The Survival Store: Books: Participating in Nature: Thomas J. Elpel's Field Guide to Primitive Living Skills

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Discover nature by using it! Learn to meet your needs for clothing, shelter, fire, water and food from natural resources. Toms guide gives you a direct, hands-on experience of the world around you. With this book you will discover the thrill of staying warm and comfortable without even a blanket! Experience the magic of starting a fire by friction. Butcher your own deer and braintan its hide to make warm buckskin clothing. Learn about edible plants of the Rocky Mountain region, plus processing techniques and "primitive gourmet" skills like making wild strawberry ashcake pies or stir-fry cooking without a pan.

This book is the source for in depth coverage of tire sandals, bedroll packs and pack frames, felting with wool, quick bows and bone arrowheads, sinews, hide glue, trapping, fishing by hand, water purification, birch bark canisters, willow baskets, primitive pottery, wooden containers, cordage, twig deer, stalking skills, simple stone knives, flint & steel, bowdrill and handdrill fire-starting.

Participating in Nature includes dozens of innovative skills and an incredible 350 pictures and illustrations plus a thoughtful philosophy. Tom does extensive experiential research. He places an emphasis on publishing new information that is not found in any other source.

Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

More than Primitive Living September 15, 2008
"Participating in Nature" is more than just a field guide to primitive living. Mr. Elpel explain's how to live at one with nature. He describes a way of life that is conducive to the survival of man and Mother Nature. Basically, the Earth gives us the staples of life and the author explains how to fully utilize and respect these gifts for the benefit of life.

2 out of 5 stars

More inspiration than information February 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Reviews on amazon.com suggested there was much more value in this book than what I found. Several of the techniques were quite poorly described, and the almost complete lack of clear photographs or diagrams make certain sections of the book nearly useless ( for example, anyone trying to learn to construct a Paiute deadfall will be sorely disappointed ). The book is quite liberally padded with Elpel's ineffective flowery descriptions and ideas which have nothing to do with learning wilderness survival techniques, though some with little experience in nature may find his writing inspires them to get out and and get their hands dirty. Elpel's somewhat pretentious writing style and techniques show him to be a Tom Brown disciple, so don't get this book if you don't like seeing the pronoun "I" in every third sentence or if you don't like being preached at by the author. Overall, this book could only be recommended to someone who never plans to practice survival techniques, or someone who wants a complete wilderness survival library, since there is a handful of good information and ideas I have not seen in print elsewhere. The most disappointing part of the book was when Elpel claims to be the only author to describe how to safely harvest roadkill, but neglects to offer more than the obvious warning that a section of the animal will have bone fragments in it. There are many books available which are far better and some of these are considerably cheaper.

5 out of 5 stars

fun and study December 21, 2007
Some books are just fun to read. Some books are really only useful for study. Tom does a great job of writing a book that's both fun to read and worth studying. I've read the book through twice. I'll read it again and again learning a bit more every time. I've also gone back to look up specific things and not only easily found them but found myself reading beyond what I needed to know at the time. Its simply one of the most addictive books I've ever had the joy to read. Some of Tom's critics may complain that the book is just an "overview". Well what do you want from just one book? It would take volumes to fully cover the lost arts of the primitives and Tom makes no claim to even attempt to do so. This is a book for beginners, to get their feet wet in living (again) in a more primitive way. In a way closer to nature than most of us do now. Its not a survival book in the normal sense of that term but a book of survival in the sense that the ecology of the world today just can't continue to sustain the abuses we as a people continue to subject it to. We need to all start living in a more primitive way and doing so doesn't have to be as scary as you may first think. Participating in Nature shows us just how easily we can all live a bit more self sufficient in these troubled times.

3 out of 5 stars

NO BOOK TODAY OF THIS NATURE SHOULD BE IN BLACK&WHITE! October 28, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

Black and white pictures for the novice is a BIG no-no when identifying wild plants and mushrooms! There are look alike plants that are deadly. In spite of this, his photos are very good and he goes into depth on subjects not always covered in books in the early 90's. TWO BOOKS I recommend today are "SAS Survival Handbook" By John Lofty Wiseman (British Special Air Service for 26 years) AND "Camping Wilderness Survival" by Paul Tawrell. Combined together they make a very good pair AND they are small enough to put in a backpack unlike this book which is just too big to carry along. These two books combined come to over 1,500 pages. LOOK at the first before deciding on this one. Always remember, do not just take the books without reading them first. Too many people think they will learn as they go and find out too late, they were wrong to do that.

5 out of 5 stars

Great if you are into primitive camping, but no survival book per se October 12, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is fine for understanding and harmonising with Nature, but as a survival book it is very limited.

If you want a good survival guide for any and all situations, I would recommend Ron Foster's "The Rural Ranger.....". This man trains emergency response people and his guide is up to date and practical.

Seriously,
David Highum