Aptly titled, this highly practical guidebook teaches how to find food supplies in order to survive in the wild. An expert in the fields of foraging, wildcrafting, bushcraft, and wilderness first aid, Logan has assembled a compendium of skills for adventurous readers to hone before heading out into the wild. Focusing on food resources, he lays out clear instructions and advice on topics like how and what to forage, plant identification and safety, emergency cooking–including making a stove and crafting a knife from stone–and that most ancient of challenges, how to build a fire. (He offers six different “designs” for fires, each applying to different situations.)

With thorough yet inviting descriptions, explanations, photos, tips, and recipes, Logan demystifies this aspect of survival–but even as he endeavors to help readers at introductory and intermediate levels of outdoor skills feel confident in the wilderness, he’s always clear and frank about the dangers of nature. Though thorough, this guide is highly focused on food, water, and fire, and Logan reminds readers that a range of survival skills are beyond the purview of this book.

Logan’s knowledge and expertise in plant and animal wildlife are impressive, and his tone is no-nonsense and approachable, coaching readers on identification, trapping, and cooking, in welcome detail. A well-organized index of potential food and edible resources mentioned throughout the book is included and is highly convenient, exemplifying the book’s pragmatic design. The general, wide-ranging tips and strategies laid out in Practical Survival Skills are presented engagingly enough to be read from the comfort of home, but the volume is laid out and arranged with the clarity it takes to serve as a survival kit reference work, used in-the-moment while foraging, hunting, and sheltering. This approachable food survival guide is bound to open any curious reader’s eyes to the possibilities of life in the wild.

Takeaway: An approachable, practical guide to food and fire in the wilds of nature.

Great for fans of: Dave Canterbury’s Bushcraft 101, Bradford Angier’s Hot to Eat in the Woods.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A