Book excerpt: This ground-breaking guide to survival in the wild covers all the essential skills required to cope with whatever nature has to throw at you - from steamy jungle to frozen tundra and from barren mountainsides to dehydrating deserts. This is the ultimate instruction manual for mastering the art of mental and physical survival. It explains every aspect of the four fundamental physical survival requirements of shelter, water, fire and food. Traditional wilderness skills are fully illustrated: making hunting tools and natural cordage, flint-napping, essential pottery and basketry, primitive and modern trapping and fishing techniques, plus practical wild food cooking. With over 650 illustrations, and 75 practical projects, this is the visual manual to surviving the wilderness and will appeal to the general public as well as more experienced explorers and adventurers.