Not instructionals, actual stories. Bonus points for wilderness survival. Just finished “The 29th Day” and I highly recommend if someone is looking for one.
The very best mindset book out there
I haven’t read anything that comes close. The best part is the information is practical and useful in everyday situations, not just outdoors survival.
I recommend it to people who have never in the woods before.
Probably due for a reread.
Don’t know how many times I have read this one and I also use the knowledge from this almost daily in my teaching.
Undaunted Courage is a pretty good read.
"Have you read 'Into the Wild' by Jon Krakauer? It's a gripping wilderness survival story that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat!"
Alive - The Story of the Andes survivors.
The Indifferent Stars Above.
Details the Donner Party and is a fantastic look at what the people moving west to California had to deal with doing so.
Surviving the extremes is good. A compilation of true survival stories in different situations from a medical/physiological aspect to show what worked and why.
Diamond Eye. Based on actual WWII Russian female sniper
I've read that and am currently reading Pavlichenko's memoir 'Lady Death'. The memoir doesn't have all the romance and drama but is a better description of surviving Odessa and Sevastopol with all the parts Quinn thought were too boring and technical.
I just read "Lost In The Wild" by Cary Griffith and really enjoyed it.
"438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story Of Survival At Sea" was excellent.
Not a survival story per say but "The Last Season" is a great book about an experienced park ranger who went missing.
Another one I absolutely loved is called "Incident At Big Sky". It's a true story about two fugitives on the lame in the Montana wilderness and the manhunt to find them.
"The Cold Vanish" was really good about missing people in the wild.
"The Mad Trapper Of Rat River" was another excellent fugitive in the wilderness type book that's worth a read.
"The Stranger In The Woods" is about a hermit who lived in the Maine wilderness for 27 years.
"When You Find My Body" was also good. It's about the search for a missing woman who stepped off the Appalachian Trail to go pee and was missing for years until they finally found her body only a mile or so from where she was last seen. She lived for 26 days according to her journals so it does have some survival aspect to it. Interesting read on how things can go so wrong from something as little as stepping off the trail to go pee.
The 29th Day was awesome! Great thread as I'm always looking for books about wilderness survival, missing persons cases or manhunts in the wild. I've read more that are up this alley but can't remember all the names right now.
It’s fiction, but I think we have to give credit to the Hatchet series by Gary Paulson for getting us here
My non-fiction takes are Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s the story of bomber crew member Louis Zamperini during WW2. He spent a significant amount of time in a life raft before having to survive as a POW to the Japanese.
The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill is about hundreds of British, American, Australian, and other allied forces who escaped from Stalag Luft III and went on the run across Europe, some ending up in Switzerland, others to France and assisted by Underground Railroad resistance groups. Absolute unit of a survival story.
Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand is about a Romanian pastor who is imprisoned by the Soviet Union for being an outspoken and devout about his faith. He spent 14 years in essentially a gulag and describes the experience. This is a hard one to read, it’s very intense but speaks highly about survival in some of the worst conditions people can be in, mentally and physically.
I have more, PM me 1 sheckle for each book recommendation
East of Eden and Boys in the Boat
Shackleton's Valiant Voyage
I think by definition a novel has to be fiction.
A book I read in elementary school but a good simple read nonetheless Hatchet by Gary Paulson
I loved that book too, though it is fiction
1st: The End of the Game by Peter Beard. The story of the end of wild Africa. Lots of stories (and photography) of Beard’s life in east Africa 1940’s-1960’s (Peter Beard owned the journals of Karen Blixen “Out of Africa” and John Henry Patterson “the Ghost and the Darkness”.)
2nd: Mind over Matter, the epic crossing of Antarctica by Randoff Fiennes. First unsupported traverse by ski.
A Voyage for Madmen - Peter Nichols
Journey without return by Raymond Maufrais.
The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen by Roland Huntford about the expeditions to the South Pole and the explorers’ different approaches to survival which ultimately led to Scott’s death and Amundsen’s success.
Pale horse coming. Not a western.
29th day is a fantastic book. I recommend it also
The Sun Does Shine
Guy falsely convicted of murder spent 30 years on death row until he was released. Breathtaking story
River of Doubt by Candace Millard is my all time favorite.
Im currently reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing and it's pretty good too.
Both of these are historical non-fiction novels surrounding exploration/survival/wilderness.
I'm reading "The Wild Places" right now, he has an incredible way with words.
It's not so much a survival book, but he is travelling around the UK trying to find the wildest places so it kind of fits?
People of the taiga or happy people of the taiga? It's four parts and each one is a season in the taiga following the hunters, trappers and fishermen
Mother of God - Paul Rosolie
Island of the Lost. True story of two different crews shipwrecked on a sub Antarctic island at the same time under completely different circumstances.
No Time for Fear by Paul De Gelder, it's an autobiography that recounts how he was attacked by a shark, lost two limbs, and his recovery after the fact. If you've ever watched shark week you've probably seen him before.
He has a newer one he wrote called Uncaged as well.
Star Wars
Tom Brown doesn't really do novels but his survival books are spectacular. Just throwin that out there.
By definition, novels are fiction.
This is fiction but very interesting and informative , especially these days - "The Last Ship" by William Brinkley.
It's set on a fictional, nuclear-powered Guided Missile Destroyer of the US Navy in the peak of the Cold War ... basically it was what the Arleigh Burke-class DDGs would have been if they had been nuclear-powered, but the Navy decided that it was not only extremely expensive to BUILD, but nuclear-powered vessels are extremely man-intensive and thus very expensive to operate (they need a whole bunch of extremely-smart, extremely-capable, & extremely-reliable nuclear-trained engineers to run the plant and be capable of just about any repairs, and those dudes don't grow on trees etc.) - so they made the future-Aegis DDGs & CGs conventionally-powered ... but ANYWAY...
The story is written from the perspective of the Captain, and you get the idea they've just gone through a Nuclear Apocalypse ... it starts with day-to-day life as a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed (Tomahawk TLAM-N nuclear cruise missiles) DDG in the Norwegian/Arctic areas ... and suddenly one day, they get the message to launch nuclear missiles into Russia, and soon enough they realize, the world has been destroyed basically. Unfortunately, the class of ship was designed with a new reactor they gets very partially refueled every 6mo-1yr , so unlike what you'd think, they don't have "unlimited fuel" , they have like 6-9months to find somewhere to basically start over humanity. And they go through trials and tribulations ... nuclear winter , the insuing depression of being stuck inside a tightly-locked-up-ship with no sunlight and freezing radiation-filled stuff falling from the skies, a mutiny that results in a full 1/3 of the crew attempting to make it back to the USA in boats (despite almost certain knowledge the US is virtually uninhabitable) , and they wind up encountering one other vessel- a Soviet Typhoon-class SSBN , that immediately proposes teaming up together for the betterment of both crews & humanity.
Then they encounter other problems. It's a great book and the book was adapted to a hit TV show ... except, they changed the problems from a nuclear war to a ... novel viral pandemic ... sound familiar?
Great book because it's fictional but written with extensive knowledge of the Navy, of engineering and seamanship and Cold War Tactics, Techniques, & Procedures ... but also the concept of ... "We're the last 300 people with a chance of surviving ... and I happen to be The Boss... and I have a responsibility not just to my people but THE HUMAN RACE to give us a shot at survival..."
Makes you wonder about a lot of things in these trying times. Especially since the TV show came out and then a few years later, the biggest viral pandemic we've ever seen...
Into Thin Air -Jon Krakauer
True stories of early global explorers -- Lewis and Clark, Captain Cook, etc. It makes you think about survival without modern stuff, and just not expecting a lot of comfort.
Also, "Robinson Crusoe" has inspired stories and survivalists for generations.
Touching spirit bear Its a children's book, however great story and an easy read.
Not an actual story. I mean, yes, it is real in the sense that it’s a book that exists but that’s about it as far as actuality.
Wow ok... sorry not a story, great book though.
Hatchet is a good one.
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Deep Survival. Analyzes how the body/mind reacts to stress in survival situations.