Book Review: Core Bushcraft - A Wilderness Living Skills Sourcebook

Bushcraft has been having a moment of popularity as of late. Whether it is from people pushing back on consumerism in the outdoors, or looking for an escape to doom scrolling endless feeds… forget screen time, it’s time to try hands-on ‘green time’. It’s hard to know where to start and while it may look simple enough to purchase any old knife and venture off into the woods, it’s best to do some reading first.

Thankfully U.K. Bushcraft expert Paul Kirtley just released a brand-new book which should be everyone’s starting point, from absolute beginners to those that have been making headway for quite some time. Core Bushcraft: A Wilderness Living Skills Sourcebook is a beautiful hardcover resource where each page helps you build your skill-set and your confidence with numerous full colour photos walking you through each step of the way on the subjects of…

• Woodcraft

• Firecraft

• Sheltercraft

• Water Procurement and Processing

• Cordage and Bindcraft

• Useful Trees and Plants

• Procuring Fish & Small Game

• Natural Navigation

• Clothing and Equipment

With the photos taking up more space than text on each page you won’t feel overwhelmed as Paul walks you through step-by-step on each subject, including an intro for each subject to explain why it is important. The book kicks off with woodcraft, and while it is easy to go into your local sporting goods store and purchase the first knife that looks cool, Paul walks you through each type of knife and why it might be useful for the type of techniques you hope to learn. Each subject in the book, is given the same attention to detail including a multitude of time-honed tidbits that Paul has worked on over the years and are practical in all four seasons.

The skills taught in this book go beyond bushcraft and even if you don’t think that bushcraft is of interest to you. This book offers solutions to problems you could run in to on any backpacking or camping trip, so it is nice to be able to have this knowledge so that you’re more comfortable in any situation when far from help.

Best of all, the book is priced at a very reasonable $34.99 and will be the perfect guide to follow step-by-step to help you practice self reliance from the comfort of your own home before you’re deep in the woods. Paul’s easy-to-follow photos and tips are top-notch and will help you achieve or brush up on any fundamentals you hope to improve on.