Survival Guides: Basic Survival Skills
Survival isn't just about skill—it's about being prepared for the unexpected.
Deep in the forest, facing the wrath of nature, or just stocking up for any emergency, a survival guidebook can be the difference between life and death.
In an age where it is more adventurous to go into the wilds than ever, and disaster can occur at any notice, having it at your beck and call has become the survival of the savviest and the most adaptable.
These books are not just about reading material but lifelines packed with expert knowledge about staying alive in extreme situations.
They cover how to build shelters, find food, navigate without a GPS, and administer first aid, giving people practical skills they can use in real life.
Even the most experienced survivalists refer to them for information because there's no room for guessing in the wild or during an emergency.
We only include books in this list that are accurate, comprehensive, and practical.
These are not theoretical user manuals but ones designed step-by-step with survival stories happening in the real world and methods and techniques proven over time to work.
As such, these books will empower the outdoor enthusiast, the prepper, or the regular citizen to be prepared for any situation that comes their way.
Top 20 Survival Guide Books
1. SAS Survival Handbook - John 'Lofty' Wiseman
Any survival kit should include one of these books. It is said that John' Lofty' Wiseman has written one of the most influential survival books up to date.
The SAS Survival Handbook contains many skills that will help them survive extreme conditions, from getting lost in the bush or stranded in the desert to surviving an urban disaster.
Written by Wiseman, a British SAS soldier, the book gives firsthand practical knowledge that comes from real survival training.
It talks about wilderness survival skills, including fire-starting, finding water, building shelter, and first aid. It is truly valuable because it prepares you for real survival situations with self-defense, signaling for rescue, and psychological resilience.
Being a detailed yet easy-to-understand handbook, this guide is different from most survival books available. It is a reliable reference that you should read, whether you are a beginner or an experienced survivalist.
2. Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival – Tom Brown Jr.
This field guide is a good place to start if you want to learn wilderness survival naturally. Tom Brown Jr., a master tracker and survivalist, has crafted his survival handbook inspired by Native American techniques.
Unlike the SAS Survival Handbook, which is somewhat more tactical, this book is to live in tune with nature.
Brown teaches elementary survival skills: building shelter, making fire with friction, finding wild food with foraging, and his field guide includes techniques on tracking- a rare skill that can make you hunt, navigate, or even evade danger.
This book is excellent for those who admire Ray Mears and his approach to survival. It introduces readers to practical skills that go far beyond mere survival.
3. How to Stay Alive in the Woods – Bradford Angier
Some books on survival are very heavy on military-style training, and others focus too much on wilderness skills. This reference book strikes the perfect balance—it's easy to read, practical, and full of real-life survival techniques.
Angier covers everything from finding water, building shelter, hunting wild food, and dealing with emergencies.
The book shines because it emphasizes mental resilience, remaining calm, and making the right decisions in survival situations.
This is the best survival book for beginners. It explains the most straightforward survival skills. It is suitable for outdoor adventures, hiking trips, and preparing for natural disasters.
4. Five Years to Freedom by James N. Rowe
This is not any other survival book. It is the true account of how James N. Rowe survived five years as a POW in Vietnam. Most survival books hardly go deeper than the psychological approach to survival.
Rowe's account testifies to strong mental resilience, creative problem-solving, and survival skills in extreme conditions.
The techniques for escaping, surviving captivity, and survival when all hope is lost are also addressed.
This is an engaging book on survival techniques for readers who are interested in military survival or survival situations beyond the wild.
5. The Forager's Harvest – Samuel Thayer
One of the most valuable wilderness survival skills is finding wild food; Samuel Thayer's Field Guide came—the book is one of the best on foraging.
This survival book teaches you how to find and safely consume wild plants.
While most people think of foraging as simply picking berries, Thayer delves into great detail about what is edible and poisonous and how to prepare wild food safely.
This book is an excellent reference for survivalists, hikers, and anyone interested in natural food sources. If you ever need to stay alive in the wild, this survival handbook can help you avoid starvation.
6. The Complete First Aid Pocket Guide
Every survival kit needs to have a first aid book. This reference guide offers essential skills in treating injuries, handling medical emergencies, and preventing infections in a survival situation.
Unlike most wild survival books, this pocket-sized, take-anywhere book can fit inside a survival kit, except for CPR, trauma care, wound treatment, how to treat extreme medical situations if professional aid cannot be called upon, and so much more.
A guide for first aid is not that interesting, as many survival books could turn out to be lifesavers in emergency conditions.
7. The Ultimate Survival Manual – Rich Johnson
It is a book with 333 survival skills that any survivalist would need, so it is the best survival book for someone wanting to learn everything about the basics.
This survival book covers all the techniques one needs to know for wilderness survival, urban disaster preparedness techniques, and even post-apocalyptic survival strategies.
It is the complete guide to handling survival situations in any environment.
This is an excellent survival book for anyone, whether a beginner or an experienced survivalist. It is both entertaining to read and has step-by-step tutorials.
8. Special Forces Survival Guide – Chris McNab
This book is not just about survival in the wild but also military-grade survival. Chris McNab teaches tactics used by elite forces, such as combat survival, evasion techniques, and skills of urban warfare.
This is no ordinary book about outdoor adventures. It is a technical survival book that teaches one how to face life-or-death situations.
9. Bushcraft 101 by Dave Canterbury
If you enjoy wilderness survival, Dave Canterbury is probably your favorite. This field guide's keyword is self-reliance: it's an off-the-grid method of survival on the land using minimal gear.
It includes a basic range from fire making to building shelter and hunting to the making of tools, all seen from the practical application.
Many refer to it as the survival bible for newbies to begin foundational survival skills and then move on to more complex applications.
10. Wilderness Survival Guide – Gregory J. Davenport
Sometimes, you need a straightforward guide that defines what to do in a survival situation. This book does just that.
Davenport's survival handbook explains survival in simple steps: finding topics such as finding water, starting a fire, gathering food, and navigating.
It's an excellent reference book for your survival kit or car.
Learning survival skills is not enough; it's also about being prepared. This is an excellent read if you want a practical guide that doesn't waste time.
11. The Survival Handbook – Colin Towell
If you prefer step-by-step instructions with clear illustrations, Colin Towell's book is one of the best survival books.
This survival handbook covers everything from surviving in an extreme wilderness climate and emergency first aid to preparedness for a city attack.
Its unique visual approach includes diagrams in each chapter explaining how to build a shelter, locate water, or perform first aid.
Towell is an ex-British military survival expert, and his practical knowledge is evident in the depth of this field guide.
If you want a complete guide that's easy to reference in real survival situations, this book belongs in your survival kit.
12. Your Survival – Bob Arnot
Many survival books focus on wilderness survival, but Bob Arnot takes a different approach—this book is all about disaster preparedness for urban environments.
You may probably more likely face a tornado, earthquake, pandemic, or more power outages than get lost in the wild.
This survival guide teaches practical strategies for keeping your home and family safe, from food storage to self-defense.
It is one of the best survival books, teaching readers how to remain alive during modern crises. Survival isn't just about nature but about preparedness anywhere.
13. Survival Medicine Handbook – Joseph Alton, MD
A survival book for survival and preserving life. Given the case of a disaster, Joseph Alton's expertise is useful if professionals providing medical assistance are not available.
This survival guide covers wound and infection treatment as well as emergency treatments for survival situations lasting longer than days. It is great for preppers, off-grid homesteaders, and those who need to be prepared for anything.
This book in your survival kit can be used to deal with wound treatments, disease management, and medical emergencies, even in a remote place without a hospital. First aid is as important in survival as getting water or shelter.
14. When Technology Fails – Matthew Stein
There's no guarantee that technology is going to keep working. The survival encyclopedia is meant as a personal development book to enable readers to learn how to live off the grid if necessary.
Read Also: Book Review "The Survival Encyclopedia By Matthew Stein"
In the survival guide, Matthew Stein covers alternative energy sources, food storage, and sustainable living skills. One of these is about preparing for natural disasters or for those with a deep interest in living off the grid.
It is a great, fun read that makes one understand how vulnerable those modern conveniences are—and, hence, why one really needs to be taught survival skills.
15. Hawke's Green Beret Survival Manual – Mykel Hawke
Mykel Hawke's survival handbook is a must-read if you want military-level survival strategies. As a Green Beret expert, he provides real-world applications of military survival tactics.
This survival book covers wilderness survival, self-defense, and disaster response. Unlike many other books, it teaches basic survival skills and explores psychological resilience, combat techniques, and advanced survival methods.
Unlike most survival guides, This book interests any military survival training student because of the depth and practicality it provides.
16. Edible Wild Plants – Lee Allen Peterson
Foraging for wild food can be pretty dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. That's why Lee Allen Peterson's book is one of the best survival books on knowing your safe plants.
This reference book covers all the condensible, medicinal, and toxic wild foods in Central North America. The full-color images help readers recognize these foods in everyday life.
This survival field guide is that all-important ultimate food-finding tool for staying alive in the wild. Here is a perfect survival book, so keep it in your survival kit as well to keep yourself healthy.
17. When All Hell Breaks Loose – Cody Lundin
If you know Cody Lundin, you know he keeps survival honest. This book isn't just about staying alive and thriving in extreme situations.
Lundin covers mental resilience, food storage, self-defense, and adaptability. Unlike most wilderness survival books, this one also prepares you for major disasters, whether natural or artificial.
It's also an entertaining read, with Lundin's humor and wisdom making serious survival topics more straightforward. This one is for you if you want a practical, engaging, initial-s essential-skills-packed8.
18. Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag – Creek Stewart
A bug-out bag is a survival kit you grab when you must evacuate rapidly within a period of 72 hours. Creek Stewart's book is the ultimate guide to packing efficiently and preparing for disaster scenarios.
This book deconstructs:
✔ What essential items will you require
✔ How to pack based on different disaster situations
✔ The best ways to stay prepared without overpacking.
This book is a good place to start if you're new to survival preparedness. It's practical, to the point, and could save your life one day.
19. Northern Bushcraft – Mors L. Kochanski
Most survival guides focus on general wilderness survival, but what if you're in cold and harsh climates? That's where Mors L. Kochanski comes in.
This book is the best survival book for northern environments, covering:
✔ Fire-starting in extreme cold.
✔ Shelter-building with minimal resources.
✔ Tool-making and hunting in winter conditions.
If you ever need to stay alive in the harsh wilderness, this book is a must for mastering cold-weather survival skills.
20. The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere – John 'Lofty' Wiseman
If you liked the SAS Survival Handbook, this book is a super-expansion with all of the more essential survival skills to know.
From wilderness survival tactics to survival strategies in cities and towns, including advanced techniques, this book really goes that much deeper on essentials.
Natural disasters, getting stranded in the wild, and more, as well as navigating any crisis- whether it be out in the city or backwoods- will be covered here in this survival book.
Wiseman's writing expertise shines through, making this a complete book for beginners or experienced survivalists. If there is one reference book that prepares you for any survival situation, this is it.
Conclusion: Be Ready, Stay Safe, and Survive
Survival is not merely an adventure.
It is always being prepared for the unexpected: whether you become lost in the wilderness, hit by a natural disaster, or face an emergency in an urban setting, all this knowledge learned from survival books can be your difference between panicking and holding on to your control, or struggling and really thriving, between life and death.
In no way are the survival guides those books; they become a lifeline.
Included in each is such a powerhouse of essential skills that it can help any person survive based on real-life survival scenarios - from building your shelter, obtaining water, firemaking, first aid, or self-defense down to foraging wild food.
These books seem to pass on practical knowledge that everybody can learn.
This ends with reading. Knowledge without practice is useless. That's why you must apply what you learned.
Try building fire without matches, practice navigating without GPS, or assemble a bug-out bag equipped with all the things you'll ever need in case of an emergency.
The more you train, the more confident you'll be if you ever have to rely on these skills.
That is why, in this day and age, it's easy to assume that someone is out there who will always bail you out; help is just around the corner.
But history teaches us otherwise, that disasters can happen anytime and without warning, and sometimes, we are alone.
Preparedness and self-reliance are not exclusive only to survivalists or preppers.
So, take action today. Pick a book, start reading, and start practicing.
Because when the moment comes, when everything depends on what you know and what you can do, the most valuable thing you'll have isn't gear—it's the skills in your head and the confidence in your heart.
Survival isn't about waiting for rescue. It's about being ready to rescue yourself.
