout allusion to masturbation being sacreligious (it's actually hard to tell wtf that passage was about).
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MadScientist · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2004 Posts: 152

The_Virginian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 1308

Falcon Furry,

Whitecrab · Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:19 pm Post subject:

gg3 · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:29 pm Post subject:

Generally, a lot of old texts on practical skills will be more useful than their newer counterparts that assume cheap energy (and the fruits thereof).

Though always check for updates of basic technical assumptions and chances in the state of knowledge. What you're looking for in the old texts is a way of thinking and some examples, that can be adapted to current knowledge.