The Rough Guide to Travel Survival 1

by Doug Lansky, Rough Guides

The Rough Guide to Travel Survival is the essential field manual for every adventurous traveller, or those that just want to feel a little safe while away. This book is arranged into easy-to-read chapters covering preparation, basic travel, survival strategies, environment-specific situations (arctic and mountain, sea, political hotspots, natural disaster, desert, jungle) with easy-to-follow diagrams throughout. Each of the main chapters has step-by-step, practical advice for all situations, in all environments, from surviving an avalanche or navigating in the desert to coping with an ambush or a hostage situation. The book concludes with a set of comprehensive and indispensable appendices packed with instructions, from first aid to making a fire.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

DOUG LANSKY is an American travel writer and keynote speaker based in Sweden. He spent about 10 years traveling the world nonstop, visiting over 100 countries, and has since lived outside the US for an additional 13 years. Doug has contributed to Esquire, Men’s Journal, The Guardian, National Geographic Adventure, Reader’s Digest, COLORS Magazine, PublicRadio, and many others. He has written books for Rough Guides and Lonely Planet (advice and photo books, not guides) and has had a nationally syndicated travel column in 40 newspapers around the United States. He has always been mindful of the effects of travel writing and the impact of tourism, and currently writes about this in a regular column for Skift and speaks about it at tourism conferences around the world.

Reviews

[Anick-Marie]

Je n'hésite pas à le dire : ce livre complémenterait à merveille notre guide de voyage alternatif à paraître si seulement il était en français !

Divisé en neuf sections, l'ouvrage de format pratique couvre succinctement les principaux environnement hostiles à l'homme soit les climats froids et la montagne, le désert, la jungle, la mer et les zones instables/en guerre. Vous y trouverez également des conseils généraux de préparation et de sécurité, une section sur les catastrophes naturelles et une série d'annexes utiles (noeuds, médecine de terrain, faire un feu, etc. ), chaque partie étant ponctuée d'un témoignage de survie après un évènement infortuné.

Contrairement au livre de Piven et Borgenich Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel qui lui se veut ludique et graphique, Doug Lansky nous propose un guide très pratique, adapté au terrain, à part peut-être la taille de la police qui force souvent à plisser les yeux). En considérant sa taille, le livre pourrait difficilement être plus complet. L'auteur a eu recourt aux connaissances d'experts dans les domaines les plus pointus et ne s'attarde pas aux détails permettant le confort ni la façon d'atteindre les milieux hostiles. L'unique but du livre est d'éduquer à la survie : préparation, prévention, techniques essentielles (construction d'abri, conduite d'un véhicule dans le désert, gestion de l'eau, marche sur glacier, etc. ) et survie post-incident.

En gros, un bijou de livre à garder en poche pour les plus aventuriers, à lire et relire pour les voyageurs explorant de nouveaux horizons, une bouffée d'inspiration pour démystifier la survie, pour aborder des défis plus grandioses, scruter les paysages d'un oeil averti et ... en profiter pour quelques années encore !

[Lorri]

I browsed most of this book thinking it was rather simplistic - who is going to find they need to do CPR and whip out their survival guide? Or be in many of these situations and need to read how to set a fire or build a snow house?
The reason I've borrowed this for the second time and am making notes is because of the excellent description of assorted emergency first aide situations and what medications to take if there is no doctor handy. Please note that the book is dated and many of the diseases are now resistant to the recommended antibiotics. Check out Lonely Panet's Treking in Nepal for more current recommendations and then discuss it with your doctor before you go somewhere where you will need this knowledge. And take a CPR course before you go and travel with someone knowledgeable.

[Cherie]

A- Read this in a train ride, or so--very quick info about how to survive. Interesting, though much of it will (hopefully) never apply to me.