I am proud to say that I have never watched any of the Survivor shows, but I must confess to watching "Lost." The story line follows a group of people stranded on an island following a plane crash. They make no logical attempts to carefully explore the island, to erect shelters, gather food or water, or prepare protections and signal fires. However, they do burn the fuselage of the plane, a potential shelter and defense, and they develop a small golf course to relieve their stress. If this group reflects the survival skills of the mall generation, then the title is very appropriate. We are truly "lost."

Television foolishness aside, in real life people do occasionally find themselves stranded in remote areas. These predicaments are often unavoidable – via an airplane, bus, or car crash, a derailment or a shipwreck. Isolation could also stem from unexpected natural phenomena, such as an earthquake, hurricane, or exceptionally violent storm.

However, the vast majority of survival situations are a result of human fallibility – largely due to the tendency of people to enter into outdoor activities without thorough preparation. The growing popularity of hiking, adventure travel, and activities such as camping, canoeing, mountain biking, and even rock and ice climbing has seen a huge increase in the number of incidents in wilderness areas. Most serious survival situations arise out of ordinary, unassuming family drives, boating trips, walks or treks into backwoods areas, where the Boy Scout motto of "Be Prepared" is ignored. They occur because of insufficient forethought, lack of essential equipment, or simple inexperience and insufficient knowledge of outdoor principles. The same people who meticulously plan a shopping trip causally embark on wilderness adventures with scarcely any preplanning.

The answer to all of this is: Get prepared! And to get prepared, I recommend "Outdoor Survival: The Essential Guide to Equipment and Techniques" by Garth Hattingh.

"Outdoor Survival" provides valuable information on:

This attractive, full-color, well-illustrated book is a must for individual and family reading. At another level, it’s a great way for adults to discuss problem solving with children.

This book and several others on outdoor survival techniques are available at the Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore, 1645 Winchester Avenue in downtown Ashland.

For more information, call (606)326-1667.