Outdoors books
Outdoors books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
Bushcraft 101
Dave CanterburyA widely read introduction to practical woodland skills such as fire, shelter, tools, and foraging, aimed at beginners.
Outdoor Survival Skills
Larry Dean OlsenAn early, influential survival guide covering shelter, water, food, and navigation, and a model for later survival manuals.
Microadventures
Alastair HumphreysArgues for short, low-cost overnight trips close to home, which lowers the barrier to going outdoors.
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-ThompsonA personal account of camping and travel in the American West, useful for seeing how outdoor writing started as memoir.
Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia
Vin T. SparanoA large reference covering many outdoor activities in one volume, typical of 1970s practical guides.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
Reading lists
More outdoors books
- Bushcraft
BushcraftMors Kochanski - Wilderness Medicine
Wilderness MedicineWilliam W. Forgey - Wilderness Navigation
Wilderness NavigationBob Burns - They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?Patrick F. McManus - Walden
WaldenHenry David Thoreau - A Sand County Almanac
A Sand County AlmanacAldo Leopold - The night the bear ate Goombaw
The night the bear ate GoombawPatrick F. McManus1989 - Let's Go to the Beach
Let's Go to the BeachMary Hill2004 - Balanced and barefoot
Balanced and barefootAngela J. Hanscom2016 - How To Knit In The Woods
How To Knit In The WoodsShannon Okey2008 - The kids campfire book
The kids campfire bookJane Drake1996 - The American boys handy book
The American boys handy bookDaniel Carter Beard1915