Jason’s Comments (group member since Apr 07, 2014)

Jason’s comments from the Wilderness Survival Books group.

Jardine is a great bedside friend.
Sounds great Michelle!

Have you heard of the website backpacking light.com? You can read in there forums about innovative ways to reduce pack weight. They also have an amazing gear swap section in the forums where people sell their used ultralight equipment at really good prices.

I've been an ultralight freak since 1994. you may already be pretty skilled in this area. I have no idea. But if you want any tips or help feel free to send me a private message and we can chat.

You make a good point H.L. I also found myself wishing that I can read Riley's account. The different perspectives would've been an interesting contrast against each other.

I'll be spending some time exploring Portugal in May, the Oregon coast in September, and the Uinta mountain range throughout the summer. I spend 2 days each week out in the West Desert of Utah for work and I'm hoping to get into some of the caves in the area. I was a member of the National Speleological Society for some time and enjoy getting underground. It's one of the last true frontiers that we haven't explored very much.

I too have read Mawson's Will and Endurance. Both were amazing. They're perfect examples of how little nature cares about us. It does it's thing, day after day. That puts a pretty heavy burden on mankind in extreme environments to be creative, resourceful, and to fight for survival. Shackleton's leadership inspired his men to survive more than a full year in sub-human conditions. And not a single man perished! Mawson lost his first man (and much of their gear) after only 6 weeks, yet he still was able to overcome some of the world's harshest conditions and return alive.

What I loved so much about Skeletons was that the party wasn't composed of explorers or men who had prepared for years for the environment they were entering. These were average guys who found it within themselves to endure some pretty inhospitable conditions and even more inhospitable people.

That's great J. I look forward to hearing what you think about it!

I absolutely loved this book! It's a tough story to read at times but is a tough book to put down. Many things had to come together perfectly for the survival of some of the characters. I learned a lot about the region and culture in which the story took place. This book was utterly amazing in its scope!

I'll be curious to see what the rest of you think about this book. Feel free to copy/paste your GR review in to this thread or post new content here. This will also be a great place to pose questions to the group, and so forth. Enjoy!

Thanks to all who participated in this giveaway. It appears that we may just have enough books for all who expressed interest. The author will be contacting you for your address. We look forward to reading your reviews!

This book was voted in as our group read for February. I just so happened to have read this one already so I'll be sure to chime in with my thoughts. Buckle up for the ride. This is a wild one!!

That sounds like a great idea Michelle!

Thank you for letting us know Michelle. Wow, you are proactive! I look forward to reading your review!

Two more days until we find out which of these 3 books we'll be reading in the WS February Book Club. Be sure to click on "Polls" on the right side of your screen to vote for your favorite!

Two more days until we do the final drawing to select our winners. Best of luck guys!

Good call Angela! Because Alaska gets so much moisture I could see the dry tinder being super helpful!

haha you guys crack me up. These are some great answers! I like the creativity. Keep it up!

I just wanted to let everyone know that this giveaway will be closed as of February 1st. So, if you are interested in a copy of this book, get in while the gettin's good!

We have 10 free PAPER copies of Thirty Below by author Harry Groome. To be considered for this drawing you need to do two things: 1) add this book to your Want To Read Shelf and 2) answer the following question below:

If you found yourself stranded in the rugged Alaskan backcountry wilderness in deep winter what 3 things would you want to have along with you?

When the 10 winners have been selected the author will contact them for mailing addresses. This giveaway expires on 2/1/15. Best of luck!

I'm closing this thread now and will open up a poll for group members to vote on which of these 3 books you'd like for us to read in February for our Wilderness Survival book club. Enjoy!

H.L., that's a great recommendation. I'd never heard of it but the summary sounds pretty intriguing. Nothing like the hunt of no return!

Ironic that you nominated this one J. I had already downloaded it to my phone but hadn't read it yet! It's nice that it's free on Amazon. It looks really interesting!

Welcome to the official launch of the WS Book Club! Please nominate the book you'd like everyone to read for a February discussion. After we have nominations I will create a poll for voting on your choice.

Please try to suggest books that you feel will lead to a lively, interesting discussion. They may be true survival stories, survival how-to, about urban survival (preppers), or we may even read an occasional fictional survival story!

• Each person may nominate one book. (try to include a text link to book; a 90 second video tutorial can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX9Vd...)
• Must be easily available.
• Under 350 pages.
• No self-nominations.
• Available in a form under $10

Here's my nomination to get things started:

Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King