Friday, July 15, 2016

Five of the best wilderness survival books

At B&N Reads Jenny Shank tagged five wilderness survival books to take along on your camping trip, including:
Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park, by Lee H. Whittlesey

Almost 3.5 million people visit Yellowstone National Park each year, and a handful of them become victims of either ill fortune or their own stupidity (or some combination of both). In the ’90s, Whittlesey, a Yellowstone park museum technician, decided to compile all of the unnatural deaths that had occurred in the park to help visitors know what to avoid to ensure their safety, and he ended up writing a survival classic. Death in Yellowstone launched a whole series of books featuring other national parks, and is an indispensable guide to what not to do when visiting the wonders of nature. Yanking on a bison’s beard? Inadvisable. Taking a quick dip in a boiling hot spring? Do refrain. Feeding a bear? Not unless you want to be on the menu. Fascinating cautionary tales abound in this book. As Whittlesey noted dryly in one interview, “Yellowstone is not Disneyland.”
Read about another entry on the list.

Death in Yellowstone made a list of Chuck Palahniuk's top 10 favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue