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Wilderness Skills Institute's Bibliography

 
 

This is where the list of preferred reading suggested by the director for the staff. Check back often. If you have any suggested books please email me.

When purchase please help support us by checking with our store Wilderness Skills Mercantile first to help support us.

   title author pub Most reviews are from other sources 

Ancestral Stories

 Ingwe  Ingwe    
  Indian Tales Jaime de Angulo    
  A Rendezvous Reader; Tall, Tangled, and True tales of the Mountain Men James H, Maguire, Peter Wild, and Donald A. Barclay    

Architecture

 A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series) Christopher Alexander   This book is the 2nd volume of the set and is substantive, illustrated discussion of a pattern language derived from traditional architecture
  The Timeless Way of Building Christopher Alexander   The 1st volume of the text above.
  New independent home Michel Potts Chelsea  

Camp Games

 The POSSIBLESbag Chris Cavert    
  The Empty Bag; Non-Stop, No-Prop, Adventure-Based Activities for Community Building. Dick Hammond and Chris Cavert    
  Raccoon Circle; A handbook for facilitators  Jim Cain    

Cultural Anthropology

 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared M. Diamond  Penguin Diamond's book deals with "societal collapses involving an environmental component, and in some cases also contributions of climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, plus questions of societal responses" . In writing the book Diamond intended that its readers should learn from history.
  Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell   This seminal work has influenced millions of readers since it was originally published in 1949, bringing the insights of modern psychology together with Campbell\'s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell formulated the dual schemas of the Hero\'s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through all of humanity\'s mythic traditions, and of the Cosmogonic Cycle, the stories of world-creation and -dissolution that have marked cultures around the world and across the centuries.
  Primitive Mythology; the Face of God Joseph Campbell    
  The Power of Myth (Paperback) Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers    
  The Sacred Hunt: Hunting As a Sacred Path   Randall L. Eaton PhD    
  Black Elk Speaks John Neihardt ISBN 0-8032-8359-8 Black Elk Speaks is a 1932 book which relates the story of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man, as told by John Neihardt. Black Elk's son, Ben Black Elk, translated Black Elk's words from Lakota into English
  Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization   Heinrich Robert Zimmer and Joseph Campbell Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization - (May 1, 1972) by Heinrich Robert Zimmer and Joseph Campbell
  Man and His Symbols   Carl G. Jung  
 

Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 9, Pt. 1)

   Carl Jug  
  The Foxfire Books Eliot Wigginton   The articles in these books are written by Appalachian high school kids interviewing their elder about skills and live in the mountains. I read these books in high and because I was into the skills being written about, but later the books taught me how to be the teacher I wanted to be.

Ethnobotany

 Tending the Wild M. Kat Anderson M.   Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended.
  Seaweed, Salmon, and Manzanita Cider: A California Indian Feast (Paperback) Margaret Denise Dubin    
  Chumash Ethnobotany; Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People of Southern California Jan Timbrook    

Field Guides

 Peterson Field Guides: Reptiles & Amphibians, Western  Robert C. Stebbins    
  Peterson Field Guides: Venomous Animals & Poisonous Plants, Steven Foster & Roger Caras    
Field Guides,  Birds Sibley Field Guide: Birds Western,  David Allen Sibley    
  The Birder's Handbook Erlich, Dobson & Wheye    
  Jon Young    
  Peterson Field Guides: Western Birds Roger Tory Peterson    
Field Guides,  Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees Audubon Field Guide to Trees: Western  Elbert L. Little    
  Peterson Field Guides: Pacific States Wildflowers Theodore F. Niehaus    
  Botany in a Day  Tom Elpel    
       
Field Guides, Mammals Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking,  Donald W. Stoke and Lillian Q. Stokes    
  Peterson Field Guides: Mammals Fiona Reid    
  Skulls and Bones: A Guide to the Skeletal Structures and Behavior of North American Mammals Glenn Searfoss    
  Stokes: Field Guide to Bird Songs, Western, CDs   Kevin J. Colver with Donald and Lillian Stokes    
  Mammal Tracks & Sign Mark Elbroch    
  Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species  Mark Elbroch    
  Peterson Field Guides: Animal Tracks, Olaus Murie and Mark Elbroch    

Human Waste

 The Humanure Book Joseph Jenkin Joseph Jenkins, Inc The  pasteurization of human fecal material using the heat of composting.

Livestock

 Pork Industry Handbook Purdue Extension and the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence   The 2008 Pork Industry Handbook is the premier reference for modern American pork production with over 220 science-based and cutting-edge fact sheets for pork producers and related industries. Written and reviewed by hundreds of experts, it's the most complete industry guide available, and it's brought to you by Purdue Extension and the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence.

Mushrooms

 Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (2005, ISBN 1-58008-579-2) Paul Stamets http://www.tenspeed.com Soil mitigation using fungus.  growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment and mushroom expert Paul Stamets explains how in MYCELIUM RUNNING, a groundbreaking manual for saving the world through mushroom cultivation. 

Nature Education

 Kamana 1 Jon Young   Self Study Nature course
  Kamana 2 Jon Young    
  Kamana 3 Jon Young    
  Kamana 4 Jon Young    
  Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature: For Kids of All Ages and their Mentors  Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown   This is required reading for all staff that have not compleated RDNA or WAS
  Sharing Nature with Children  Joseph Cornell    
  Sharing Nature with Children II Joseph Cornell    
  The Tracker Tom Brown Jr.    
  Last Child in the Woods Richard Louv  

This is required reading for all staff that have not compleated RDNA or WAS.

In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

 

The Nature Principle

 Richard Louv   Richard Louv makes a convincing case that through a nature-balanced existence—driven by sound economic, social, and environmental solutions—the human race can and will thrive. This timely, inspiring, and important work will give readers renewed hope while challenging them to rethink the way we live.

Play

 The Nature of Play: Great Apes and Humans  Anthony D. Pellegrini (Editor), PhD Peter K. Smith Phd    
 

The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds

 Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, MSEd PEDIATRICS Vol. 119 No. 1 January 2007, pp. 182-191 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2697) Heard Dr. Grinsburg at a conference and he had great documentation to support what I have been saying about the need for free play. This report is required reading by our staff

Primitive Skills, General

 Earth Knack Bart & Robin Gibbs Smith Publishing Covers array of important basic skills. 
  Primitive Technology David Wescott  Gibbs Smith Publishing Best of the first 10 Bulletins of Primitive Technology. Great info.
  Primitive Technology Ii David Wescott  Gibbs Smith Publishing More of the best of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology. Great Info.
  Survival Skills Of Paul D. Campbell  Gibbs Smith Publishing Lots of how to and hands on information on traditional living skills.
  Participating In Nature Thomas J. Elpel's    

Primitive Skills, Tanning Skins

 Deerskins Into Buckskins Matt Richards    
  Buckskin ...the ancient art of braintanning Steven Edholm & Tamara    

Primitive Skills, Tool Making

 The Art Of Flint knapping DC Waldorf (Mound Builder Books)    

Sustainable Communities

 Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World Alan Weisman Chelsea Green Gaviotas is an eco-village located in the Colombian department of Vichada, at 4°33'17"N, 70°54'55"W. It was founded in 1971 by Paolo Lugari who assembled a group of engineers and scientists in an attempt to create a mode of sustainable living in one of the least hospitable political and geographical climates in South America.
Sustainable Communities Farmers Of Forty Centuries: Or Permanent Agriculture In China, Korea And Japan  F. H. KING, D. Sc.   In the 1909, American agronomist F.H. King toured China, Korea, and Japan, studying traditional fertilization, tillage, and general farming practices. He wrote his findings in Farmers of Forty Centuries, Or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan (1911, published shortly after his death by his wife, Carrie Baker King; numerous facsimile reprintings, including Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-43609-8, and Rodale Press, ISBN 0-87857-867-6). King lived in an era preceding synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production and before the use of the internal combustion engine for farm machinery, yet he was profoundly interested in the challenge of farming the same soils in a 'permanent' manner, hence his interest in the agricultural practices of ancient cultures. In recent years, his book became an important organic farming reference.
 
     
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