Ray Mears taught us how to eat, wash and sleep well, even in the most hostile terrain...Mears is like Diarmuid Gavin, Handy Andy and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall all rolled into one. We are used to him collecting fresh water in hollowed-out fruit-bats, or squeezing natural toothpaste from a dead tarantula. But last night he was knocking up whole suites of furniture from bamboo, including benches, a large dining room table and a sort of four-poster bedstead with built-in candle holders. - Paul Hoggart, The Times
Ray Mears is one of nature's own good guys: fearless, sturdy, caring, and he can also make a nifty canoe out of three twigs and a caterpillar. - Daily Mail
By paragraph three of the intro you are itching to throw off the shackles of civilised life and plant your feet in the wilderness. If ever a book was calculated to invoke the call of the wild, this is it. - Live Wire
Ray Mears is a bushman first and foremost and really can survive in any extreme environment. I can't think of a better companion in a crisis. - Tim Lewis, GQ