Sometimes, reading about adventures won’t do the trick. We need to get out there. These two books will give you a basic understanding of survival on both the practical and psychological level. Arctic Survival and Jungle Survival is a compilation of two books. The first, Arctic Survival, was a pamphlet approved by the American Air Ministery and was a mandatory part of the emergency packs on military planes operating in the Arctic in the 1950′. As you might have guessed, it is all about survival, keeping warm, and optimize the chances of being found in time. In the Arctic your worst enemy is yourself. Panicking and bad decisions due to stress can be fatal, and this book will teach how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
How to build iglos
In the second book, Jungle Survival, your worst enemy is dangerous animals. You will learn how to deal with snakebites, mosquitos, and find food.
The Gift – Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies is the anthropological classic on economy, society and sociology by the french sociologist Marcel Mauss. The book investigates the gift as predecessor for modern societies economies by comparing habits from a range of traditional societies all over the world. Marcel Mauss describes how the people of Polynesia used gifts as a donation of authority and circulation of wealth and tributes. He compares the habits between eskimo tribes from North-East Siberia and West Alaska shows how gifts are the foundation for everything from marriage, war and peace and even religion in the form of sacrifices to the Gods. Marcel Mauss concludes: “In any society it is in the nature of the gift in the end to being its own reward.”
From the book:
“I have never found a man so generous and hospitable that he would not receive a present, nor one so liberal with his money that he would dislike a reward if he could get one. Friends should rejoice each others’ hearts with gifts of weapons and raiment, that is clear from one’s own experience. That friendship lasts longest—if there is a chance of its being a success—in which friends both give and receive gifts. A man ought to be a friend to his friend and repay gift with gift. People should meet smiles with smiles and lies with treachery.”
THE VOYAGES OF THE NORSEMEN TO AMERICA is an impressive historical presentation of the travels by the Vikings to America. The book was written by the dane William Hovgaard and published in English in 1914. His aim was to collect all the historical facts and evidences from various sources, and up to today Voyages of Norsemen is the authoritative compilation of historical descriptions of the travels of the Vikings to Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. The book is richly illustrated with maps and photos from expeditions to places where the Norsemen according to the sagas have been. William Hovgaard has many interesting points and for instance he draws similarities between popular folk games played by Norsemen in Iceland and Inuit games, and thereby supports written sources about Viking travels to remote parts of Greenland and Canada. The book goes into details of the following Viking voyages to America:
List of Viking voyages to America:
Bjarni’s Voyage (985 or 986)
Leif’s Return Voyage from Norway (1000)
Leif’s Voyage of Exploration to Vinland (1001)
Thorvald’s Voyage
Thorstein’s Voyage
Karlsefni’ s Expedition
Download the free PDF e-book here (408 pages/28MB):
Free Public Domain PDF e-books about adventurers, explorers, sailors and mountaineers from all over the world – and exciting novels of adventure. Be inspired and learn how the world was discovered.
