How to learn primitive skills

Camping & Woodcraft is a good choice and even helped me get my current job.

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I was doing a job interview on Skype and got asked one of those non-job questions: "If you were on a desert island, what one book would you want to have with you?"

Since I was in my home office doing the interview on a video chat I just turned around and grabbed "Camping & Woodcraft" off my bookshelf and held it up to the camera and said "I think this one would be handy to have." I got the job.

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But another book I've had for many years is -- of all things -- a Reader's Digest book: "Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills". It's really very good and nicely illustrated.

American Boys Handy Book. Definitive work on the subject. Make yourself a bow and arrows, build a raft, and float down the river to the gulf. Everything you need to know is right there.

I second the Foxfire series for general, basic skills. We always had a set on our bookshelves. Otherwise, there are different books depending on which basic skill you wanted to learn. LeeValley.com offers cheap version of different books, which is nice.

It's too bad North Carolina finally started going after Turtle Island; Eustace Conway is probably the foremost expert on primitive living but good luck having him write it down for you. If you had a spare two years he would teach it to you, but read "Last American Man" to figure out how difficult those two years might be.

-C

I love Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen ISBN: 0842500014. I used it all the time in scouts and it has lots of cool illustrations for trapping and snaring.