Booklist Part 2

By Neal Ritter

I love books. When I was eleven years old, my uncle gave me a survival skills book for my birthday. I carried that book everywhere, carefully examined every page. Over the years, my interests have moved a little away from strictly survival skills, to a broader selection of books ranging from bushcraft to primitive skills to historical accounts of the lifeways of indigenous people. Some of these are a great resource for primitive skills practitioners in Colorado, others come from locations around the world. Two of my favorite I can’t even read as they are written in Dutch! Here is a list of many of my favorite primitive skills books in terms of instructional resources. Enjoy!

General Skills

  1. Primitive Technology edited by David Wescott
  2. Primitive Technology II edited by David Wescott
  3. Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen
  4. Practicing Primitive by Steve Watts
  5. Participating in Nature by Thomas Elpel
  6. Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski
  7. Earthknack by Bart and Robin Blankenship
  8. Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills by John and Geri McPherson
  9. Bushcraft Handboek by Rene Nauta and Beke Olbers (in Dutch!)

Skill Specific Books

  1. The Universal Toolkit by Paul Douglas Campbell
  2. Deerskins into Buckskins by Matt Richards
  3. Buckskin by Steven Edholm and Tamara Wilder
  4. Tanning Game by Hanna Nore
  5. The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible volumes 1-4

Enthographic Resources

  1. Survival Skills of the Primitive Paiutes by Margaret Wheat
  2. Survival Skills of Native California by Paul Campbell
  3. Indian Fishing by Hilary Stewart

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