The Complete SAS Survival Manual

The essential survival training of the British Special Air Service--with 360 color illustrations--on shelter, fire, foraging, hunting, and more.

Whether you are a sportsman, survivalist, prepper, or hiker, it's good to be prepared for emergencies, and no one is more prepared than the warriors of the SAS. Based on his eighteen years of experience, Barry Davies here offers advice on:

• First aid
• Water
• Shelter
• Preparing and preserving food
• Plants and meat from the wild
• Navigation
• Survival at sea
• Escape and evasion
• And more!

He says the changes of survial are always good, as long as you stay camp and think clearly. To stay alive you need air, water, food, health, and shelter. The knowledge he offers in his book just might help you survive whatever hostile environment you might encounter.

Barry Davies, BEM spent eighteen years in the British Special Air Service serving around the globe. He participated in the storming of the hijacked Lufthansa plane at Mogadishu in 1977 and was awarded the British Empire Medal. He is the author of The Complete SAS Survival Manual and The SAS Self-Defense Handbook. Davies lives in England.

"In the King's Garden" started off as a cook book, but I soon felt that there are other aspects in Iraq that need to be told in this world of ours today.People are accustomed to reading and viewing horrific stories about Iraq, from bomb blasts to booby trapped cars to roadside bombs, to assassination attempts. However, even Iraqis have forgotten the beautiful days witnessed in Iraq as it was established as a country. Baghdad, Iraq's capital was a cosmopolitan city where the latest trends in fashion, concerts, and other activities were witnessed. All this is associated in my mind with my family's history in the country. The funny thing is that when I was a child, I believed there was a serious family link to the UK, and it was much later that I discovered my Iraqi roots. My paternal grandfather, Jafaar Pasha Al Askari was the first Iraqi ambassador to Great Britain during the 1930s. My parents were married in London. My father, Nizar, studied as a child in Eaton, and later completed his studies in economics at Kings College Cambridge. My mother also completed her studies in Oxford. For all these reasons, I was led to believe that London was home. Only later was I to discover that my home was the magical city of Baghdad, in the newly formed country of Iraq.In 2003, during the London book tour for the book written about my Saddam jail days "Mayada, Daughter of Iraq," authored by American writer Jean Sasson, the idea for this book was born.After an interview with the press and a radio show in Bush House for the BBC, both Jean and I opted to eat dinner at a well-known Lebanese restaurant on a street branching off Knightsbridge. Jean, who is an avid traveller and is as familiar with the Middle East as most Arabs, loved the Lebanese cuisine.While we were sitting and relaxing and chatting in that beautiful restaurant waiting for our Taboula and Shish Tawouks, Jean leaned across the table and asked: "What next?" Jean knew I wanted to search for work in the United Arab Emirates as a journalist and reporter, but she was about to lay the roadmap to something totally different.In her best American southern accent she said: "Mayada, you are known for your gourmet skills, so, why don't you write a Lebanese-Iraqi cook book?"I smiled and after thinking about it for a moment, agreed that Jean's idea sounded perfect. Little did I know that the presumed cookbook would take me eight years of research and writing, while also covering many aspects of my life in Baghdad that go further than cooking. After I returned home in Jordan, one of my father's cousins offered me a position as the Business Development Manager in his company based in Dubai, which I happily accepted.Soon enough I found a vacancy in an Arabic speaking daily newspaper in Dubai for one year then landed my current job in another highly prestigious English speaking newspaper in Dubai.The book took a low priority for a few years, as my new job needed full attention as I conducted interviews and wrote articles about the chaotic political situation in my country, Iraq. Two years ago over a telephone conversation with Jean, I mentioned that I wanted to take the book to another level. I had a great desire to include stories of Baghdad, my hometown where I grew up. The city where I gave birth to my daughter Fay and son Ali, the city where I witnessed all the meaningless wars Saddam Hussain took us through, and where I lived through 13 years of crippling UN sanctions. Last but not least, the city where I found myself innocently imprisoned in the regime's political dungeons. Initially, I named my book "A Taste of Memories." Jean and I have always talked on the phone on a weekly basis. During one of our phone calls, she excitedly told me that Jack, her partner, had come up with a magical title for my book. Jack had coined the title, "In the King's Kitchen," giving the book its true essence and meaning. And "In the King's Garden" was born.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.