Not everyone is equipped with military training. For those who haven’t experienced hands-on training on how to survive disasters and emergencies, studying a quality survival guidebook is the next best option. Survival comes in many forms; thus, you need a book that can help you find what you aim to learn. There’s no “one size fits all” type of book when it comes to reading about survival. Whether you’re planning on collecting a library of self-preservation books, or you are looking to buy your very first survival guide, check out our list of the top 7 best survival handbooks.
Comparison Chart
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | DETAILS | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere | SAS Survival Handbook is a classic outdoor book that addresses every imaginable disaster scenario. It’s written by John Wiseman, a former survival instructor for Britain’s elite Special Air Service. This survival manual is the ultimate guide you need to endure any possible disaster you might encounter. | ||
| Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival | Bushcraft 101 is written by Dave Canterbury, co-owner and supervising instructor at the Pathfinder School, one of the Top 12 Survival Schools in the US. This book covers everything from building your survival kit, making tools and supplies, food selection, cooking, and protection from different environmental factors. It’s the ultimate preparation guide to endure the wilderness. | ||
| Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival | As obvious as it may sound, the Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival book offers over 200 ways on how to turn basic everyday items into survival necessities. This book teaches you practical ways to utilize your supplies for survival. | ||
| The Disaster Survival Handbook: A Disaster Survival Guide for Man-Made and Natural Disasters (Escape, Evasion, and Survival) | The Disaster Survival Handbook is a reference guide written by Sam Fury on how to survive man-made and natural disasters. It tackles the basics of prepping so you can survive even the aftermath. | ||
| Family Survival Guide: The Best Ways for Families to Prepare, Train, Pack, and Survive Everything | The Family Survival Guide is the best family reference to survive almost anything. Veteran adventurers Mykel and Ruth Hawke share vital information you and your family need to get through nearly any disaster safely. | ||
| 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Surviving in the Wild and Being Prepared for Any Disaster | The 100 Deadly Skills Survival Edition is written by the national bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Clint Emerson. It comes with all essential guide you’ll need to survive today’s emergencies. It covers navigating in the wild to staying alive in any disaster or calamity. | ||
| The Practical Survival Guide for Kids: A Basic How to Survive and be Prepared in the Wilderness | The Practical Survival Guide for Kids handbook is a must-have for households with children. It teaches young readers on what to do when faced with adversaries. It’s always best to equip them with practical knowledge they can use, especially during emergencies. |
Detailed Reviews on the Top 7 Best Long Term Survival Food
SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere
SAS Survival Handbook is a classic outdoor book that addresses every imaginable disaster scenario. It’s written by John Wiseman, a former survival instructor for Britain’s elite Special Air Service. This survival manual is the ultimate guide you need to endure any possible disaster you might encounter.
Product Highlights
The SAS Survival Handbook covers almost every thinkable disaster, emergency, and calamity scenarios. Whether you’re an avid prepper, a well-rounded survivalist, an ordinary hiker, keeping a copy of this book would prove useful in many occasions. It can teach you a lesson or two on basic survival. It even includes surviving in different topographies with varied terrain and climates. It’s the best pocket survival handbook to bring along or tuck away at home.
The Good
If you’re an adventure seeker, having this book handy would be a life-saver. It details survival techniques for every climate and weather you can think of. It even includes a section for surviving urban dangers. You can learn all about preparation, navigation, food and health, urban safety and security, and of course, disaster survival. It’s everything you’ll ever need to survive the challenges of the great outdoors.
The Bad
This book covers a lot of topics you’ll need to survive in any situation. Thus, it can get broad and spend a little detail in some aspects. However, the overall appeal of the book makes it popular for most preppers and survivalists.
PROs
- Covers most emergency scenarios
- Handy and convenient
CONs
- Topics can be too broad
Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
Bushcraft 101 is written by Dave Canterbury, co-owner and supervising instructor at the Pathfinder School, one of the Top 12 Survival Schools in the US. This book covers everything from building your survival kit, making tools and supplies, food selection, cooking, and protection from different environmental factors. It’s the ultimate preparation guide to endure the wilderness.
Product Highlights
Bushcraft 101 prepares you for your backcountry trip, which tackles different topics on outdoor survival. This book was based on the 5Cs of Survivability, which are cutting tools, covering, combustion devices, containers, and cordages. It is a relevant guide that offers only the most critical survival skills to help you utilize the resources around you and truly experience the excitement of the wilderness.
The Good
This book has been named the ultimate resource for experiencing the backcountry, and we definitely know why. Dave Canterbury covers all essential information on how to experience and survive the wilderness. It provides you with all information you need from preparation to creating your alternative tools, and of course, protecting yourself from the dangers that might be lurking in the shadows of the wild. This best survival handbook can get you all the help that you need when you need it.
The Bad
Although this book offers accurate details, it still falls short in terms of going deeper into a certain subject matter. You might need other sources if you’re really into detailed information and how to’s.
PROs
- Covers everything you need for backcountry survival
CONs
- Needs depth in other topics
Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival
As obvious as it may sound, the Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival book offers over 200 ways on how to turn basic everyday items into survival necessities. This book teaches you practical ways to utilize your supplies for survival.
Product Highlights
Not everyone would survive in the wilderness. That’s why, survival expert Creek Stewart shares his ideas for practical, easy-to-follow know-hows to help you convert everyday items into relevant tools that can save your life. Survival Hacks teaches you the step-by-step process in transforming basic objects into essential survival means.
The Good
This complete guide covers everything from simple hacks to the more complicated ones. This best pocket survival handbook will prepare you anywhere you go, so you’re never without the necessary tools you need to withstand any unforeseen circumstances.
The Bad
Although the book touches on wilderness survival, most of the ways presented apply to urban survival. If you live in an area prone to different natural disasters, this can still be a good book to try.
PROs
- Offers 200 ways to covert everyday items to survival tools
- Wide array of information
CONs
- More applicable in urban survival
The Disaster Survival Handbook: A Disaster Survival Guide for Man-Made and Natural Disasters (Escape, Evasion, and Survival)
The Disaster Survival Handbook is a reference guide written by Sam Fury on how to survive man-made and natural disasters. It tackles the basics of prepping so you can survive even the aftermath.
Product Highlights
This book covers almost all disasters you can think of! It will teach you the basics of how to survive fire, animal attacks, tornado, tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquakes, avalanche, flood, hurricane, blizzard, and sandstorm. It also tackles some man-made emergencies like biological contamination, plane crash, and public shootings. It offers practical, easy to follow guidelines on basic survival. It’s well-written and contains all information you’ll ever need in a compact and handy book.
The Good
Over-all, this is one of the best survival handbooks you can ever get your hands on. It’s compact, informational, and very practical. One advantage of the Disaster Survival handbook is its price range. It’s more affordable compared to other books on this list. Aside from teaching you the basics of survival during a disaster, it also touches the topics on prepping fundamentals. This book is indeed a must-have in your preparedness kit.
The Bad
There are no noticeable drawbacks for the Disaster Survival Handbook. It’s a great book to add to your emergency survival kit.
PROs
- Complete guide in surviving disasters
- Affordable, compact and informative
- Offers basic knowledge on prepping
CONs
- None for this handbook
Family Survival Guide: The Best Ways for Families to Prepare, Train, Pack, and Survive Everything
The Family Survival Guide is the best family reference to survive almost anything. Veteran adventurers Mykel and Ruth Hawke share vital information you and your family need to get through nearly any disaster safely.
Product Highlights
This highly recommended survival book covers all aspects of survival from a family viewpoint. It tackles the basics of food, water, fire, shelter, navigation, first aid, tools, signals, communication, and preparation. Written by true survivalists, there is a ton of useful information available in this book. It’s the best survival handbook for all families out there.
The Good
What we like about the Family Survival Guide is a wide range of topics covered. The ways presented are also efficient and easy-to-follow. In this book, you and your family will learn how to fetch clean water and how to construct a basic shelter to survive outdoors. You’ll also learn the essentials needed in a bug-out bag and some basic first aid skills. All the tips in this book are tested and proven by the authors themselves. It’s the only reliable reference you’ll ever need to get by any disasters.
The Bad
The only disadvantage of the Family Survival Guide handbook is the price range. It’s a bit more expensive compared to its counterparts. However, with the overload of information presented in this book, it’s still worth every penny you’ll spend.
PROs
- Complete survival guide for families
- Easy to follow and practical steps
CONs
- A bit more expensive
100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Surviving in the Wild and Being Prepared for Any Disaster
The 100 Deadly Skills Survival Edition is written by the national bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Clint Emerson. It comes with all the essential guides you’ll need to survive today’s emergencies. It covers navigating in the wild to staying alive in any disaster or calamity.
Product Highlights
The 100 skills included in this book are translated for civilians from actual field experiences of Special Forces operations. It offers an in-depth and hands-on guide to help you survive in the wild, be prepared in any crisis, and have the critical life-saving knowledge for staying safe and secured in any hostile conditions or disaster.
The Good
This book has it all. The 100 Deadly Skills Survival Edition is full of specific scenarios to help you understand and imagine different survival situations. The note-worthy part of this handbook is the detailed illustration guides next to each skill presented since not everyone can grasp written instructions fully. When you are in the midst of the apocalypse, you wouldn’t have the time for complicated instructions. Thus, it is one of the best survival handbooks if you’re looking for easy to understand survival manual.
The Bad
Since the author of this book is a recently retired Navy SEAL with twenty years of service with the Special Operations community, you would expect some technical and not practical tips. However, the over-all content is useful and can be easily grasped by civilians.
PROs
- 100 useful survival skills
- Detailed illustrations
CONs
- Some tips are too technical
The Practical Survival Guide for Kids: A Basic How to Survive and be Prepared in the Wilderness
The Practical Survival Guide for Kids handbook is a must-have for households with children. It teaches young readers on what to do when faced with adversaries. It’s always best to equip them with practical knowledge they can use, especially during emergencies.
Product Highlights
Being faced with a disaster is a scary experience, most especially for children. They might feel lost, not knowing where they are, or if someone will be able to find them again. This book is specially designed to teach kids the basics of survival. It has useful information on how they should deal with emergencies, how to stay safe, how to find water or food, and a lot more. With this book, you can guarantee the safety of your child wherever he/she might be.
The Good
What’s interesting about this book is its practical tips for a child’s survival. They say that children learn best when they start young. This book has everything they need to survive, even in the worst circumstances. As a parent, we always put the welfare of our children on top of our priorities. Equipping them with the right knowledge will help them be prepared for any scenario that might come their way.
The Bad
Since this is a book intended for kids, it should have been more appealing. The book did not contain any pictures or illustrations to catch the attention of young readers. But it’s still a good source of information for kids and novice survivalists.
PROs
- Practical tips for children
- Covers all basic survival skills
CONs
- No catchy illustration or pictures
Take Away
If you plan on succeeding in the wild, you have to learn the two parts of learning and mastering survival: theory and practical application. For theories, you can grab the best survival handbook there is, to learn the what-nots of survival. But practical application is different. You have to pack up your bag and experience the outdoors. Books can only take you as far as your imagination would allow you to. A wise Gunnery Sergeant once said, “nothing trains fire-building faster than a cold night.” Get more tips on survival guides.