Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

Bushcraft

By: Raymond Mears
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Coronet Books
ISBN: 0340825162
ISBN-13: 9780340825167
Released: 13 Sep 2004
RRP: £14.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Interesting but flawed - By: R. Miller, 25 May 2005
I found the book interesting, but not as beguiling as I'd thought it might be. I suppose I felt that much of the time, talking about survival methods in tropical jungle environments was a wee bit irrelevant to someone living in Northern Europe.
Ray Mears: Bushcraft - By: , 16 May 2005
After considering from two or three of Ray's books, I settled on this one. It is by no means a field-handbook, but a read for before you set out.

It is a good size, & colourful with some asthetic pictures & informative diagrams. Some of the diagrams I feel aren't explained fully enough, however.

Still - much is covered. Off the top of my head, sections such as Equipment, Water, Fire, Shelter, & Living Off The Land are featured. Some of his woodlore equipment is promoted - but not to the extent that the book is filled with it.

All in alll, I have learnt some very useful skills & notions from it. It secures the basics, & touches on some more exotic landscapes. I found the equipment section particularly useful - it tells you what kind of clothes to wear, the kinds of rucksack to use, etc.

Gets good marks from me.

Encouragement to get out and respect nature - By: Budge Burgess, 31 Oct 2004
I must confess to having some reservations when Ray Mears' TV programmes began. At first I assumed they would be another round of macho invitations to pretend you are in the SAS & go out & light fires ... then stagger back home two days later with a bad cold, ringworm, & a terminal case of food poisoning. Mears, to his credit, does not sell the macho image. Instead, what he has consistently presented is respect for the natural world & recognition that, for thousands of years we had to learn to live with nature, now we are in danger of destroying the planet by trying to exploit (or simply ignore) nature.

Mears shows an understanding of how people cope without a supermarket on their doorstep. His survival skills & knowledge are certainly to be recommended to anyone going walking in the Scottish or Welsh mountains, or in any wild part of the world. But what Mears presents is much more than simple survival skills for emergencies. He is identifying survival skills for the planet - & I'm sure he is too modest to make any such claim. He does not present the message in any evangelical way - he simply & calmly points out that while 'primitive' cultures understand nature & how to live with it, our civilisation has forgotten that knowledge ... & is in danger of swamping the so-callled primitive cultures with Western consumerism, until they too forget. His message is that true civilisation recognises & respects nature, & finds a balance of living with it.

This book synthesises a lot of the information Mears has collected - plants to use for shelter, for food, for medicine, for binding & clothing, etc., etc., & techniques which could keep you alive in difficult situations. But the overalll message which comes across is one of wonder & tolerance & respect. An excellent book which should inspire & challlenge.