The Outdoor Survival Bible, by Rob Beattie

The Outdoor Survival Bible, by Rob Beattie. ISBN 9781432300838 / ISBN 978-1-4323-0083-8

Suitable for those new to exploring the wilderness as well as for more accomplished hikers, Rob Beattie's 'The Outdoor Survival Bible' contains all the advice and information needed to ensure a safe, enjoyable experience in the great outdoors.

Rob Beattie  

Introduction: As the gears in the urban machine grind on, many people are taking time out to rediscover their love affair with nature. For some, it's a chance to revisit a youth where hiking trips were a regular treat; for others, it's an opportunity to get acquainted with Mother Nature for the very first time. If you want to get close to things, to get inside how they work, then you need to walk among them. Whether you call it bushwalking or tramping, hiking lets you do that in a way that's both recreational and responsible. It's not expensive, it's good for your health, and, done right, it has a low impact on the environment. This book takes place in the great outdoors. Its central characters are all of us, and the action is set in some of the most beautiful and awesome landscapes on earth. The pages that follow are designed to do two things. First, to help keep you safe, should accident or circumstance prolong your outdoor adventure for longer than you planned. Second, to help you to be a good citizen of the forests, the bush, the mountains, the deserts, the valleys and the waterways, and to respect both fellow adventurers and the wildlife that makes these places their home. So far as it's possible, we've made using the book a snap. It's divided into ten chapters. The first two are designed to walk you through the preparations for your outdoor adventure. We'll tell you about the gear you need to keep warm and dry, help you put together your medical kit, sleeping, camping and navigational equipment, and advise you on the best thing to carry it all in. The chapters after that look at the difficult situations you might encounter in the outdoors - getting stuck, lost or hurt - and offer easy-to-follow, practical advice on how to stay safe, get warm, get shelter and get help. In addition, at the back of the book you'll find our Quick Reference section, which lists common problems and then offers proven strategies and techniques for solving them - along with information on radio channels, emergency signals, conversion tables, animal tracks and a glossary of terms. Is this book for me? What kind of a question is that? Of course it is! Seriously, this book is for day hikers and anyone who enjoys the occasional overnight stay in the bush. As such, it's designed to relax and reassure occasional adventurers that they can meet and overcome the kinds of situations that most commonly occur when you spend any amount of time outdoors. Although the general guidance in this book will help winter walkers or those people who enjoy being out in tropical or arid places, it's intended primarily for fair-weather folk who are outdoors in the warmer parts of the year in temperate regions. If you're an experienced hiker or a camping enthusiast, perhaps you know all this stuff already, in which case you can move along. (...)

This is an excerpt from the guide: The Outdoor Survival Bible, by Rob Beattie.

Book title: The Outdoor Survival Bible
Authors: Rob Beattie
Imprint: Lifestyle
Publisher: Randomhouse Struik
Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781432300838 / ISBN 978-1-4323-0083-8
Softcover, 16x21 cm, 192 pages, throughout illustrations