The Meateater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival
“Over the years we haven’t encountered a single serious outdoorsman who was willing to rule out the possibility of cannibalism”
In a massive departure from my normal genre of Christian focused writings, I decided to venture into a book that was clearly designed, marketed, and published to make money. Unfortunately, I am one of those who helped further the objective of the book.
It is book 45 of 52 in the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, and I have chosen The Meateater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival by Steven Rinella, although I highly doubt that he actually wrote a word of the book. The book clearly reads like a ghostwriter and is arranged in the purest form of a publisher looking for profit.
While I do not hide my disdain for the arrangement and writing of the book at all, I cannot help but be intrigued with its content, especially seeing as I am a partner in a company that specializes in designing and creating Emergency Packs.
I do NOT recommend that anyone buys this book unless you absolutely love hunting and the outdoors and are looking for a great coffee table cup rest, as you will assuredly never pick it up again. All the information in this book can be found online on YouTube or other survivalist blogs.
Here are a couple of takeaways that you can find almost anywhere but are absolutely essential to know!
1. Survival Situations
Wes Siler: “People have always managed to find stupid ways to die”
I agree with Rinella’s introduction, a survival situation can happen to anyone at any time, and most likely, it will happen at the most inopportune time.
For a Storm Packs blog, I wrote that it only takes one event, one real emergency, to teach you the hard lesson that you should always be prepared.
Rinella suggests the easiest thing to do that will handle 90% of emergency situations is having the right gear at the right time. In short, having an emergency kit in your home, car, office, and when you go out into the wilderness.
In the book, Rinella provides a list of what to include in a pack. I won't produce the whole list here, but you can go to the Red Cross website for a good list, or just email me and I can send you over the list we use at Storm Packs. In general, the 10 essentials won't take up much room in your home, condo, dorm room, office, car, baby stroller, or backpack, so there is no reason to ever travel without them!
2. I am Afraid of Sharks, Bears, and the Dark
“Mosquitoes kill nearly three-quarters of a million people annually world-wide, compared to an average of five fatal grizzly bear attacks per year”
Early, Rinella stated that there are normally no more than 2 fatal shark attacks worldwide every year. By and far, mosquitoes are the more deadly and to be feared pest in the wild, and in your own backyard.
I actually did find Rinella’s advice on mosquitoes intriguing and I am going to put it to the test next chance I get!
According to Rinella, as long as you have waterproof material, either Gore-Tex or treated nylon, it doesn't matter how thin, mosquitoes won't be able to bite you. As opposed to the cotton sweatshirt, which is most people's normal go to on a nice cool evening around the fire, mosquitoes will eat you alive.
3. You will die without Shelter
“Having a place to get out of the elements during a survival situation could mean the difference between living and dying.”
While it depends on your environment, this can be quite true. For example, if you are in San Diego, you can live outside 365 days a year and never be in jeopardy of dying, in fact, you will be quite comfortable most of the time. Try that same strategy in Alaska and you will be dead.
Most people are not planning on going camping without a shelter, and are intuitive enough to think to get under a tree or overhanging rock if it is raining. But the reality is people die every year of exposure. Often because they find themselves in situations that they were either unprepared for in expertise or in equipment.
Overall, don’t buy this book. I actually enjoyed it because I love this stuff and believe in preparedness. But you can find out all this info online or if you have a specific question just shoot me an email! If you must buy it, see the link below.
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.