"The U.S. Army Survival Guide". It's the field manual for the Army and tells how to survive anywhere, any time, from any kind of threat. If you had never been to the North Pole for example or the Amazon jungle, and got lost your first hour there, if you had this book with you, you could survive. I highly recommend it. It tells you how to tell if plants are safe to eat, it covers literally everything.

Foristlady is right on the money with that, annother book out I don't know if you can find it anymore is the US army Improvised Explosives and Demolitions book. I mean if you are gonna survive better be able to defend yourself with anything you can.

The USAF Search & Rescue Survival Training manual has a plethora of great information (it's one seriously hefty book, not practical for bugging out with, but you can make copies of critical information and memorize other stuff), on everything from trap construction to living with fallout, to edible plants/animals by region, and evading pursuers.

The army technical/field manuals are also very handy. Particularly TM 31-200/1-1 (Unconventional Warfare Devices and Techniques), TM 31-210 (Improvised Munitions), and FM 5-31 (Boobytraps) - there are others, dealing with military explosives, demolitions, and other, less conventional weapons/systems, but the three I listed are the ones I consider most critical in a survival situation.

Most people ought to stay away from explosives. They can easily do more harm than good if you're not properly trained.

I highly recommend Wayne J Fears' Complete Book of Outdoor Survival Second Edition, which covers all terrain and just about every situation short of civil war/collapse of society. Of course as someone pointed out earlier these kinds of things work fine for the short term, for the long term I would advise getting the Backwoods Home anthology, which is an off-grid persons dream come true in terms of infomration.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I was able to grab large amounts of survival guides, ebooks, & pamphlets from peer-2-peer groups for free. If you put aside the political beliefs behind the authors, you can amass huge amounts of info.

I did searches with keywords; anti-terrorism, survival, field manuals, winter handbook, NBC survival, & wilderness guide.

If you are as resourceful online as in the bush, you will get by fine.

I've managed to get a copy of the SAS/SBS survival booklet, which in the eyes of the British Military is the mutts nutts.

Very interesting facts on surviving almost everything.

Is there a website that allows you to share documents like pdf and such?
A sort of PHOTOBUCKET for texts one could share with others. Some of my 'free to distribute stuff' would available to interested parties.

Imo, military manuals, pubs and orders are too complicated and hard to follow. Boyscout survival books and internet printouts work much better, theyr'e easier to read and they usually have step by step pictures to follow.

Also, it will be much better in case your children or someone with less experience has to ever to use it.

Originally posted by Cug
My recommendation would be for you to study history. Find out how people lived 100, 200, 1000's of years ago.

Anthropology degrees come in pretty handy there. Imagine a post-apocalyptic world where anthropologists are the new celebrities . . . . it takes one's breath away.

Here's a book I HEARTILY recommend:

"THE GUIDE TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY"

It's an out of book from the 70's, designed to help people who were moving back to the country and living on farms without having grown up that way.

There are chapters on dressing game, curing meat, raising livestock, making your own bread, beer, you name it. A lot of it has survival implications, and all of it is fascinating.

I'd also suggest a Chilton's-type guide for every vehicle you own. Auto mechanics will rule the earth in any survival situation.