I wish I'd had this book years ago. There a lot of survival books available, but this one really covers the bases. It offers a great balance of state of the art information and instruction, while also presenting valuable and fun primitive survival skills. It strongly encourages planning ahead and becoming familiar with vital survival principles and tying those concepts into understanding the need for practical survival kit components. I felt that it really "connected the dots" for me. It helped vague ideas become clearer and it has empowered me with knowledge and a plan. The easy to follow illustrations and the extensive color photographs were a big help, too.I highly recommend it for expedition prep, search and rescue, hunting, scouting, serious backpacking and family camping. This is clearly the very best presentation of relevant outdoor survival information I have found. Keep a copy in your car, with your camping supplies and with your family emergency preparedness items. A down to earth suggestion would be to keep one in the bathroom to be available to browse through often so that you can study and learn this information little by little at your convenience. My family has already gained so much from having OUTDOOR SURVIVAL GUIDE just since last spring. It's absolutely a responsible "must have" resource for anyone who ventures into the outdoors.Great book!