This is a book that you hope you never need, but sooner or later you probably will--I found it useful to review the first aid techniques as well as the emergency preparation lists and recommended equipment. Natural disasters are an increasingly common occurrence and a little preparation can make a huge difference. The author is also realistic about the psychological aspects of survival.

All in all, a handy book indeed. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Great book to read and have on hand, covers a lot of tips, terrains and just really great important survival and emergency info. Would love to own a copy for sure.

I have mixed thoughts on this book and was confused at what the book was aiming for at times whilst looking at it. To begin with the book is marketed as 150 survival tips but in the contents it numbers over 300 (not sure what they count as a tip though as it stops being numbered) . The book is divided into chapter based on the environment you're travelling to and how to survive off the land if need be. Many situations could have been left out as they would be highly unlikely to happen like being followed by a Polar Bear.
It's not as comprehensive or as straight forward as it could be as some sections explained why something was useful without showing what it was or for example with plants and fungus it would explain types you can and can't eat but with only a few pictures so it's completely useless as you would need a separate ID book or you could poison yourself. To me it is really a book for preparing rather than worst case scenario and what to do at that moment. And I did definitely find some useful information that is relevant for the average outdoorsy person.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Amber Books Ltd for this complimentary eARC copy.

This was an interesting read and the author clearly knows a lot about the subject. It's not the only book you'll need in this kind of situation, especially related to wild foods (it's not an ID book and it's completely lacking here) and with medical information to a lesser extent. Johnson has experience in totally different situations than I do and I enjoyed reading his perspective. It's better suited for a world traveler than a prepper, if that makes sense (I am neither, but I tend to have more of the knowledge of the prepper crowd). This is more along the lines of how to get to civilization to get a doctor and such. There's still some good advice for a variety of situations like how not to get caught in a rip tide and what to do in an avalanche.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

II'm quite conflicted about this book. It's very clearly well researched and has a lot of useful information. I just cannot get over one thing.

If you are giving advice about specific fungi that are safe to eat and others that are deadly, you MUST HAVE PICTURES OF THE CAP, STALK, AND GILLS

This is not negotiable. Without this people will die. That is all.

I was a lot of very technical information that would have been better conveyed if more visual media was included. This should have included more illustrations or color photographs for maximal effectiveness.

This book has survival tips for nearly every situation. Finding shelter and water. What to eat and when and how to travel. The concerns you need to bear in mind regarding your clothing. A lot of these tips amount to being prepared before you leave, being certain that you have the right supplies with you should you need to survive. I might have liked more about what to do should you find yourself relatively unprepared. And the section on edible plants was lacking. There's a description but only the occasional line drawing. A photo would have been far more useful.

Survival Tips 150 Essential Life-saving Skills is a tutorial guide by Clive Johnson. Originally published in 2002 this reformatted second edition released 14th April 2020 from Amber Books is 322 pages and available in paperback format (1st edition available in other formats).

The book contains a collection of survival tips arranged thematically by terrain: mountains, desert, polar climate, sea, tropics, natural disasters. The author has also provided some ancillary information about situations and psychological stress factors which can affect the reader's chances of survival (anxiety, depression, hopelessness, etc and how to minimize their effects).

The introductory chapters include useful equipment and preparation lists as well as some general first aid and signaling and navigation to increase the chances for rescue.

The book is illustrated with black and white line drawings which support and supplement the text very well.

It should be noted that the book is written with non-American terminology and spellings (torch, flannel, colour, etc). It is not confusing or unclear in any way from context, and shouldn't detract at all from the usefulness of the volume for Americans. This isn't a book which will lend itself to being read cover to cover, but for short interludes or as a reference, it's quite useful.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

"Survival Tips" provides a series of brief tips about how to stay safe in a variety of landscapes (desert, snow, jungle, etc.) and how to deal with different emergency situations. This book is not comprehensive, not really survival training, and wasn't necessarily about unexpected emergency situations. For example, it started off with advice about what to carry in your survival kit when going hiking. The water survival tips assumed that you had been on a yacht equipped with a survival raft, so you can grab canned goods, a can opener, and water before getting into the raft. The author did have an illustration showing how to lash a raft together from wood, but a YouTube video showing these techniques in action would be more helpful and comprehensive.

The tips were generally only a few sentences long. He'd tell you how to find water, what animals and plants are edible, and what animals and plants are dangerous. However, you already have to know how to identify these plants and animals for this information to be useful. He also gave commonsense advice and advice that you probably would be given by instructors if you were going hiking in a snowy, mountainous area or visiting a desert area. He also gave some information about first aid, but much of this ended with evacuating the person to a hospital as fast as possible. Even if you had this book on hand in a survival situation, I didn't feel like the information was complete enough to help you survive. Since I learned how to do first aid, use maps, make fires, etc., in Girl Scouts and from my parents, I didn't really find much of this information useful.

A good resource to have if found in a situation where you need to survive on your own. Actually made me a little afraid of venturing outside my comfort zone, but that is a good thing. This cannot replace proper training of course, but would still be a useful tool to have handy. Would recommend.

This book is incredibly thorough! It contains a wealth of knowledge and information for any type of emergency that may arise. Clive Johnson has this book broken into sections that are very easy to navigate, such as by region, by disaster type and by first aid injuries. This is a good book to read through and then keep as a reference in a bug out bag or something of that nature. I am prior military so a few of the first aid items I had a minor familiarity to, but not enough to remember in an actual emergency. I recommend this book for those who live in areas that natural diseases occurs, military, those who camp, boy and girl scouts and the like, and anyone who maybe lives more isolated and may not have help easily and readily available in an emergency.

A very comprehensive quick guide to survive in different environments. Naturally, this guide does not replace a proper training course but gives the reader a good basis from which to further their education and training.
The pictures and demonstration all sketches were good and understandable. The only thing that I believe could use more information is the section of advice for the various countries. The political climate does not seem to be much reflected in the recommendations.

I am not usually a fan of survival books.. They tend to be more pomp and circumstance and less actual useful information. This little guide isn't like that, though. It's not just for playing at survivalist and pretending you live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It has information that is actually useful for real life emergencies, I doubt I'll need to make water from urine anytime soon but treating insect bites, reading maps, getting through a bad storm, all of these things are useful for anyone. Even if you're just stranded on the side of the road or got lost on a hike there is a lot of good information in this book. I wish I had a print copy and will buy one when I can (I looked on Amazon and at the moment the only one available is an out of print edition that is selling for hundreds of dollars) or even just had a copy I could add to my Kindle since it has a longer lasting battery than my phone or laptop. I will definitely recommend it to friends who travel and to anyone else really.

This is a brilliant book, I would recommend everyone has a copy in their house. Its packed full of information from how to drive off road to surviving in the sea to natural disasters. It covers more in this book than I thought it would. It also made me realise that whilst I learnt some of this as school, I have since forgotten it! I can’t give this anything other than the 5 stars it deserves. A must buy book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.