Scouting 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....

No 11-year-old boy joins Scouting to get his character developed… … and few boys join to attend troop meetings, wear the Scout uniform, or sit before boards of review. Instead, they sign up for fun and adventure. Last month Walter Underwood joined me on podcast 313 to review the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook. We got back together with author Mark Ray to review the much anticipated second volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook (due to be in Scout Shops by the end of June)....

What is the ninth method of Scouting? Author Mark Ray begins the second volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook with these words; Back when you first attended Scout leader training, you learned that Boy Scouting has eight methods: adult association, advancement, ideals, leadership development, outdoors, patrol method, personal growth, and uniform. Now that you’re a seasoned leader, however, you realize that there’s a ninth, unstated method: time. Sort of ties everything together doesn’t it?...

Have you seen the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook? Join Walter Underwood and myself as we review the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook. Like Walter I accumulated a collection of Scoutmaster Handbooks. From the very first edition to the last they were uniformly mediocre at best. Both Walter and I agree that the most useful offical guide to how Scout troops work remains the Senior Patrol Leader Handbook – but that the first volume of the Troop leader Guidebook is a very valuable resource....

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”....

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....

Printed edition cover. I set up this logbook for my Scouts to keep records of meetings, camping trips plans, adventures and memorable moments. They use the information to help their patrol understand what they should start doing, keep on doing or, perhaps, stop doing. By reflecting on things that worked well and things that don’t go as planned they can avoid past mistakes and make better plans in the future. By recording their thoughts they also create a memorable record of their Scouting adventures....

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....

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....

Every Scouter has been there. You’ve been there, and so have I. Your fellow Scouter, a parent, or Scout has a question. You think you know the answer. After telling them what you think there’s a little shadow of doubt in your mind;”did I get that right?”. That shadow grows, and you go looking for some resource that backs you up. You try the Scoutmaster Handbook, you look over your training notes (you do have training notes, don’t you?...

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....

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....

Published by Scouts UK with a forward by Bear Grylls The Outdoor Adventure Manual is 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. I’ve read a number of ‘how-to’ books that I suspected were written by people who had not actually tried out what they were describing....

Richard Francis “John” Thurman (4 April 1911 – April 1985) was Camp Chief of Gilwell Park from 1943 to 1969. In 1943, he introduced the Gilwell woggle awarded on the completion of basic training, and the Gilwell scarf and the Wood Badge beads were awarded on the completion of Advanced Training. Thurman wrote a number of instructional booklets, many on Scout pioneering. The folks at The Dump have scanned many of Thurman’s works and created free PDF versions of them....

TheScoutingParty.com The Scouting Party available on Amazon You can order David’s “Where Character is Caught” from the Circle Ten Council We are pleased to welcome author David Scott for a discussion of his book ‘The Scouting Party’ to our February ScoutCircle. February marks the anniversary of the founding of the Scouting movement. The official birthday is February 8, and the entire month of February is designated as Anniversary Month....

Paul Siple, a nineteen-year-old Eagle Scout in Erie, Pennsylvania, was one of thousands who applied to join Admiral Byrd’s expedition in 1928. Byrd asked the Boy Scouts of America to help him select one Scout to take on the year and a half exploration of Antarctica. Local committees vetted applications and forwarded 88 to the national office. These 88 were winnowed down to six candidates who would meet with Byrd in New York City....