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Participating in Nature: Thomas J. Elpel's Field Guide to Primitive Living Skills
If you are ever out in the woods at sunset--lost, cold, and hungry--you'll be glad you read this book. Participating in Nature teaches you how to stay warm and comfortable without a sleeping bag, how to start a fire by friction, and how to build a reliable shelter from natural materials. But it's more than just a manual of survival skills; learning to live primitively enables you to understand and participate in the natural world. Thomas J. Elpel extensively researched self-reliance skills, including fishing by hand, cooking edible plants, felting with wool, and making stone knives, wooden containers, willow baskets, and cordage. Though many of these skills were perfected centuries ago, modern students and teachers will find them innovative and fresh. Nearly 200 photographs and sketches demonstrate these outdoor skills.
- GenresSurvivalNatureNonfiction
Paperback
First published November 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Thomas J. Elpel
16 books27 followersThomas J. Elpel has authored numerous books on topics ranging from wilderness survival and botany to stone masonry, sustainable construction, and green economics.
He is the founder of Green University® LLC and Outdoor Wilderness Living School LLC (OWLS), as well as HOPS Press LLC and the Jefferson River Canoe Trail.
As a child, Tom was mentored by his grandmother, Josie Jewett. Together they explored the hills and meadows near Virginia City, Montana, collecting herbs, looking for arrowheads and watching wildlife. Grandma Josie helped Tom to learn about native plants and their uses, igniting a passion for nature that has inspired him ever since. She also sparked his interest in survival skills.
Tom's first serious exposure to wilderness survival skills began at the age of 16, when he went on a 26-day, 250-mile walkabout in the desert canyons of southern Utah with Boulder Outdoor Survival School. The following year he and Grandma Josie went together to Tom Brown's Tracker School in New Jersey.
From there Tom spent thousands of hours practicing, developing, and teaching survival skills in his "backyard" in the Rocky Mountains. These experiences led to writing his book Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills.
Tom's basic philosophy is that wilderness survival skills are useful to connect with nature, yet you shouldn't run away from the problems of modern society. Instead, we need to apply the lessons of living close to nature to the challenge of solving our worldly problems.
Outdoor Wilderness Living School LLC is dedicated to providing Stone Age living skills classes and camping trips to public school groups. Tom launched Green University® LLC in 2004 to expand the curriculum from teaching merely primitive skills outward towards addressing issues of global sustainability.
In 2019 Tom enlisted former Green University students and led a "Missouri River Corps of Rediscovery" down the 2,341-mile Missouri River, as told in his award-winning book Five Months on the Missouri River: Paddling a Dugout Canoe.
He is the founder of Green University® LLC and Outdoor Wilderness Living School LLC (OWLS), as well as HOPS Press LLC and the Jefferson River Canoe Trail.
As a child, Tom was mentored by his grandmother, Josie Jewett. Together they explored the hills and meadows near Virginia City, Montana, collecting herbs, looking for arrowheads and watching wildlife. Grandma Josie helped Tom to learn about native plants and their uses, igniting a passion for nature that has inspired him ever since. She also sparked his interest in survival skills.
Tom's first serious exposure to wilderness survival skills began at the age of 16, when he went on a 26-day, 250-mile walkabout in the desert canyons of southern Utah with Boulder Outdoor Survival School. The following year he and Grandma Josie went together to Tom Brown's Tracker School in New Jersey.
From there Tom spent thousands of hours practicing, developing, and teaching survival skills in his "backyard" in the Rocky Mountains. These experiences led to writing his book Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills.
Tom's basic philosophy is that wilderness survival skills are useful to connect with nature, yet you shouldn't run away from the problems of modern society. Instead, we need to apply the lessons of living close to nature to the challenge of solving our worldly problems.
Outdoor Wilderness Living School LLC is dedicated to providing Stone Age living skills classes and camping trips to public school groups. Tom launched Green University® LLC in 2004 to expand the curriculum from teaching merely primitive skills outward towards addressing issues of global sustainability.
In 2019 Tom enlisted former Green University students and led a "Missouri River Corps of Rediscovery" down the 2,341-mile Missouri River, as told in his award-winning book Five Months on the Missouri River: Paddling a Dugout Canoe.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 27, 2023
A friend of mine who is a primitivist recommended the book to me. Reading it inspires me to attend primitive living courses. The author tries to demonstrate the primitive way of perceiving and being in the modern world. I appreciate that he's not a purist.
However, the author at times almost seems to be an apologist for modern technology and high-energy intensive lifestyles. At one point he claims technology is neutral. I side with authors such as Gerry Mander, Lewis Mumford, and Jacques Ellul who determine technology is not neutral. It has values laden in its creation and purpose of use. For instance, you cannot build solar power weapons of mass destruction or power your home with rooftop nuclear.
On page 63 he writes, "... many people think we should revert to a simpler type of civilization. Of course this type of thinking is useless...". Of course we are not going to have a choice in the matter, as fossil fuels are a limited resource. The myth of progress is a relatively recent civil religion (see Ronald Wright and John Michael Greer), and it's a shame that such a leader in the primitivist movement is beholden by it.
Also, it is difficult to put much of the book's instructions to practical use unless you were already somewhat proficient with these skills. The grainy black and white photos were not particularly helpful either. I think many of these skills just have to be taught hands-on with an instructor. Maybe I'll one day be able to participate in nature at the author's Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School.
However, the author at times almost seems to be an apologist for modern technology and high-energy intensive lifestyles. At one point he claims technology is neutral. I side with authors such as Gerry Mander, Lewis Mumford, and Jacques Ellul who determine technology is not neutral. It has values laden in its creation and purpose of use. For instance, you cannot build solar power weapons of mass destruction or power your home with rooftop nuclear.
On page 63 he writes, "... many people think we should revert to a simpler type of civilization. Of course this type of thinking is useless...". Of course we are not going to have a choice in the matter, as fossil fuels are a limited resource. The myth of progress is a relatively recent civil religion (see Ronald Wright and John Michael Greer), and it's a shame that such a leader in the primitivist movement is beholden by it.
Also, it is difficult to put much of the book's instructions to practical use unless you were already somewhat proficient with these skills. The grainy black and white photos were not particularly helpful either. I think many of these skills just have to be taught hands-on with an instructor. Maybe I'll one day be able to participate in nature at the author's Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School.
October 19, 2010
A great introduction to survival skills and primitive living. Elpel blends common sense, ecological awareness, aboriginal skills, and modern thinking into a concise and fun to read guide.
September 6, 2012
Thomas does an excellent job of introducing people to primitive skills. The narrative style is comfortable and easy to read and access.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews