Stay Alive!: Survival Skills You Need

The front cover states "Stay Alive, Survival Skills you Need". This was a follow up from Mr. McCann's first book "Build the Perfect Survival Kit".So my first impressions of this book before really diving into it is that it has good detailed colored pictures, but it seemed like the majority of the pictures were of gear. OK, I'm a gear queer, no issue there, lets get into reading the book.The book is a little over 250 pages long, and measures 9"x6"x.5"; a little big for anything but a large kit but is only a little larger than the custom reference book (in a military flight crew checklist folder) I keep in my kit. It is not a hard read by any means but doesn't make you feel over educated either.So my post reading opinion of the book. I have not read his first book "Build the perfect survival kit" but I feel this must have been pretty close to the first book. So why would I say that? Well akin to my initial observations, the book really focuses more on what's in your survival kit and what gear is out there versus actual skills. Overall the book is about 85% kit, 15% skill, which I felt was contradictory to what the statement on the cover of book that again states "Survival Skills you Need".I found allot of the recommendations and uses for the gear mentioned to be very valuable and great for someone that has yet to find the right balance in their kit, or has yet to put together a kit. Everything recommended has a short description on how or when to use the item which again I found helpful.The books strong points on skills (the 15% that are int he book), were in the Gear, Land navigation section, Animal/fish trapping, Water transportation (light on the purification side, but again heavy on gear that will purify it for you) and Signalling. Even though I say these were the books strong points even the author admits its a basic beginning/reference.So when the author referenced his website a few times in the book I made it a point to visit online. What I found was his website literally sells all the gear he mentions in this book. I felt that this kind of made his book kind of a shoppers guide to gear. Now if he truly believes this gear is the best, which i agree some of it is, then props. It just shows his devotion and beliefs that this is top notch gear if so. Some of the more expensive items he shows in his book (ex. Fehrman knives, some prices over $400.00) are not on his site.Mr. McCann does run his own survival school out of the Adirondack park in NY. He does not mention firearms in his book, or their use in a survival situation. To me he perceives himself a bit of a naturalist. No mention of defense, in matter of fact the only time he mentions defense is if your getting mauled by a black bear; two areas I find very important to be well rounded in prepping or survival. I feel maybe he could have mentioned how to make a bow, club, or even show in his short section about slingshots how they can be used in self defense.He mentions his own school and books in the back of the book under references, which he is entitled to do as the author, but doesn't really show his humble side in my opinion.Rating: So not to insult the member that has this in their BOB, but this would never make its way to my BOB as a reference book while in the field. I think this is a great book if your just getting started and haven't started assembling a kit yet. I will be purchasing a few items myself because they will compliment my kit well. It's a good book to have in your survival library, but as a reference for gear, not for skills (which I feel a BOB reference book should be all about). Recommended for people just waking up from sheeple mode getting started in prepping. For those of you that have a comprehensive kit already assembled I suggest passing the book over and visiting Mr. McCanns website: [url][...][/url] just to search through options and to do a little window shopping.Final note: I'm not knocking the author but want to give you all my fair unbiased assessment of the book and what I took from it. I would personally like to go through his school and will be buying a few items from his website but I will not be buying anymore of his books. Not at my level of preparation anyway.Hope this helped.

Possibly should have been titled "Build the Perfect Survival Kit, Vol II". Some of the information is word for word the same as in John's first book. Still it was filled with good information that added to the knowledge from his first book. Again it was well written and filled with valuable information but I felt it was less about the skills and more about how to use things carried with you in a well stocked survival kit. Granted these are skills that are helpful if you need them and the first step is to be prepared. I did enjoy this book and modified some of the items I carry with me after reading it. I also fully supported John's advice to practice these skills before you need them to save your life.

The title of this book is misleading. The front cover screams "stay alive!" and "survival skills you need". while the book contains very little info on the actual skills to help you survive or stay alive. Instead, it's filled with ton of outdoor gear of all sorts which the author recommends you carry and explains their uses briefly. That's all good. If you have the money, buy the latest gear and fancy knives and all that but where are the actual survival skills? Very little to be found in this book. Just the very basics are covered and no outdoor first aid. In truth, I have all the survival items that I need already so this book really does nothing for me. Seems like the author just remixed and expanded his previous book "build the perfect survival kit" and published this book so if you have that text, I'm not sure you will need this one.

I own both of John's books Stay Alive and  Build the Perfect Survival Kit . I have read them both several times and refer back to them often for reference and ideas to better live in the outdoors.Stay Alive is the perfect book for the novice outdoors person as well as experienced bushcrafters. John writes concisely and effectively to convey simple as well as complex topics. He especially explains the basics of navigation and map reading well.Overall I would recommend either of John's books to anyone looking to expand their knowledge of the outdoors, bushcraft and survival skills.

This is a fantastic book by John McCann. The author really knows his stuff, & the book is an excellent follow-up to his first book, Build The Perfect Survival Kit. There's a lot of information available today on the subject of survival, much of which is produced by people who don't have real experience in this area. Mr. McCann is a seasoned military veteran who practices his skills in the field. In my opinion, you won't find a better person suited to teach you survival skills. How To Build A Pocket Survival Kit (Building Your Own Survival Kits)

This book is all about Common Sense. But I didn't KNOW it was common sense until I read it.John McCann writes this book in a very understandable way. He makes what he is teaching youseem like you already knew it,,, you just hadn't thought about it that way. It makes his lessonsmemorable. I have never written a book review before, but this book deserved it.Must Read.Molon Labe

If you are venturing into the outdoors, do yourself a favor and put together a basic emergency survival kit. If you decide to put together a basic emergency survival kit, do yourself a favor and buy this book. This book is chock full of excellent information. It's hard to know while browsing books online which ones are just fluff and which ones are worth having. This one is worth having.

Stay Alive: Survival Skills You Need is a straight forward, common sense look at getting through a wilderness survival situation. It does not cover survival kits in depth as that subject was covered by the author in his previous book Building the Perfect Survival Kit. What this book does is give you the information necessary to use those survival kits effectively. It is written so that everyone, from novice to experienced survivalist can learn from it.

An excellent book about survival techniques.It is very enlightening on the various techniques and items of survival use.A very recommendable book for every outdoors lover/enthusiast.

Very useful information. Could save your ass.