Outward Bound USA Info

Review info: Outdoor learning leader Outward Bound USA (OB USA) celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2002. As part of their celebration they are releasing an updated edition of OB USA, originally published in 1981. Outward Bound is well-known for their courses in outdoor learning but few people understand the philosophy behind these programs. This book explains how OB USA founder Joshua T. Minor came to understand the teachings of Kurt Hahn considered a progressive educator in World War II Europe, and shows how the foundation of growing through experiencing the unfamiliar, the difficult and the adventurous, has created a company that has grown to embrace five separate wilderness schools, two urban centers, and several other sites in the United States.

This new edition will cover the same ground as the original book, plus two new chapters will be added that describe OB programs based on expeditionary learning (learning by doing) and where OB is headed for the new millennium.

It's not every day you find a how-to guide that's laugh-out-loud funny--which is why, in addition to being a handy resource, The Outward Bound Backpacker's Handbook is such a treat. Author and mountaineer Glenn Randall entertains as he teaches, using witty accounts from a lifetime in the outdoors to illustrate lessons on packing light, planning a route, keeping warm in the cold, and steering clear of mosquitoes, bears, and poisonous plants. A beautiful alpine hike spoiled by "toilet paper flowers" along the trail highlights, for instance, the need for sanitation in the backcountry; a miserable, soggy night spent in a down sleeping bag shows the importance of choosing the right gear.

Veteran backpackers will recognize the accuracy of Randall's advice (and even learn a few things), while greenhorns will find excellent instruction on the essentials, from reading a topographic map to cooking outdoors to crossing a mountain stream....After covering equipment, the Handbook turns to outdoor instruction, offering advice on map-and-compass orienteering, selecting a campsite, purifying water, camping cleanly, hiking with children, and first aid.