Best of
Survival

2006

Miracle in the Andes


Nando Parrado - 2006
    He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.As time passed and Nando's thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.

The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants


Samuel Thayer - 2006
    A guide to 32 of the best and most common edible wild plants in North America, with detailed information on how to identify them, where they are found, how and when they are harvested, which parts are used, how they are prepared, as well as their culinary use, ecology, conservation, and cultural history.

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors


James D. Hornfischer - 2006
    naval legend. Renowned as FDR’s favorite warship, the cruiser USS Houston was a prize target trapped in the far Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Without hope of reinforcement, her crew faced a superior Japanese force ruthlessly committed to total conquest. It wasn’t a fair fight, but the men of the Houston would wage it to the death.Hornfischer brings to life the awesome terror of nighttime naval battles that turned decks into strobe-lit slaughterhouses, the deadly rain of fire from Japanese bombers, and the almost superhuman effort of the crew as they miraculously escaped disaster again and again–until their luck ran out during a daring action in Sunda Strait. There, hopelessly outnumbered, the Houston was finally sunk and its survivors taken prisoner. For more than three years their fate would be a mystery to families waiting at home.In the brutal privation of jungle POW camps dubiously immortalized in such films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, the war continued for the men of the Houston—a life-and-death struggle to survive forced labor, starvation, disease, and psychological torture. Here is the gritty, unvarnished story of the infamous Burma–Thailand Death Railway glamorized by Hollywood, but which in reality mercilessly reduced men to little more than animals, who fought back against their dehumanization with dignity, ingenuity, sabotage, will–power—and the undying faith that their country would prevail.Using journals and letters, rare historical documents, including testimony from postwar Japanese war crimes tribunals, and the eyewitness accounts of Houston’s survivors, James Hornfischer has crafted an account of human valor so riveting and awe-inspiring, it’s easy to forget that every single word is true.

The Essential Max Brooks: World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide


Max Brooks - 2006
    Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, EuropeThe Zombie Survival GuideThe Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack 1. Organize before they rise! 2. They feel no fear, why should you?3. Use your head: cut off theirs.4. Blades don’t need reloading.5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it. 7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!9. No place is safe, only safer. 10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on. Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea


Michael J. Tougias - 2006
    As gripping and harrowing as The Perfect Storm--but with a miracle ending--this work tells the dramatic, true story of two fishing boats and their crews ambushed by a horrific surprise storm off the coast of Cape Cod.

Runaway


Wendelin Van Draanen - 2006
    Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she's had enough. She's run away before and always been caught quickly. But she's older and wiser now--she's twelve--and this time she gets away clean. Through tough and tender and angry and funny journal entries, Holly spills out her story. We travel with her across the country--hopping trains, scamming food, sleeping in parks or homeless encampments. And we also travel with her across the gaping holes in her heart--as she finally comes to terms with her mother's addiction and death. Runaway is a remarkably uplifting portrait of a girl still young and stubborn and naive enough to hold out hope for finding a better place in the world, and within herself, to be.

Call of the Wild: My Escape to Alaska


Guy Grieve - 2006
    But he dreamed of escaping it all to live alone in one of the wildest, most remote places on earth - Alaska. And just when he'd given up hope, the dream came true. Suddenly Guy was thrown into one of the harshest environments in the world, miles from the nearest human being and armed with only the most basic equipment. And he soon found - whether building a log cabin from scratch, hunting, ice fishing or of course dodging bears in the buff - that life in the wilderness was anything but easy...Part Ray Mears, part Bill Bryson, CALL OF THE WILD is the gripping story of how a mild-mannered commuter struggled with the elements - and himself - and eventually learned the ways of the wild.

The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party


Kelly Tyler-Lewis - 2006
    This crew of explorers landed on the opposite side of Antarctica from the Endurance with a mission to build supply depots for Shackleton’s planned crossing of the continent. But their ship disappeared in a gale, leaving ten inexperienced, ill-equipped men to trek 1,356 miles in the harshest environment on earth. Drawing on the men’s own journals and photographs, The Lost Men is a masterpiece of historical adventure, a book destined to be a classic in the vein of Into Thin Air.

The Last Season


Eric Blehm - 2006
    Blehm narrates this true account of the disappearance and search for Randy Morgenson, a National Park Service ranger who, one morning after 28 seasons on the job, failed to answer his radio call.The introverted Morgenson was more comfortable with the natural world than with people. A gifted photographer and a lyrical writer, he dropped out of college to begin a career that would send him into the remote parts of California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Passionate about the mountains, he excelled at his responsibilities, which ranged from clearing away garbage left by careless campers to rescuing injured hikers. Dedicated to keeping the wilderness undisturbed, he was proud of his ability to leave no trace of himself wherever he camped.That skill would prove costly when, at age 54, he went missing. Blehm seamlessly combines a detective story with a celebration of nature that calls to mind the works of classic American writers like Thoreau and Emerson. His gripping narrative will cause readers' hearts to ache at the disappearance of this undervalued soul. But their spirits will soar at the grandeur and mysticism of nature expertly captured in its most primal state.

Miracles on the Water: The Heroic Survivors of a World War II U-Boat Attack


Tom Nagorski - 2006
    On September 17, 1940, at a little after ten at night, a German submarine torpedoed the passenger liner S.S. City of Benares in the North Atlantic. There were 406 people on board, but the ship's prized passengers were 90 children whose parents had elected to send their boys and girls away from Great Britain to escape the ravages of World War II. They were considered lucky, headed for quiet, peaceful, and relatively bountiful Canada. The Benares sank in half an hour, in a gale that sent several of her lifeboats pitching into the frigid sea. They were more than five hundred miles from land, three hundred miles from the nearest rescue vessel.Miracles on the Water tells the astonishing story of the survivors--not one of whom had any reasonable hope of rescue as the ship went down. The initial "miracle" involves one British destroyer's race to the scene, against time and against the elements; the second is the story of Lifeboat 12, missed by the destroyer and left out on the water, 46 people jammed in a craft built and stocked for 30. Those people lasted eight days on little food and tiny rations of drinking water. The survivors have grappled ever since with questions about the ordeal: Should the Benares have been better protected? How and why did they persevere? What role did faith and providence play in the outcome? Based on first-hand accounts from the child survivors and other passengers, including the author's great-uncle, Miracles on the Water brings us the story of the attack on the Benares and the extraordinary events that followed. Tom Nagorski is currently the Executive Vice President of the Asia Society following a three-decade career in journalism - having served most recently as Managing Editor for International Coverage at ABC News. Nagorski has won eight Emmy awards and the Dupont Award for excellence in international coverage, as well as a fellowship from the Henry Luce Foundation. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

Shock Point


April Henry - 2006
    Before she can report him, Rick commits Cassie to Peaceful Cove, a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico. Cassie knows she has to get out now, before more teens die. But no one has ever escaped from Peaceful Cove alive, and even if Cassie gets over the walls and survives the Mexican desert, will anyone believe her story?

NOLS Wilderness Medicine


Tod Schimelpfenig - 2006
    Designed as a field textbook for the NOLS wilderness first aid curriculum, it helps train outdoor leaders to prevent, recognize, and treat common medical problems and to stabilize a severely ill or injured patient for evacuation. A vital resource for outdoor enthusiasts, this book covers fundamental topics in first aid--patient assessment, shock, soft tissue injury, burns, fractures and dislocations, and chest, head, and abdominal injury. It explains how to handle environmental problems posed by heat, cold, water, altitude, and poisonous plants and animals. Also discussed are issues related to expedition medicine as well as leadership, teamwork, and communication for rescue groups. While risk can be minimized through good judgment, skills, and experience, being prepared for emergencies in the wild is an essential component of good outdoor leadership.

Hiding Edith: A True Story


Kathy Kacer - 2006
    Edith's story is remarkable not only for her own bravery, but for the bravery of those that helped her: an entire village, including its mayor and citizenry, heroically conspired to conceal the presence of hundreds of Jewish children who lived in the safe house. The children went to the local school, roamed the streets and ate good food, all withot having to worry about concealing their Jewish identity. And during Nazi raids, the children camped out until the coast was clear. Intensively researched and sensitively written, this book, illustrated with photographs and maps, both comforts and challenges a young reader's spirit, skillfully addressing both the horrors and hope that children experienced during the Holocaust.

H5N1 Code Name: Greed


Jacqueline Druga - 2006
    The hybrid germ is a success. The results disastrous. The vaccine is ineffective on the new strain and an airborne route of transmission sends the hybrid out of control. The world spirals into a super pandemic. Scientists scurry and find and antidote using the blood of those who show natural immunity. A cure is found, however, the synthetic antidote turns those saved from the virus into raging maniacs void of human qualities. Lisa Marshall is immune. Her blood is part of the ‘save the world’ project. She is placed in a Savior tank to ensure her survival and safety from a world gone chaotic. When she finally emerges, she faces a world void of everything she remembers. Every day is a fight for her survival and sanity. Trapped in the desolate city of Cleveland with only the mutated humans, Lisa maps her escape in hopes of someday finding someone, anyone, who is alive and well. Edited Version added June 2014

Weeds Like Us


Gunter Nitsch - 2006
    Weeds Like Us is a gripping true adventure story about the author's own East Prussian family. The author's earliest years were spent in relative comfort on his grandfather's farm in East Prussia during World War II. For him, life in Hitler's Germany was the natural order of things. Then, in January 1945, just after the author's seventh birthday, the Russians rolled into East Prussia. Full of unexpected twists and turns, Weeds Like Us tells the story of what happened over the next six years, as the author's family tried to make its way safely to the West.

Final Witness: My journey from the holocaust to Ireland


Zoltan Zinn-Collis - 2006
    In Bergen-Belsen concentration camp he survived the inhuman brutality of the SS guards, the ravages of near starvation, disease, and squalor. All but one of his family died there, his mother losing her life on the very day the British finally marched into the camp. Discovered by a Red Cross nurse who described him as ‘an enchanting scrap of humanity’, Zoltan was brought to Ireland and adopted by one of the liberators, Dr Bob Collis, who raised him as his own son on Ireland’s east coast. Now aged 65, Zoltan is ready to speak. His story is one of deepest pain and greatest joy. Zoltan tells how he lost one family and found another; of how, escaping from the ruins of a broken Europe, he was able to build himself a life – a life he may never have had.

At the Mercy of the Sea: The True Story of Three Sailors in a Caribbean Hurricane


John Kretschmer - 2006
    Incredibly, even as the eye wall of the storm roars overhead with 150-mile-per-hour winds, the three boats wind up in the same small patch of ocean.

Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the North Woods


Cary J. Griffith - 2006
    He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage—and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened with a lump on his head from a fall and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused.  Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest’s solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day. After a two-day trek into a remote area of the woods, he stepped away from his campsite and made a series of seemingly trivial mistakes that left him separated from his supplies, wet, and lost, as cold darkness fell.  Enduring days without food or shelter, these men faced the full harsh force of wilderness, the place that they had sought out for tranquil refuge from city life. Lost in the Wild takes readers with them as they enter realms of pain, fear, and courage, as they suffer dizzying confusion and unending frustration, and as they overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles in a race to survive.

Into Enemy Arms: The Remarkable True Story of a German Girl's Struggle Against Nazism, and Her Daring Escape With the Allied Airman She Loved


Michael Hingston - 2006
    In 1945 Ditha was living with her parents in the small town of Lossen, in Upper Silesia. Close Jewish friends had vanished, swastikas hung from every building, and neighbours were disappearing in the middle of the night. At the same time more than one thousand, five hundred British and Commonwealth airmen were being marched out of Stalag Luft VII, a POW camp in Upper Silesia. Twenty three of these prisoners managed to escape from the marching column and by chance hobbled into Lossen. One amongst them, Warrant Officer Gordon Slowey, was the man Ditha was destined to meet and fall in love with. This book tells the extraordinary story of Ditha and the escaped POWs she helped to save. Together they embarked on a dangerous and daring flight out of Germany. As they faced exhaustion, hunger, extreme cold and the constant risk of discovery, Ditha and Gordon’s love for one another intensified, and so did their determination to survive and escape together. Michael Hingston is a trained journalist. He spent twelve years working as a general news reporter, crime writer and industrial correspondent before turning to public relations. This book is based on his aunt Ditha’s vivid recollections recorded in over a hundred hours of conversation between the two of them, as well as exhaustive research in archives to verify the facts.

At the Mercy of the Mountains: True Stories of Survival and Tragedy in New York's Adirondacks


Peter Bronski - 2006
    In the tradition of Eiger Dreams, In the Zone: Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World, and Not Without Peril, comes a new book that examines the thrills and perils of outdoor adventure in the “East’s greatest wilderness,” the Adirondacks.

So Others May Live: Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death


Martha J. LaGuardia-Kotite - 2006
    Coast Guard rescue swimmer. In startlingly clear and exceptional writing, it tells twelve heroic stories of the greatest maritime rescues attempted since the program was started in 1985. These feats, told through the eyes of the hero, reveal an understanding of how and why the rescuer, with flight crew assistance, risks his or her own life to reach out to save a stranger. The book covers diverse environments: oceans, hurricanes, oil rigs, caves, sinking vessels, floods, and even Niagara Falls. It is truly a can't-put-it-down collection.

Head Over Heels: A Story Of Tragedy, Triumph and Romance in the Australian Bush


Sam Bailey - 2006
    After months of struggle, he learned how to resume his life as a farmer, running a sheep and cattle property in northwest New South Wales. then he met and fell in love with Jenny Black, an ABC Rural journalist, proposed to her on air, and the rest is history. Jenny tells Sam's story in his own laconic, wry style. By turns romantic, funny and moving, it affirms the strength of iron-willed determination and the power of love.

The Gmo Trilogy/Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating


Jeffrey M. Smith - 2006
    Smith's best-selling book is paired with a new DVD and CD set that shows how genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk. This set will impact consumer perceptions and buying habits. DVD 1: Unnatural Selection DVD 2: Hidden Dangers in Kids? Meals: Genetically Engineered Foods Audio CD: You?re Eating WHAT? Book: Seeds of Deception This is the top-rated, best selling book in the world on GM foods. Smith exposes the serious health dangers of genetically modified foods and the corporate cover-up. A fast-paced thriller of industry manipulation and political collusion, combined with lucid descriptions of genetic engineering and guidance on how to protect yourself and your family.

Preparedness Principles: The Complete Personal Preparedness Resource Guide for Any Emergency Situation


Barbara Salsbury - 2006
    PREPAREDNESS PRINCIPLES, the most comprehensive preparedness guide ever published, offers exclusive details about: * Four new categories of preparedness * New bare-bones basics *The Pantry Principle * Storm shelters, safe rooms, and safe havens * Indoor farming, and much more!

Grand Canyon: The Complete Guide: Grand Canyon National Park


James Kaiser - 2006
    This guide divides the attractions into sections—the North Rim, South Rim, Colorado River, and Havasu Falls—with lodging, dining, and camping information given for each. Outfitters for hiking, backpacking, mule rides, and rafting adventures are listed, and carefully researched chapters about the park's history, geology, and wildlife encourage leisurely study of the area's unmatched natural beauty. This book is the winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for best full-color travel guide and the Independent Publisher Award for best travel guide. About The Complete Guides:With a large number of beautiful, high-quality color photographs, these guides are as browsable as the best coffee table books but also supply travelers with maps, travel tips, and extensive listings for lodging, camping, and sightseeing.

Medicinal Plants of the American Southwest


Charles W. Kane - 2006
    Encapsulated within 102 profiles (covering more than 160 southwestern botanical medicines), each plant's medicinal use, specific therapeutic indication, geographic range, botanical characteristics, chemical composition, preparation, dosage, and cautions are well described. A comprehensive preparation segment includes instruction on the making and use of teas, tinctures, syrups, salves, ointments, oils, washes, fomentations, and other modes of application. Readers will also find the therapeutic index, glossary, bibliography, and general index valuable additions. 112 color photos further assist the reader in plant identification. Plant list: Acacia, Aloe, Antelope Horns, Baccharis, Beargrass, Beebrush, Bird of Paradise, Bouvardia, Bricklebush, Brittlebush, Buttonbush, California Poppy, Caltrop, Camphorweed, Canadian Fleabane, Canyon Bursage, Canyon Walnut, Chaste Tree, Chinchweed, Clematis, Cocklebur, Copperleaf, Cottonwood, Creosote Bush, Crownbeard, Crucifixion Thorn, Cudweed, Cypress, Datura, Desert Anemone, Desert Barberry, Desert Cotton, Desert Lavender, Desert Milkweed, Desert Willow, Dogweed, Elder, Elephant Tree, Filaree, Flat-Top Buckwheat, Globemallow, Golden Smoke, Greenthread, Hopbush, Jojoba, Jumping Cholla, Juniper, Kidneywood, Leadwort, Limberbush, Mallow, Manzanita, Marsh Fleabane, Mesquite, Mimosa, Mormon Tea, Mountain Marigold, Night Blooming Cereus, Ocotillo, Passionflower, Penstemon, Periwinkle, Pipevine, Poliomintha, Poreleaf, Prickly Pear, Prickly Poppy, Puncturevine, Purple Gromwell, Ratany, Rayweed, Red Betony, Sage, Sagebrush, Scouring Rush, Senna, Snakeweed, Soapberry, Spanish Needles, Sumac, Syrian Rue, Tamarisk, Tarbush, Texas Ranger, Tobacco, Tree of Heaven, Trixis, Trumpet Flower, Turpentine Bush, Velvet Ash, Verbena, Western Black Willow, Western Mugwort, Western Peony, Wild Lettuce, Wild Licorice, Wild Oats, Wild Rhubarb, Wolfberry, Yerba Mansa, Yerba Santa, and Yucca.

In the Shadow of Papillon: Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela's Prison System


Frank Kane - 2006
    In desperation, he agreed to smuggle cocaine out of Venezuela. Almost inevitably, he and his girlfriend, Sam, were caught.The price they paid was a ten-year sentence in the hell of the overcrowded Venezuelan prison system, notorious for official corruption and abuse, and rife with weapons and gangs. At one point, Frank was held in the remote El Dorado prison, better known for being the one-time home of Henri Charrière, or Papillon. He witnessed countless murders as gang leaders fought for power, and he had to become as ruthless as his fellow inmates in order to survive. In an attempt to dull the reality of the horrendous conditions, he succumbed to drugs.After enduring years of systematic beatings by the guards and attempts on his life by inmates, Frank suffered more than one breakdown. He lost over four stone and was riddled with disease, but somehow he found the strength within himself to survive and was eventually released in 2004 after serving over seven years of his sentence. During the long walk back from hell, Frank decided to tell his story.

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times


Steve Solomon - 2006
    In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies — working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.

Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic


Bill Russell - 2006
    In spite of their rather dismal reputation, most wild mushrooms are both edible and delicious, when prepared properly. From the morel to the chanterelle and the prolific and aptly named chicken of the woods, mushrooms can easily be harvested and enjoyed, if you know where to look and what to look for. Bill Russell's Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic helps the reader learn just that--specifically for the often-neglected East Coast mushrooms of the United States and Canada.Suited to both the novice and the experienced mushroom hunter, this book helps the reader identify mushrooms with the use of illustrations, descriptions, and environmental observations. Russell's fifty years of experience in hunting, studying, and teaching about wild mushrooms have been carefully distilled into this easy-to-use and well-designed guide. The book is divided into the four seasons, each with its unique mushroom offerings. Each mushroom section includes a detailed description, information about the mushroom's biology, tips on where the mushroom is most likely to be found, and a short "nutshell" description for quick reference. The book also includes color photographs of each of the mushrooms described.Russell's Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic shows the reader not only how to identify the most common mushrooms found in the region but also how to avoid common copycats--and what to do with the mushrooms once they're identified and harvested. With both color illustrations and insightful descriptions of one hundred of the area's most common mushrooms, Field Guide is an indispensable reference for the curious hiker, the amateur biologist, or the adventurous chef.

Cub Scout Tiger Cub Handbook (Tiger Cub)


Boy Scouts of America - 2006
    Includes requirements for earning the Tiger Cub badge.

The Tattooed Flower: a Memoir


Suzy Zail - 2006
    In the next three years, and at other concentration camps, he did so time and again, often through the kindness of strangers.Many years later, after making a new life for himself in Australia, Emil and his daughter Suzy face the greatest trial of all. Suzy and her father love each other in the way most fathers and daughters do: they are too lazy to ask questions, too busy to listen, and not curious enough about the people they call family. Now, though, Suzy's father is dying ...The Tattooed Flower is the tender and illuminating story of how a father and daughter choose to spend their last years together: Suzy discovering her father's past as a child of the Holocaust; and her father teaching his family, by example, how to live well, love fully, and die without fear or regret.The Tattooed Flower finds hope, love, and beauty in the saddest of places. This is a remarkable, compelling book about life's lessons, and how one man can leave a mark and make a difference.

Tappan on Survival


Mel Tappan - 2006
    A new foreword by Bruce Clayton, himself an important figure in the preparedness movement after the publication of his book Life After Doomsday in 1980, describes the unique appeal of Tappan's writings and personality, puts Tappan's role in the survivalist movement in historical perspective and explains why his work is still highly relevant today.

The Legends


Allan Frewin Jones - 2006
    Compilation hardback containing all 4 books: Legend of the Pharoah's Tomb, Legend of the Lost City, Legend of the Anaconda King and Legend of the Golden Elephant.

The Foxfire 40th Anniversary Book: Faith, Family, and the Land


Eliot Wigginton - 2006
    Named Foxfire after a local phosphorescent lichen, the magazine became one of the most beloved publications in American culture.For four decades, Foxfire has brought the philosophy of simple living to readers, teaching creative self-sufficiency, home crafts, and the art of natural remedies, and preserving the stories of Appalachia. This anniversary edition brings us generations of voices and lessons about the three essential Appalachian values of faith, family, and the land. We listen to elders share their own memories of how things used to be, and to the new generations eager to preserve traditional values in a more complicated world. There are descriptions of old church services, of popular Appalachian games and pastimes, and of family recipes. Rich with memories and useful lessons, this is a fitting tribute to this inspiring and practical publication that has become a classic American institution.

Wilderness Survival: Living Off the Land with the Clothes on Your Back and the Knife on Your Belt


Mark Elbroch - 2006
    Will you survive? Do you have the skills to feed, clothe, and protect yourself? Mark Elbroch, a master tracker, and Mike Pewtherer, a woodland skills educator, put those questions to the test when they embarked on a 46-day, unprovisioned, unequipped journey into the dense wilderness of the northeastern United States.Wilderness Survival is their highly practical and uniquely observant introduction to survival in the deep woods. Mark and Mike tested generally accepted truths, questioned conventional solutions, and distilled the best techniques for making fire, obtaining shelter, finding water, and hunting with primitive weapons. They give you:-A life-saving handbook of survival skills that explores man's place in the natural world-The secret to surviving in the wilderness as part of nature--not its adversary-Explanations of more than 30 wilderness survival skills, including hunting and gathering food, fashioning tools, and preserving and storing food

The Barefoot Navigator


Jack Lagan - 2006
    Jack Lagan believes there is nothing so valuable at sea as standing on a deck and just knowing where you are using special knowledge about the sea and the sky and using your senses--in other words, practical technology-free navigation. Part 1 looks at the navigation achievements of the ancient seafarers--the Pacific islanders, the Vikings, the Phoenicians, the Arabs and the Chinese. Just how did the South Pacific islanders manage to populate every habitable island in an area bigger than North America? And did the Phoenicians really circumnavigate Africa 2,000 years before Vasco de Gama? Part 2 explains how to use the wind, swell, sun and stars to estimate position and hold a course. And how sea breezes, isolated clouds and seabirds can make a landfall safer. Part 3. shows how you can use DIY devices to calculate latitude, obtain bearings and estimate longitude. Part 4 describes how all these techniques can be used in survival situations The Barefoot Navigator is about wayfinding from what you can see around you and what you have in your head. It will fascinate navigators and landlubbers alike.