We’re missing some of the most vital survival skills like how to trap and prepare food and how to build and effective shelter, how to navigate without the use of a map or compass. These survival guides are designed to equip you with the knowledge needed to thrive in the great outdoors. Follow the advice in these books, and you’ll never be without some way to improve your situation, whether you find yourself stranded, or you’re just on the lookout for ways to challenge yourself.

Get back to nature, and use what’s around you to your advantage. These Survival Guides compiled by the experts at Camping Things are guaranteed to make you smarter, and harder to kill.

SAS Survival Guides: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea by John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman

‘The definitive guide to not dying when you’re outside.’

Would you know what to do in the event of a fast-spreading flash fire? How about a flood? What would you do if you were stranded with nothing to eat? It’s time to face reality, you’re unprepared, unsafe to be walking around in the wild. You need this book.

Written by survival expert John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman, who is most definitely not anything like either Bear Grylls or Ray Mears, the SAS Survival Guide is a real-world, practical guide to staying alive when things get hairy. It might seem like overkill for your everyday person to be learning these sorts of skills, but hey, the zombie apocalypse has got to come some time.

A solid addition to any outdoor-lover’s book collection, keep a copy in the car, and one in your rucksack.

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Wilderness Navigation For Dummies: 15 Hacks To Get Yourself Out And To Find Your Way Without GPS by Micheal Courtney

‘Google Maps won’t save you this time.’

Navigation is one of the most essential skills any outdoors-lover can have. Know where you’re going, and where you’ve been, and you’ll save time, effort, precious calories and even more precious hours of daylight. Not only a great addition to your weekend camper pack, for when you find yourself deep in the woods without any service, this book is great for reminding even experts of the basics when it comes to effective navigation.

No need for phones, learn how to read maps properly, as well as how to use the environment to figure out where you are, and where you need to head next.

Simple, easy-to-follow tips, all of which we found to be genuinely useful and practical. Highly recommended when all you want is the bare bones of effective navigation.

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A Survival Guide For Life by Bear Grylls

‘More life lessons from the UK’s chief scout master and hardman.’

We love Bear Grylls, and while his fieldcraft advice might be a little extreme for the average weekend camping trip, his advice for life is solid. A media personality, family man, former army man and Everest climber, Grylls is more more than qualified to give advice on how to set and reach goals.

In Survival Guide For Life, Grylls talks about how to live with intention and purpose, how to take control of yourself, so that you can live a more adventurous, more impactful life. If you like Grylls’s practical survival guides, you’ll love this.

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Bear Grylls World Adventure Survival Camp by Bear Grylls

‘The number one intro to survival guide for young explorers.’

Here’s one for the kids. As the UK’s chief scout master, Grylls knows a thing or two about getting those badges. How to start safe, responsible and eco-friendly camp fires, how to forage, how to tie various knots, it’s all covered in the ultimate young adventurer’s guide to outdoor survival.

Pitched at children and scouts in particular, the World Adventure Survival Camp guide would make an excellent gift, and could kickstart a love for the outdoors that will last a lifetime. This one comes highly recommended by all of us at Camping Things, as both a fun and informative read, and as a childhood reading companion. One of Grylls’s best books, in our opinion.

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Survival Guide: The Book All Survivalists and Preppers Need

‘A low-key guide to staying on top of things in the great outdoors.’

This short guide is packed with essentials and good-to-knows, and, as the title rightly points out, is a great one to have stashed away, if you’re a frequent camper or trapper.

It’s not as in-depth as many of the other survival guides on our list, but it’s a solid little book for those in need of a quick tip on how to keep food fresh and how to build basic traps. Buy a copy and keep it in your car, or use it as fire kindling (this is survival, after all.)

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Best Survival Guides