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Some of the information is right in line with what I would recommend - such as choosing the "ubiquitous.22" as the best all-around survival firearm. Michael Chesbro's Wilderness Evasion puts a different twist on survival in the wilderness, in that the assumption is that you do not want to be found rather than the usual focus on signaling for help or finding your way out of a wild place on your own. The overall premise of the book does not focus so much on bugging out from a SHTF situation or smaller scale disaster, but more on an individual need to get out of Dodge for personal reasons. The only downside to this is that none of these subjects are covered in much depth, and all of them could be expanded on greatly to create a more useful resource. The bibliography in the back lists some good sources for this.The information covered here is broken down into short, easily-digestible tidbits - accompanied by a few lists, sidebars and simple illustrations. The author cites potential reasons for wanting to disappear into the wilderness - ranging from fleeing a relationship to hiding from Big Brother or even going on the lam from the authorities if you have that need.
Having made quite a few primitive bows, I can tell you that it's not something you get from a couple of pages of description, but at least the fact that these kinds of things are in the book is good. In this respect, it is perhaps the one survival book on the market most similar to my own forthcoming book: Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It's Too LateChesbro's book was published in 2002, by Paladin Press, quite awhile before the current surge in popularity of survival and prepardness topics. Other areas are greatly over-simplified, for example, there is a chapter on primitive weapons with a brief description of how to make hunting weapons such as a bow and arrow. In his own words: "Quite simply, "wilderness evasion" allows you to drop off the face of the earth for a while."Wilderness Evasion covers the topics you would expect, based on the title. There are chapters on gear, caches, resupply systems, evading pursuit, covert signals, navigation, survival firearms, shelter, camouflage and survival medicine, among others. Those who are serious about learning all they can about wilderness evasion and living will be able to delve deeper on their own into some of these specific skills.
While not a one-stop reference to wilderness survival while on the move, it is a book that will get you thinking about these things from a different perspective than the typical "how to survive when lost in the woods" book.
With the back ground of the author I truly expected to gain some detailed, applicable and insightful information from this book. After reading it I felt that there was nothing in the book that could not of been gained from 5 minutes on the Web. The chapters covered nothing in detail and even after reading the reviews I really thought I would get something from this book. Very disappointing.
For someone new at wanting to escape and evade from The Man, The Mob, or ex-spouses, you read a book like this for the pointers and some general information to research later. I found the book a light read for someone who enjoys the outdoors and the survivalist lifestyle as much as I do. The topics from attitude to navigation by the stars to survival medicine to discreet methods in staying in contact with those assisting you will encourage someone with the survivalist attitude to research better informed books about the topics he mentions. A successful survivalist needs detailed and illustrated books on plant identification for the area they plan to stay in for a while, how to get water from every source available (rain, tree sap, or distilling in a 2 liter pop bottle, etc), how to avoid waterborne and foodborne parasites, and camouflaging your entire body (scent included). It's a very good primer for a novice survivalist and would make a nice present for anyone who plans to join the military one day and then finds himself cut off from his unit.
Four and a half pages for Navigation, four for making a shelter - truly just the basics.You may also be disappointed in the amount of text devoted, strictly speaking, to evasion. This book covers a lot of subject areas in only about 150 pages. Consequently while it provides a good overview of topics for evasion and short-term wilderness living, it fails to give sufficient information to be very useful to anyone who does not already have the skills. The bulk covers basics of medicine, food, shelter, etc. that are the stock of any wilderness survival book.
are just re-hashes of the same old stuff that every survival book author since Lofty Wiseman has been spewing and re-spewing over many decades. Perhaps my expectations of this book were too high, but as a survival book author and experienced wilderness explorer myself I found it mostly disappointing. The old " telling direction using your watch and the sun" (inaccurate most of the time as a reliable method), and the old "creating a makeshift compass from magnetised silk (which nobody ever carrries in a pack), a blade of grass and a piece of thread is here too (and is even less reliable than the watch trick).I would have preferred a more detailed variety of long-term shelter options than what was provided - such as scout pits, etc. Aside from the communication section, I found most chapters to display an ample talent for generalization and/or stating the obvious. There is some useful stuff in here though(such as the method for mailing a letter and making it seem that it originated in a totally different city - simple and effective).The sections on navigation, food, shelter, etc. The author has only skimmed the surface of this potentially fascinating subject, and the result is a lightweight effort. The best things about this book are the low price, and the title, which sucks you in to buying it.
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