Friend of the blog and podcast Mike Malone has announced the release of his new excellent, authoritative Eagle Scout history: Four Percent – The Story of Uncommon Youth in a Century of American Life; . (Listen to my interview with Mike on podcast 137.) Mike is a well known writer, twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. His […]
Scouter's Library
Scoutmaster Podcast 125 – Free Range Kids
IN THIS PODCAST Interview with author of Free Range Kids and ‘World’s Worst Mom’ Lenore Skenazy. Lenore has a great story to tell about her sons, and how valuable the Scouting experience have been for them. LINKS IN THIS PODCAST Shout Out! Lenore’s Blog Buy Free Range Kids on Amazon My review of Free Range Kids KEEP […]
Free Range Kids
In recent years parents seem increasingly reluctant to allow their children to do things for themselves – to be ‘free range kids’. It makes me wonder if some parents have written activities like Scouting off as too dangerous, too unsupervised or less valuable than more controlled, conducted and packaged experiences for their children. We are barraged by irrational fears and […]
Cook Wild
Cook wild is not a new concept; cooking over anything other than a wood fire is a relatively new development for the human race. A recent study showed that 43 percent, or some 3 billion members, of the world’s population rely on wood fires for their primary source of cooking and heating. Gas or electric stoves are […]
Woodcraft – Bernard Sterling Mason
Why? –in a world of matches? Ernest Thompson Seton answered well when a group of ‘practical business men questioned his zest for the rubbing stick fire – said he, pointing to the ground, ‘You are thinking of the fire that is lighted down there,’ and pointing to his breast continued, ‘I am thinking of the […]
The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide
My first backpacking trip was a hike to a trail shelter in Shenandoah National Park in the early seventies. My brother and I carried frame-less canvas backpacks with webbing shoulder straps that my dad padded with upholstery foam. I don’t recall the sleeping bags or much else about the gear we used because my brother and I were much more interested in […]
Natural Navigation
Read about the book Natural Navigation at The Next Challenge blog by Tim Moss. Tim took a course with Tristan Gooley the author of Natural Navigation: On an east-west running path in the northern hemisphere, you’ll find more puddles and dips on the southern side as it invariably gets less sunlight. You can sometimes get a gauge of north […]
Wildwoods Wisdom
Ellsworth Jaeger wrote several books about outdoor living in the 1940’s. My favorite is Wildwoods Wisdom.
AMC Guide to Outdoor Leadership
Outdoor leadership is different. Good administrative skills go just so far when leading a group in an extended outdoor experience. What works at a Troop meeting or in the boardroom does not always translate well on a week-long backpacking or canoeing trip. Scouting offers great administrative training and valuable supplemental training in outdoor skills and safety. What we […]
My Side of the Mountain
‘ I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here. The house is a hemlock tree six feet in diameter, and must be as old as the mountain itself. I came upon it last summer and dug and burned it out until I made […]
Will To Live – Les Stroud
Years ago I tuned into the new ‘reality’ show Survivor thinking that it would offer some kind of practical advice on the subject, or at least provide an honest depiction of what happens in a true survival situation. Boy was I disappointed. Survival soon became a hot commodity for television shows. Most of them were […]
Medicine for the Outdoors
Medicine for the Outdoors Paul S. Auerbach MD There is nothing in this book that you don’t need to know. I don’t think you have to memorize this book but I would encourage you to know what’s in it and how to find it quickly. Our first duty as Scout leaders is the safety and […]
Working the Patrol Method
It’s about time! Working the Patrol Method a Scout leader’s guide to youth leadership training is the best work on the patrol method since ‘Green Bar’ Bill Hillcourt’s Handbook for Patrol Leaders last published in 1965 or Baden Powell’s Aids to Scoutmastership originally published in 1920. Authors Rob Faris,Ted Knight and Harry Wimbrough have created […]
The Scouting Party
I have spent some memorable hours reading an advance copy of David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy’s new book The Scouting Party… … a thoroughly researched, unflinching account of the founding and first decade of the BSA focused on the lives of Earnest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard. To my knowledge no […]
The New Scout Handbook
I’ve had my copy of the 12th Edition of the new Scout Handbook for a couple of weeks now and I recently added the Scout Handbook to my Ipod touch. I have also looked over the website bsahandbook.org. As the way we use and manipulate information changes I applaud the BSA in attempting to keep […]
Camping’s Top Secrets
My first reaction to a book titled camping’s top secrets was “yeah, right”. I’ve been a camper all my life spending a thousand or more nights under canvas or on the trail. My camping education started forty years ago with Colin Fletcher’s book ‘The Complete Walker’ and expanded to the classics written by Horace Kephart, […]
The Parents We Mean To Be
Father of three child and family psychologist Richard Weissbourd teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and School of Education. His new book ‘The Parents We Mean To Be’ argues that parents have a much greater influence on their children’s moral lives than peers or popular culture. Serving as a Scoutmaster involves a fair amount […]
Fixing Your Feet – Immersion Foot
Hikers, runners, athletes, backpackers and Scouts all know that one must take care of their feet. Scouts are young enough to bounce back from blisters, strains and twists quickly but not the old Scoutmaster. It is worth knowing how to maintain healthy feet. Perhaps it is a sign of my ever advancing age (I’m fine […]
Golden Guide to Trees
If, when in the forest, we know the names of the trees we are more at home. My well-worn Golden Guide to Trees is a reliable source of information for tree identification. I have a couple of other guides but reach for the Golden Guide first because I find it easier to identify things from […]
Sand County Almanac
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer […]
Eric Sloane’s Weather Book
Most natural phenomena are reasonably easy to grasp once explained in plain terms. But alas much is hidden from the average person behind a wall of opaque scientific jargon. Anyone with the skill to penetrate this screen with clarity and simplicity is a wonderful discovery. Eric Sloane was such an author. His books are generously […]
The Dangerous Book for Boys
The Dangerous Book for Boys puts me in mind of following creeks through the woods, baseball cards held to the forks of my bike with clothespins, climbing trees, chemistry sets, purloined firecrackers, strike anywhere matches, building forts and a thousand other common joys of boyhood. Not virtual but visceral, hands-on and sometimes faintly dangerous. Risk […]
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
I may have earned the equivalent of a few college credits related to the study of developmental, or cognitive, differences during my tenure as a Scoutmaster. What are cognitive differences? Autism, attention deficit, hyperactivity, Downs syndrome and learning disabilities of all stripes. Disabilities are, by definition, a condition that makes it difficult for someone to […]
Leave No Child Inside
In an article titled ‘Leave No Child Inside’ in the current issue of Orion Magazine Richard Louv writes; Yes, there are risks outside our homes. But there are also risks in raising children under virtual protective house arrest: threats to their independent judgment and value of place, to their ability to feel awe and wonder, […]
