Books like SAS Survival Handbook — picked by fans

I highly recommend this book because it lays the basic foundation for wilderness survival.

The book is written in a funny, straightforward style, and it’s perfect for beginners. Its unconventional approach focuses on the core necessities, rather than covering many topics and skills that are often irrelevant in short-term survival situations.

This book serves as a stepping stone into the world of wilderness survival and points the reader into an approach to survival that is realistic and grounded.

In the area of wilderness survival there are many uncertainties and different approaches, making the subject a bit ambiguous, but I feel this book provides a clear and well-founded view of the essential survival principles.

This book contains the topics you would expect inside a survival manual, such as navigation, fire, shelter, food, water, and so on.

What I really like about it are the colourful, realistic illustrations, and the easily digestible layout of the information. It covers a very wide range of topics related to wilderness survival and overall it provides a well-balanced approach. It comes in multiple editions and some formats are more suitable as field books than others.

It is a solid book that I would recommend to anyone wanting a classic-style survival manual to use as reference at home or in the field.

This to me is the encyclopedia of wilderness survival.

It features content from various books and authors related to survival and wilderness living, and it’s a very good reference book due to the vastness of the topics covered.

The first time I browsed it I was immediately surprised by how comprehensive it was. I feel that this book complements very well the other books on my list. The fact that it contains sections from multiple authors means you get a diverse and well-rounded perspective of the many skills and techniques covered.

This book also has some long-term, expedition, and bushcraft angles, rather than a strictly survival approach.

This book is the bushcraft classic. Although it focuses on northern bushcraft, most of the information in it is very useful in other areas of the world.

Many important techniques and skills are covered in this book that are applicable to wilderness survival and wilderness living. The legendary author was one of the most well-respected survival instructors in the world.

I personally cherish this book due to the level of detail and depth of the subjects covered. Whenever I read it I can always feel that a great deal of experience and research stands behind what is written.

Need to design an alien species? If so, you won’t find a better resource than this one.

Kershenbaum does nothing less than attempt to identify universal principles governing all biological organisms and does a damned impressive job of it. Beginning with the question of whether the human concept of “evolution” would even exist on an alien world, he works his way up to detailed and insightful analyses of what types of life forms would likely evolve in different environments and how they might communicate and socialize.

This is pure brain food for any lover of science or science fiction, an intellectual exploration you won’t be able to put down. It’s in my top 10 list for books of any kind.

How do you write violent scenes in a compelling way when you have no personal experience in that arena?   

Drawing on a lifetime of experience with violent individuals and institutions, Miller explores the concept of how violence works: not only the act itself but how human beings respond to it. The text covers many different weapons and situations, all with an eye toward providing the kind of information that will help make a writer’s violent scenes ring true.

It’s a dark read, to be sure, but a fascinating one, and its value can’t be overstated, especially to those of us whose most physically stressful experience is struggling to get the lid off a can of coffee creamer.

Poisoning is a complicated business. Your character needs to know what poisons are available, along with their toxicity, method of administration, reaction time, symptoms, and treatment.

This book offers all that information and more in language that you don’t need a chemistry degree to understand. From classic poisons to common household substances, natural venoms to street drugs, and pesticides to medical compounds, this book offers detailed information on all facets of the art of chemical assassination.   

Need some monsters to inspire you? A bizarre creature from primitive folklore, perhaps, or a quirky gatekeeper from the 13th level of hell?

Though the market abounds with books on the subject, this is my favorite. Bane presents nearly 3,000 descriptions of supernatural creatures from the “real world” (no gaming monsters), drawn from a stunningly diverse array of time periods and cultures as well as biblical tradition. Each entry details the name, appearance, powers, and proclivities of a given entity, as well as instructions for how to deal with it. Source material is noted so you can follow up on your own, and an index and bibliography are provided.

While there are many books on the market that feature lists of monsters, this is a serious research book with a wealth of well-organized inspiration for writers of fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction.

This book is set in Wyoming, my home state. Wyoming is a perfect setting for survival stories since it’s sparsely populated and has millions of acres of undeveloped land and wilderness areas to recreate in or explore.

When a cyber-attack collapses the American banking system, society descends into chaos—a scenario that I believe could become a reality someday in the not-so-distant future. This action-packed novel follows a group of anthropology (another of my interests) students stranded in the lawless West as they fight to survive the dissolution of America. I found the what-if scenario to be exciting and frightening, and the setting was realistic and familiar. 

The dialogue between the two former friends seriously transported me back to grade school. On top of the authentic voice, throw in the fact that these poor girls are lost in a National Forest with nothing but their bathing suits. Ugh! My skin itches with bug bites just thinking about it. The writing is so good, it also manages to make the Northwoods sound like a lovely place.