Matt Upson’s book recommendation of the month:'98.6 The art of keeping your ass alive' - by Cody Lundin
Anyone who has completed a Woodsmoke course in the last year will probably have been subjected to Steve and I waxing lyrical about this book at great length. That being the case I thought it was about time I wrote a complete review to remind you of what you are missing out on, if you didn't take our recommendations to heart.
'98.6 degrees, the art of keeping your ass alive' certainly has the most eye-catching title of all the survival manuals, and it does exactly what it says on the cover. Lundin has carefully distilled all the essential elements that you need to know in a short term 'survival situation', and presented them in a highly succinct and effective way. And short term is something we should not overlook - as Lundin himself points out there is a difference between survival and primitive living; this book deals only with the first few days of a survival situation because statistically, for better or worse, they tend only to last 72 hours.
You will find no tutorials on fancy spoon carving and basket weaving;
instead, expect extremely useful chapters on water, psychology,
survival kits, and 'the most common way to push up daisies in the
outdoors' - thermo-regulation.Two of the things that I like most about ‘98.6 degrees’, are firstly Lundin’s willingness to dispel myths still perpetrated by other survival manuals, for instance the solar still:
‘…countless books on survival shamelessly tout solar stills as the next best thing since sliced bread…When my students build solar stills, I keep track of the water they consume while doing so…they always lose much more water in the form of sweat than the still provides.’ *
Second, whilst Cody takes the subject very seriously, he presents it in an amusing and compelling way, quite apart from many other books on the subject. What’s more, he is not afraid to voice criticisms levelled against the book – two negative reviews are printed in the book itself (along with much more pertinent praise from such noted greats as Mors Kochanski)!
Importantly, Lundin writes with the experience of man who has been there and done it; his list of qualifications is impressive and he is heavily involved in teaching wilderness skills at a college in Arizona. In addition, he is frequently consulted in the US for various TV, radio and written publications, and long may it continue.
Succinct, no holds barred, occasionally politically incorrect, this is THE manual on short-term survival.
* (Cody Lundin, 98.6 degrees: The art of keeping your ass alive! (Gibbs Smith, 2003) p100.)
Matt Upson’s book recommendation of the month:
'Why We Run' - by Bernd Heinrich
‘Why We Run’, another offering from Bernd Heinrich, investigates the evolutionary past of humans as long distance runners. Along with the usual fascinating insights into the biology of other creatures, Heinrich weaves the story of his own running history, culminating in an attempt to tackle a challenging 100km endurance race - the beginning of a long career as a successful ultra-endurance runner.
Heinrich uses his lifelong interest in the anatomy of animals to draw comparison with human endurance capabilities.
Citing research into creatures as diverse as tiger beetles, hawk moths,
antelope and dromedary camels; Heinrich discusses some of the major
qualities that dictate endurance ability and not only applies these to
humans, but in many cases tests his hypotheses in his own training
routine. Where else would you find experiments as bizarre (and
compelling) as shaving the fine hairs from the abdomen of tiger moths,
liquidising frogs in a blender to measure lactic acid levels, and
drinking 18 cans of beer during a long road race. All becomes clear by
the end of the book.One of the things I appreciate most about Heinrich's attitude to training is the simplicity of it. As he puts it: "I wanted my training to be as pure and elemental as my racing would be. No heart monitors...No stretching or weight lifting...No fancy shoes with baubles and bubbles, nor stretch pants and synthetic warm-ups. No pills of any sort - not even an aspirin'. Yes, he has done a lot of complicated research in the lab, but when he runs, he strips running down to the bare essentials of what it has always been; your two feet pounding the earth and your will driving you on to chase down the antelope, or cross the finish line first.
Definitely a book worth reading for those interested in endurance running and man's anthropological past; Heinrich spends some time discussing the Bushmen, having been consultant in the documentary film 'The Great Dance – the Story of !Nqate' (although later removing his name from the titles, unhappy at the way the Bushmen had been treated).
Another fascinating read which superbly complements ‘Why We Run’ is Dr. Mike Stroud’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’.
Subtitled ‘Anatomy of Peak Performance’, Stroud follows his training
with Sir Ranulph Fiennes building up to the epic feat of completing
seven marathons, on seven continents, in seven days.Like Heinrich, Stroud reminds us that we are all built to run, that it is our evolutionary heritage to run mile after mile to ensure our survival, and in a country where we are more likely to succumb to heart disease through inactivity than starvation through lack of food, this is a message as pertinent now as it has ever been.
Most of all, this book inspires by working away at the assumption that we should accept our increasing immobility and uselessness in old age. Stroud goes so far as to train his 70-year-old father to run a 120km endurance race, just to illustrate this point.
Whether you are interested in running, anthropology, or the amazing feats that we all have the potential to achieve, these books provide fascinating and enjoyable reads.
Steven Hanton’s book recommendation of the month:Winter World “Winter World: the ingenuity of animal survival” - by Bernd Heinrich
At a time when the trackers amongst us are praying for snow (much to the annoyance of those less affiliated with the art!) it comforts me to complete my yearly read of this book. I constantly find myself rising, looking from the window and imagining waking up within an environment which is completely submerged in snow and held firmly in the talons of a real northern winter. It is then that the Tracker can really practice their art!
I have worked with trackers who pick just one animal each year to trail for an entire winter; practicing skills and entering a world where animals must employ all the lessons of evolution to have a hope of making spring. In Britain we do not have the luxury of such defined seasons and snow to aid us in our animal studies, yet our creatures face many of the same hardships as those in more northern climes.
In “Winter World”, Bernd Heinrich explores the ingenious ways in which animals in his local woods (the vast northern forests of Maine) survive the hardships of winter. Deep snows, frozen water supplies, freezing temperatures and reduced food supplies all contribute to an immense survival challenge for any creature, and have led to the development of incredible survival mechanisms. It is these survival mechanisms which are this book’s main concerns and it contains so much about animal behaviour; why and how they craft their homes, how they survive on buds and bark, the importance of family- all things which our British critters rely on too. The amount of knowledge and information ranks with the likes of “The Bowyer’s Bible”- only on animals, not bent sticks, 9/10 broken! But the beauty of it, and the reason I love it so much, is although it is almost encyclopaedic in its sheer volume of information, it is easily one of the most readable and digestible books I’ve ever read.
Heinrich really is a tracker, but not always the footprint-following kind. His desire to solve nature’s little mysteries leads him to conduct his own strange little experiments, which only such a committed naturalist could dream up, and will leave you wondering where he finds the time to do all this stuff!
Although this book does deal with the American environment, for me it has so much relevance to the naturalist in Britain. Anyone who knows a little of the species that inhabit our woods will find it hard to say that they have nothing to teach us, and likewise this book is full of lessons. As mentioned, the British winter-time can be a hard time for the tracker or naturalist to set about unravelling the stories left behind by woodland creatures, but there is help in the likes of this book. And what a shame to let these stories pass un-noticed!
If you class yourself as even a part-time naturalist, as most of us who partake in a little bushcraft often do, you could do a lot worse than thumb your way through a Bernd Heinrich book, for he is a rare breed of half scientist-half naturalist whose CV reads like Mors Kochanski meets Richard Dawkins. If you don’t read this one, pick one, you’ll not be disappointed; I’ve read them all.
Another review next month....