98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Excellent book on survival. I am glad someone finally divides "SURVIVAL" from "Wilderness Living Skills" I would venture to say that most people that provide bad reviews of this book are looking for texts in Wilderness Living Skills. There are other books for that. I use 98.6 for a text book in our Search and Rescue Team training. In reality most victims succumb to hypothermia in survival situations other than trying to catch fish with a shoe string and a safety pin. It is reality at its best, presented in a humorous fashion.
Ted Fisher, Vermilion County Search and Rescue

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Cody Lundin, director of theAboriginal Living Skills School in Prescott, Arizona, shares hisown brand of wilderness wisdom in this highly anticipated newbook on commonsense, modern survival skills for the backcountry,the backyard, or the highway. This is the ultimate book on how tostay alive-based on the principal of keeping the body's coretemperature at a lively 98.6 degrees.

In his entertaining and informative style, Cody stresses thata human can live without food for weeks and without water forabout three days or so. But if the body's core temperature dipsmuch below or above the 98.6 degree mark, a person can literallydie within hours. It is a concept that many don't take seriouslyor even consider, but knowing what to do to maintain a safe coretemperature when lost in a blizzard or in the desert could saveyour life. Lundin delivers the message with wit, rebellioushumor, and plenty of backcountry expertise.

Watch naturalist Cody Lundin on "DualSurvival" as he uses many of the same skills and techniquestaught in his book: 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your AssAlive.

As seen

in the

10-part series
"Dual Survival"

on

The Discovery Channel!

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SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the WIld, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea Review

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(More customer reviews)The "SAS Survival Handbook" is the most comprehensive survival handbook I have ever seen. Most books have some basic advice (the importance of the correct mental attitude, finding water and shelter, etc.), a handful of edible plants, and a couple of ways to start a fire. While this book covers all those areas, it also has sections on camp craft, determining directions, rescue signals, dealing with different climates and terrains, reading clouds for weather prediction, and many others. A good example of the thoroughness of the coverage would be the food section. It covers your energy needs and how they are met from various foods, testing unknown plants in desperate situations, plants to avoid, identification of plants, using animals for food, extensive and detailed trapping mechanisms, fishing, gutting and cleaning, and other advice. The number, types, and detail on the various traps are amazing. I've never seen so many different designs. It includes several that I have not seen anywhere else before. I would consider this the authoritative text on survival skills in the wild and give it the highest recommendation for anyone interested in survival techniques.

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The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely practical and is illustrated throughout with easy-to-understand line art and diagrams.

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Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why Review

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(More customer reviews)Laurence Gonzales has written a riveting book, not about survival technique, but survival philosophy. The points he makes can be applied to any situation in which you find yourself endangered physically, mentally, or emotionally. He weaves together the tao te ching, chaos theory, musings on Roman military tactics, biological lessons on how the brain works to help us preserve the species by preserving ourselves, true-life experiences from people who have endured some of the more bizarre "accidents", and his own taste for thrills.
Gonzales bookends the essays with the story of his father, a scientist who, as a young flier during WWII, was shot down over Germany. He FELL out of his plane--he didn't parachute, he literally fell--and lived through a harrowing recovery as a POW.
Why did his dad make it when the rest of his crew was killed?
Some of this has to do with events you can't control, and some of it has to do with how to control yourself so that you can find a way out of dire straits. He points out that some people can make every correct decision and end up being killed, while others make every wrong decision and walk out of the woods (or off a mountain...) unscathed. But, you can learn to THINK like a survivor, and greatly increase your chances of getting through what may seem, even to others in the same sinking boat, like a no-win situation.
Gonzales's dad taught him, "Plan the flight. Fly the plan, but don't fall in love with the plan." Being prepared is only part of the equation; being able to adjust to changing circumstances is what a lot of us forget about.
Reading this book is an adventure in itself. If you're a city dweller, like me, and don't anticipate not having the Sears Tower in your line of sight if you get disoriented, it's still enjoyable, and applicable to what you will eventually experience.
This book should be on every high school reading list. (Preferably BEFORE the kid takes driver's ed.)
I also recommend Gavin DeBecker's books, such as THE GIFT OF FEAR. He discusses some of what Gonzales does, insofar as honing your inner resources so they work FOR you, but he is also very specific regarding cases of direct threats from other people. Gonzales does discuss how non-survivors can compromise a survivor, but most of what he talks about is environmental.
If you are planning a wilderness trip or just a seemingly innocuous weekend hike, this book is a great reality check. It's also an inspiration. Some of these stories are just amazing, and they prove how tough, and sometimes dumb, a species we are.

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