survival novels

I've read a majority of the books already posted on this thread, and most are truly excellent.

Another I'd like to throw into the mix is The Sands of the Kalahari by William Mulvihill. It was adapted into an amazingly faithful movie in 1965, although the novel is, of course, better in every way (character development, survival details, etc.). It's about the efforts of a motley band of people to survive in the Kalahari Desert following a plane crash. It's a very gripping read.

Although not "survival literature" per se, I'd also recommend Congo Kitabu by the Belgian naturalist Jean-Pierre Hallet. If memory serves, "kitabu" means "diary" in Swahili (or Congolese, or whatever). There are parts about living with the Congo pygmies and eating termites, etc., that will whet your survival appetite... :)
 
I agree...they would have just been eaten by wandering rugby players.

As a former prop I would like to crash with a bunch of soccer players...free food!
 
Another vote for Patriots and Hatchet. In addition, "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling.
 
Totch: A Life in the Everglades by Loren G. "Totch" Brown

Autobiography of a man growing up in the Everglades in the 20s. Interesting read.

+1 for 'Dies the fire'
More entertaining than educational, but I have all of them.


Laugh if you want, but I read 'Little House in the big woods' and 'Little house on the prairie' to my kids and there is some pretty good stuff in there.

Mike
 
I second the reco for 'Lucifer's Hammer'. Big asteroid hits, a cannibal army to fight, lots of makeshift weaponry. Well written.
 
bltjr1951 said:
What's survival got to do with traveling to the future where black cannibals rule the world? Yep, he had a neat shelter. Some nut said this was great book on bartering too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnham's_Freehold

But, I've got all of his books. Great sci-fi writer.
Click to expand...


Agreed, it gets funky later on, but the introductory chapters were survival minded. Also, escaping slavery/captivity was a survival story if I ever saw one.
The main character was into survival preparation, including his tesseract shelter. I did not find the story that appealing, esp. later, but it definitely has a survival slant. The first part has a realistic enough progression for the bomb shelter generation, it played out okay until the time travel event. A lot of RAH is survival minded, take Methuselah's Children and the homesteading portions. It's easy to call RAH a great writer, he was, but he also got kinda weird with his characters...
 
misanthropist said:
A book I never see recommended on survival forums that I think everyone is missing out on is one called The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz.

It is the tru story of his escape from a Siberian prison camp with several other political prisoners, and his walk to freedom...in India.

He had a few things like a nail to make sparks with, some flour sacks...practically nothing. Most of his party died. But they walked from Siberia to India, crossing the Gobi desert and art of the Himalayas IIRC.


Truly an incredible story of survival.
Click to expand...

I really liked the book and I recommend it.

Some have cast doubts that it is a true account,
because different parts of the story cannot be verified.
I have not studied the fact versus fiction issue.
 
The Lost Patrol

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Patrol-Mounties-Yukon-Tragedy/dp/1895714702

Sitting in a nice warm room, you can study the mistakes made by these men.
The author does a very good job of describing the strategy and struggle.
They left a whaling port on the Arctic Ocean, to travel inland. What
mind-set allowed experienced outdoors men to get into trouble on 3 issues
1)taking food
2)procuring food along the trail
3)staying found i.e. "on the trail"

Kabloona

http://www.amazon.com/Kabloona-Gont...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204254037&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Kabloona-Whit...bs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204254037&sr=1-2

Teaches you about people at the most elemental level.
Survival is not the focus, but inevitably, some survival techniques
and tools are covered: why a small broom?
 
misanthropist said:
A book I never see recommended on survival forums that I think everyone is missing out on is one called The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz.

It is the tru story of his escape from a Siberian prison camp with several other political prisoners, and his walk to freedom...in India.

He had a few things like a nail to make sparks with, some flour sacks...practically nothing. Most of his party died. But they walked from Siberia to India, crossing the Gobi desert and art of the Himalayas IIRC.


Truly an incredible story of survival.
Click to expand...

I'm half way though it right now...it's good
 
How about the Survivalist by Jerry Ahern...first few books were good...the last ones were overboard. An 80's series though so it's a cold war post nuclear war theme.

It's a nice simple read.
 
"The Raft" by Robert Trumbull. An account of 3 airmen who go down in the pacific during WWII and float around in a raft for thirty-some days. I read this a bunch of times as a kid.
 
adorable_harree said:
How about the Survivalist by Jerry Ahern...first few books were good...the last ones were overboard. An 80's series though so it's a cold war post nuclear war theme.

It's a nice simple read.
Click to expand...

I enjoyed Ahern. I would also recommend either of the series my William Johnstone. Out of the Ashes or The Mountain Man.
 
fnc said:
I really liked the book and I recommend it.

Some have cast doubts that it is a true account,
because different parts of the story cannot be verified.
I have not studied the fact versus fiction issue.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I didn't know that.

To be honest a lot of what happens is pretty much beyond belief so maybe it is literally an unbelieveable account of survival!

I guess I should look into it a bit more before describing it as a "true" story but even if it's not always exactly true, at least some parts of what happened must be true.

Still, knowing that does take away from the book overall. I have a few days off right now...maybe I will see what I can dig up!

At any rate it's still a pretty exciting read, I guess.
 
Trace Rinaldi said:
Check out Patriots Surviving the Coming Collapse, by James Wesley Rawles. Its previous version "Triple Aught" got me into prep's and survival mindset back in the mid to late 90's. Lots of good info in the book while being a good read as well IMHO.
Click to expand...

The best survival/SHTF/EOTWAWKI book that has been printed to date. :thumbup:

So good of a book , it even mentions you ! :D

I've buffed this book several times on this forum , folks you are doing yourself a disfavor by not reading Patriots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top