Books

These books would make excellent gifts for Scouts or Scouters. As a Scouter and outdoorsman they have been a source of inspiration, practical skills, Scouting history, outdoor lore, and for many years. If you follow the links and purchase an item on this page I get a referral fee. A Sand County Almanac I cannot gather wood and light a fire without recalling Leopold’s essay “Good Oak”: We mourned the loss of the old tree, but knew that a dozen of its progeny standing straight and stalwart on the sands had already taken over its job of wood-making....

Author Sarah Kirkconnell ( Trailcooking.com) has revised and expanded her excellent book Freezer Bag Cooking with the addition of many, many great new recipes. Freezer bag cooking is a simple technique that is perfect for Scouts, hot water is added to dry ingredients in freezer bag much like one adds hot water to a prepackaged freeze-dried meal. (No, this is not like boiling an omelet in a bag (don’t) and there are no BPA worries with these techniques....

Emma Gatewood read about the Appalachian Trail in National Geographic Magazine”I thought it would be a nice lark,” she said. In 1955 at the age of 67, she put on her Keds sneakers, put an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain in a homemade bag slung it over her shoulder, and headed off to hike the trail. She hiked it again in 1960 and then again at age 75 in 1963, making her the first person to hike the trail three times....

Reading Canoeing Wild Riversis like attending a master class in wilderness travel. Cliff Jacobson’s 30th anniversary edition of the classic *Expedition Canoeing (nowCanoeing Wild Rivers)*is required reading for anyone planning or even thinking about a high adventure trip. This completely updated and revised edition features dozens of full-color photos, how-to illustrations, source charts, canoeing and camping techniques, and a chapter full of hard-won advice from a couple of dozen canoeing experts, and a new chapter devoted to paddling desert and swamp rivers....

An author was being interviewed on the radio in the background as I was working away at my desk. He was discussing building resilience in young people. As I listened I thought “Hey! Who is this guy? This sounds a lot like Scouting!” This got me thinking about the big ideas that form the foundations of the Scouting method +and a specific instance of what I suppose you’d call “spontaneous inspiration”....

Watch British wilderness bushcraft expert Ray Mears explore the Canadian wilderness in this fantastic six part series. We are off to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario to go canoeing this summer, and we’ll be right on the Southern edge of the boreal forest I especially appreciated his visit with David Henry author of Canada’s Boreal Forest in the first episode. The Forgotten Forest The journey begins in Canada’s vast Boreal Forest, where the knowledge of the people who have called it home is essential to survival....

Most of you will have read the series “A New Scoutmaster” I started publishing this fall (here’s the first chapter). Because of the overwhelmingly positive response I expanded the story past the original twelve chapters, edited, expanded what I had already written and I am happy to offer the result in my new book So Far, So Good! A new Scoutmaster’s Story. The story reflects some of my own experiences, stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply....

After I posted my Ten Essentails Infographic a reader (thanks Andrew!) pointed out the ” Ten Essential Systems” approach from The Mountaineers. I like the idea of a system’s oriented approach rather than just a list of gear: could you respond to emergencies and safely make it through one or more unexpected nights in the wilderness? (Read on, more about the ten essential systems is quoted below.) I’ve looked at lots of ten essential lists....

In his new book, My Fellow Americans: Scouting, Diversity, and the U.S. Presidency historian David Scott chronicles something we all know something of, but do not know enough about; the special relationship between Scouting and the presidency. Though the image of the presidency is all too often skewed by charged political divisiveness fomented by a continuous steam of partisan rhetoric, Scott’s work is a refreshingly clear and positive message of potential, and unity....

Author and illustrator Eric Sloane wrote and illustrated many books on early American living and artifacts. I read these books as a boy and they inspired a life-long study and interest in the subjects the author so clearly explains. I recommend these three titles to you and to your Scouts as sources of knowledge and inspiration. A Reverence for Wood In A Reverence for Wood Sloane weaves the tale of a nation built from the vast forest that covered much of North America....

Ernest Thompson-Seton founded his vision of Scouting on the lore of Native American life. I’ve devoted a great deal of time over the years to studying the Native American Peoples who once occupied Southeastern Pennsylvania where I live (specifically the Lenape and Susquehannock). I think it is important our Scouts have the opportunity to connect with these traditions. C. Keith Wilbur’s books have always been one of my favorite resources for studying and sharing the material culture of Native America on the east coast....

Author F. Darnall Daley, Jr. has a long record of service to Scouting at the District, Council, and Regional levels. He has plenty of Unit-level experience too – notably as an Assistant Scoutmaster and Assistant Cubmaster for two different grandsons. “The Commissioner’s Corner”, a collection of essays, thoughts, and poems, reflect his love for, and appreciation of Scouting. Daley’s writing is aimed at inspiring Scouters in the spirit of a big brother or best friend....

There you are, beyond cell phone range, without having seen a weather forecast in a day or two, looking at the sky and trying to read what the next day will bring. Will it rain? Is it going to get windy? Knowing how to read the weather is an important skill for Scouters and Eric Sloane’s Weather Book is a fine resource for developing your expertise. I refer to my copy (a small, well-worn, paperback found digging around in a used bookstore a couple of decades ago) regularly....

These great books for Scouters have taught me practical skills, history, outdoor lore, and inspiration that has enabled me to become a better Scout leader. Outdoor Adventure Manual Published by Scouts UK with a forward by Bear Grylls The Outdoor Adventure Manualis packed with practical Scout skill tutorials ; tents and camping, fire, food and cooking, tools and gadgets, knots and lashings, navigation, first aid and survival, and more.Skills are explained step-by-step with photos and illustrations that really bring them to life....

Where do you go find answers to Cub Leader questions? During the years I spent as a Cubmaster and Webelos Den Leader formal training sessions helped , but the most valuable advice I received at the time came from those long talks in the parking lot with folks who had been there and done that. Wm. David Levesque’s new book, “For the Love of Cub Scouts”, contains the hard-won ‘between the lines’ sort of information and advice that can only come from an experienced Cub Scout Leader....

I’m pretty confident with identifying trees and wildflowers, even with a lot of the understory plants we encounter but I draw a blank when it comes to ferns (the best I can do is ‘that’s a fern!’). To increase my fern identifying skills I purchased the Fern Finder before we left for summer camp this year. The Fern Finder is one of a series of books published by Nature Study Guild Publishers that uses a ‘dichotomous key’ leading the reader through a number of steps to identifying a specific plant....

Wisconsin Scoutmaster Gordon Bain authored this collection of eleven campfire stories for his Scouts. Imagine hunkering around the fire and hearing a very credible account of someone you know, or a place you have been. Just enough factual information to draw you in, but with an eerie twist that raises the hair on the back of your neck. Titles like The Missing Bugler, and The Demon Troopare evidence that Bain has woven plenty Scouting into his writing making The Edge of the Firelightmuchmore thanjust another collection of generic ghost stories....

AVAILABLE NOW Thoughts On Scouting Ideas, Insights and Inspirations for Scouters Authored by Clarke Green I have a fondness for sayings, maxims, adages, mottoes, epigrams, proverbs, and aphorisms. There’s poetry and beauty in expressing a complex thought with a few well-chosen words. This book of 150 thoughts on scouting were first published as 140 character long ‘tweets’ over the past few months, it’s been great fun to watch them take on a life of their own....

Win Davis has been a member of the Boy Scouts of America for more than sixty years as a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Scoutmaster, Sea Scout Skipper, Commissioner, Commodore and other positions too numerous to mention. As a professional Scouter Win attended the National Executive Institute at Schiff Scout Reservation in 1970. He was fortunate enough to meet and talk with many notable Scouters and was the personal friend of William L....

Kevin Callan is the most famous camping and canoeing expert you’ve never heard of. Kevin is a Canadian, a famous Canadian on Canadian television and radio, he’s a well-known author; a famous canoeist and camper in a country full of canoeists and campers. There’s a whole world of excellent Canadian stuff that we Americans know next to nothing about (you’ve probably never heard of Ricky, Julian and Bubbles or Tim Horton’s) but we ought to....