Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence Gonzales · W. W. Norton & Company
Gonzales sets accident case studies against stress neurophysiology to explain why experienced people die and novices sometimes live: outdated mental maps, plan-continuation bias, and panic. Gives you a working model of your own decision-making under fear.
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More resources on Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival
Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines
The strongest free answer to the physiology-of-cold question in the topic note: the hypothermia, heat illness and water disinfection guidelines state the actual evidence for rewarming, rehydration and disinfection methods. The Wilderness Medical Society's peer-reviewed clinical practice guidelines, each graded by evidence quality: accidental hypothermia, heat illness, water disinfection, wound management, lightning injury, drowning and more. Shows what the evidence actually supports for cold, heat and backcountry water.
Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival
Kochanski's field manual distilled from decades teaching in the boreal forest: firecraft, shelter, axe and knife technique, cordage, and cold-weather physiology. After it you can build and maintain a survival fire and camp in subzero conditions.
Be Expert with Map and Compass, 3rd Edition
Orienteering handbook covering map symbols, contour interpretation, taking and following bearings, declination, pacing, terrain association and relocating when lost, with graded practice exercises and a section on GPS. Readers learn to navigate cross-country confidently with map and compass.
The Forager's Harvest
In-depth guide to thirty-two North American wild edible plants, covering identification features, dangerous look-alikes, habitat, harvest season and preparation. Opening chapters explain why edibility tests and shortcut rules fail, teaching readers how to make a confident positive identification before eating.
Paul Kirtley — Wilderness Bushcraft Articles and Podcast
Fifteen years of long-form articles, instructional videos and podcast interviews from a working instructor, covering fire, axe and knife work, tree and plant identification, wild food, water, canoe travel, winter camping and northern travel. The strongest free written source in the field: articles are single-topic, several thousand words, and reason about conditions and trade-offs rather than listing steps.
An Ax to Grind: A Practical Ax Manual
USDA Forest Service technical manual on the axe: pattern and handle selection, hanging and wedging a head, filing and honing the bevel, safe stance, grip and swing, plus felling, limbing, bucking, splitting and hewing technique. The axe is the highest-consequence tool in bushcraft and this is the only widely available treatment written by an institution that must train people not to injure themselves with one.