What Tom Brown really does for a living.....

[Debbolas]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425105725/103-4830192-1533457?v=glance
He isn't into gas, he is a naturalist. He can tell us what plants to eat and take for medicine!!! :D :clover: :D

[MRS FLYIN VEE]

LMAO!! natural bran muffins? :confused: :D :D :D

[Rexone]

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68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
Good stories, meager knowledge, January 18, 2000
Reviewer: A reader (Cave Junction, OR)
Tom Brown is a charismatic, inspiring story teller...one of the best. But if you are interested in learning these skills, you'd be much better off with McPherson's "Naked into the Wilderness" or "Bushcraft" by Mors Kochanski or Larry Dean Olsen's "Outdoor Survival Skills". For hide tanning (brain tanning) check out "Deerskins into Buckskins" by Matt Richards, tracking try "Mammal Tracking in North America" by James Halfpenny. Just about any edible plant guide will out do this book.
Tom has inspired more people's interest in wilderness living/survival, and for that he deserves kudos. His most inspirational reading is "The Tracker". Get it and it will change your life. But if you want to actually learn the skills, you're better off elsewhere.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Great book, January 5, 2003
Reviewer: Matthew Robbins (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. This is a great book period. There are things in this book you won't find anywhere else except maybe Tom's other books wich are also all great.
For the readers who are unfamiliar with Tom Brown Jr. and his Tracking School, I would like to point out that this and the other Feild Guides in his series will be more usefull to students of Tom Brown's Tracking School classes and those who have read his other non-Field guide books. However they are still great books for anyone wishing to learn survival and tracking that involves the more holistic and "living as one with Earth Mother" and caretaker attitudes. In othere words its great for those wishing to live closer to the Earth and in harmony with it. Those who seek the more "military" type survival might want to look elswhere.
And finally being a student of Tom Brown's tracker school, and having read most of his books, I can tell you that the reviewer below who stated:
Where it goes astray is, the overuse of a "I was taught by an indian chief" theme.
Is being totally misleading and inncorrect. Nowhere has Tom ever said that he learned from an "indian chief"! The fact of the matter is Tom did grow up learning for 10 years from a full blooded Lipan Apache Elder and Scout named "Stalking Wolf" or Grandfather as he is also called. If anyone wishes to learn more about Stalking Wolf they can read Tom's book named just that "Granfather". You will also learn much about Grandfather from all of Tom's books.
The reveiwer below who said this book was a waist of his money must have been looking for something else as he leaves me with the impression has hasn't read any of Toms books.
All Good Medicine!!
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4 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Survival situation?, March 22, 2004
Reviewer: A reader (Tokyo)
This book is what it claims to be, i.e., a wilderness survival book. It teaches basic survival techniques such as locating water, building a fire and shelter, and "living off the land."
What this book is NOT is a book for nature lovers. Personally, I don't want to know 100 different gruesome ways to trap an animal, or how to build a thatch hut that will last 6 months, or how to make hide clothing accessories...all this in my, possibly, 1-2 day "survival situation"!?! Honestly, how many people get lost in the woods each year? Can't be that many (or for too long). I feel like Tom and his tracker school disciples DON'T WANT to be found, should they get lost. They want as much time as possible to test their perfectly honed survival skills, hopefully getting ample chance to eat leaves, bark, insects and trapped animals, not to mention building grass huts and stuffing their clothes with leaves. His book could have been called "Learn How to Treat the Wilderness as if it Were One Big Supermarket." Or "Nature Jocks."
Common sense is a far better survival tool than all the pages in this book: be prepared for the worst if you are going deep into the wilderness (but how many people actually do this) and learn a few basic survival techniques from a Boy Scout Guidebook. Better yet, don't treat Nature as your playground. Just take a walk in the woods, listening, watching, enjoying. Don't stop to identify each plant you could eat, or what animal track you passing over. Just breath in what Mother Nature has to offer. Leave your enormous buck knife and ample cordage at home.
The tracker school mentality is more about using nature's woods and dales as a place to roll around in the mud, practice kendo and make silly tools and living shelters. Just take a damn walk. Why complicate things?
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Book, February 19, 2004
Reviewer: A reader (NH)
This book is great. It is met to be a teaching guide, get it and do the exercises that are in the book and you will learn a lot. This book is loaded with information, I recommend all his books, get Tom Brown' Field Guide to Nature Observation with this one too.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A unique experience, January 11, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
I have read most of Tom's books, some of them repeatedly, and attended two of his survival classes. My experience says that Tom is an unusual person, who writes unusual books, based on his unusual life. Tom told us in one class that he estimates that from the time he met Stalking Wolf up through high school age, he spent an average of 40 hours a week in the woods. In his classes and books he attempts to teach not only specific skills but also a way of life, attitudes, and as much as he can of actual experience rather than descriptions ABOUT experiences. This is a tall order for any teacher.
This book is about skills which Tom has used to live year round and in all sorts of weather from Canada to Death Valley, wilderness to the heart of New York City. They do work. However, keep in mind that it is impossible to teach skills - actual experience - through a book. And keep in mind that Tom was taught, and teaches himself, in a manner which expects the student to question, investigate, experiment, discover, and learn on h/is/er own. He would consider anything else a cheap way of cheating the student. If you can approach the contents of this book, and his others, in this spirit, you will have enough here to learn from for many years.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
why only 3 stars, November 1, 2003
Reviewer: far&away "suicidalwinds" (nowhere) - See all my reviews
I've read all the reviews and I have to add something. While this book has alot of useful information, it doesn't contain every trap method, shelter, edible plants, etc,etc. Tom Brown's style of writing is more of a story telling. To some, this makes the book more interesting but not to everyone. All the stories take up alot of space and is very inefficient way of learning survival skills, much to the point that alot of things are left out and never discussed. This doesn't mean this book is uninformative but it's far from complete.
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This is some funny shit. I saw Tom writing about his survival ordeal on HB last week. Good thing he had this training behind him lol.

[Debbolas]

Wow, who knew!?! :eek:
Our very own Tom Brown :idea:
:D :clover:

[Dr. Eagle]

Wow, who knew!?! :eek:
Our very own Tom Brown :idea:
:D :clover:
Damn a regular Ansel Adams... :cool: or was that John Manure... er um uh Muir...?

[Tom Brown]

What the.... ? http://www.havasubarney.com/forums/html/emoticons/headscratch.gif

[Dr. Eagle]

What the.... ? http://www.havasubarney.com/forums/html/emoticons/headscratch.gif
LMAO........... :hammer2:

[Debbolas]

What the.... ? http://www.havasubarney.com/forums/html/emoticons/headscratch.gif
We are guessing what you do for a living..........(I didn't buy the natural gas thing, so I googled your name, and this sounded................plausable) :cool:

[Dr. Eagle]

We are guessing what you do for a living..........(I didn't buy the natural gas thing, so I googled your name, and this sounded................plausable) :cool:
With all those muffins, I believe the gas thing too....... :squiggle:

[Tom Brown]

I've cleared a few rooms in my day, Doc.

[Dr. Eagle]

I've cleared a few rooms in my day, Doc.
I knew that.......... :rollside: :notam:

[Debbolas]

And Wildlife bogs?
Empty, green forests?
:D

[Tom Brown]

Lately, I've been eating a lot of yogurt. I mean a lot.
I come home, have about a half litre of yogurt, work out, and then go for about a 20km bike ride. Let me assure you, I'm plenty loose. My ass has turned into a soft serve machine.

[Dr. Eagle]

Lately, I've been eating a lot of yogurt. I mean a lot.
I come home, have about a half litre of yogurt, work out, and then go for about a 20km bike ride. Let me assure you, I'm plenty loose. My ass has turned into a soft serve machine.
Kind of like your old avitar? :D

[Debbolas]

Do you ride your bike to study the natural habitat for the books you write? :notam:
Or.................is Tom Brown just a common name?! :coffeycup

[Tom Brown]

Tom Brown is a common name. I've had a lot of problems because some scum sucker with the same name has not paid a bill, or whatever.
The last time that happened, I ended up spending some time at the power company. Keep in mind, there are less than a million people in this province. This guy paged through 9 screens with 25 names per screen.
... so I asked him... "You've got hundreds of Tom Browns and you shut off my gas without making sure I'm the right one when someone with the same name skips out on a bill?" Basically, he spent about five minutes saying, "Yeah, that's pretty much how we do it." He was nice enough, had my gas reconnected, put a note on my file not to disconnect my gas again without a supervisor's approval, and he knocked about $30000 off my bill. :D

[Debbolas]

$30,000?
Will you come down here and negotiate my bills?
Please!
You can ride with us to OP6
(if we go)
:skull: :crossx: :skull: :crossx: