Ray Mears Vanishing World

by Ray Mears

Ray Mears has travelled the world for much of his life learning and teaching wilderness skills. Now he reflects on his experiences in some of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth along with his own stunning photographs of the landscapes and peoples he's encountered.

Fascinated by photography from an early age, each of Ray's pictures captures an instant of life, a powerful experience he has compared to hunting - to releasing the trigger on a rifle.

This book reveals our dramatically changing planet and inspires us to look more closely at the changes around us. See our vanishing world through the eyes, ears and camera lens of Ray Mears.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

To some Ray Mears might be just the man who potters about talking about survival, to others he might not be as showmany as Bear Grylls.
But I disagree, and wish that people could see the brilliance of this man and what he does.

As an avid fan of his programmes and a fan of photography I bought this book hoping to see some great photographs of the places he had visited, what I found was so much more.
His explanation of each photograph gives an insight into what that place was like. His kinship with the peoples he has met on his travels and his respect for the culture and his love for what he does is evident throughout the book.
I have a huge respect for his way of telling stories and teachings, and I found that where he tells the story told by some of the native peoples without giving their names or the names of their ancestors shows great respect something which I find a lot of people who may attempt the same don't have. The fact that some of these native peoples that have been feared have willingly allowed Ray to capture them on film shows that this respect goes both ways and the connection that must have been made is strong.

This book won't tell you how to survive. It won't tell you anything indepth about particular peoples. What it will tell you is how the world is changing and how traditional skills are being lost. It will also tell you just how involved and passionate Ray is about what he does and the people and places he interacts with.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've long been fascinated by Ray Mears through watching his Bushcraft programmes on tv. 'Ray Mears Vanishing World' is a collection of his photographs taken from many parts of the world, featuring the indigenous peoples that he has met and learned from.
Mears has been writing books on his life of bushcraft since 1990. It is quite apparent from watching his programmes that he has acquired a very wide range of knowledge of flora and fauna and on survival skills in many different kinds of environments and holds great empathy with the peoples from all corners of the planet that he has worked with.
I have always wondered where and how Mears began to gain his specialist craft. 'Vanishing World' doesn't divulge this information, so perhaps I will look to one of his earlier books.

[Andrew Ives · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather more of a photography book than much about bushcraft, Ray shows us a selection of the many photos from the many remote parts of the world he has visited, with aborigines, with Inuits, Mongol tribes, Kalahari bush people, the heroes of Telemark. His photographs are mostly very colourful, interesting and printed/arranged beautifully here. There isn't a massive amount of text along with each, but there's enough to make this book an enjoyable read, in Ray's optimistic heartfelt style. 4.5/5

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

c2008: Also part of the Christmas 10 haul. Some lovely photographs in this book together with some succinct wordies. Strange warning on the inside page "Warning: this book may contain images of aboriginal people who are now deceased" ???|?

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

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