Survival with Style / Feasting Free on Wild Edibles

As Henry Grady Weaver so aptly pointed out in The Mainspring of Human Progress, the history of mankind has been persistently marked by famine and resulting starvation. It is easy to forget amidst America's plenty, but even today over half of the world’s population, almost two billion people, live in perpetual hunger and with the resulting, healthdestroying malnutrition.

And as Weaver reminds us, what has insulated this country from the hardships suffered in so much of the rest of the world is the productivity only possible because of our relatively free enterprise system and the ease of trading goods and services through the use of a trusted medium of exchange. But all that is changing. The market finds itself ever-more hamstrung by a snowballing mass of counterproductive legislation intended to somehow correct the problems brought on by previous bureaucratic regulatory measures. At the same time, the slugs and IOUs that have come to replace our money system are rapidly eroding in value, as by their very nature they must.

Any serious student of libertarian theory knows these things. So why am I rehashing them? Because I believe it is time for us to stop arguing limited government vs. philosophical anarchy and get out from under the house of cards before it comes crashing down. It is time to realize how little chance political action has of saving this country from the monetary and social upheaval that lie just around the corner. It is time for practicing libertarians to start acting to insure their personal freedom and safety through individual rather than collective action.

I continue to be amazed by the number of libertarians who give individual action little more than lip service, never moving to insure their own survival or to establish a self-sufficient retreat. It seems to me high time to stop altruistically working to save a population more concerned with who did what to whom at Watergate or who signed with the new World Football League, and to look instead to personal survival.

If you agree but would not know a figure-four deadfall from a mukluk, I cannot think of a better book to start you out on the trail to selfsufficiency than Survival with Style. There are a great many books on survival in the stores today; survival is “in.” But few reflect the depth of personnel experience contained in those by Bradford Angier, and when it comes to the general topic of survival, but is without doubt, his best so far.

It covers all the essential topics from shelter, fire building, and navigation in unknown country to finding food and water. If I had to choose just one reference for an extended trip into the backwoods, this is the one I would unhesitantly select. All the books mention several ways to start a fire, but this one describes 15 different methods in enough detail that you can make them work, without hours of practice or professional guidance. And, with just as much care, it covers ways of obtaining water, procuring and preparing wild game, dealing with hazards, dressing properly, and preparing a survival kit in advance.

Survival with Style even devotes 57 pages to dining on wild plants, but if I could choose a second book to supplement it in my pack, it would be Feasting Free on Wild Edibles, which deals with this particular aspect of living in the wilderness in even more detail. It was also written by Angier and is a one-volume edition of his two previous books on the subject.

Beyond their technical content, both books are well organized, clearly illustrated, and entertaining to read. At no point in either volume did I find important information lacking or explanations condescending, a significant accomplishment in books of this scope intended for readers with diverse degrees of previous related knowledge. Angier’s soft-spoken authority comes through beautifully on paper.

I would consider both to be must reading for any libertarian seeking to increase his efficiency in meeting wilderness challenges, thus becoming less dependent on exchange to meet his basic survival needs. And the ability to live in remote places could well prove an asset one day soon when the choice is between that and facing hungry mobs as they sack the cities the way they did in previous times of monetary crises.

Reviewed by Don Stephens / Survival With Style (320 Pages) / BFL Price $2.45/ Feasting Free On Wild Edibles (288 Pages) / BFL Price $4.95