Tom Brown Jr. opinions

[Spade]

I read the Tracker a while back by Tom Brown Jr. I recently picked up & began reading his Wilderness Survival manual. I have heard lots of good stuff about his books, but recently came across a bunch of stuff on the internet saying that he is a fake & the stories about his youth was all made up. Just wondering if anyone else heard about this, what you guys think of his books & or school

[RWBlue]

I was not impressed by his books.

[Soupsandwich]

Check out David Scott-Donelan's TTOS school if you want real world tactical tracking training. David's background is impressive and verifiable...

[RWK]

I don't know about his tracking school but, his "Apache knife fighting" stuff is pretty silly. He tried to hawk it to the director of the movie "The Hunted" while he was the tracking technical adviser. He got the "thanks but, no thanks" response.

[Spade]

I'll definately check out David Scott-Donelan's TTOS thanks for the heads up. I would still like to hear some more on Tom

[bones]

Tom Brown Jr books-- a waste of money

[Spade]

Tom Brown Jr books-- a waste of money

any reason? I appretiate the opinion but what pushed you to that conclusion?

[rly45acp]

Tom Brown uses his books to push his own native American shamanism/new age religion and it gets in the way of just trying to learn whatever valuable information may be in the books. Here are just a couple of quotes from Tom Brown's Field Guide: Nature Observation and Tracking, Brown, Tom; Berkeley Publishing Group, 1983:

"We have littered our Earth Mother and destroyed natural habitats with little regard to for the plants and animals that are inevitably destroyed along with them." (pg. 12)

"A young friend of mine, after touring a slaughterhouse, was about to give up meat until I told him that the grass we cut with the lawnmower screams as loudly as the cow -- that he had just not learned to hear it yet." (pg. 12)

"The is something mystical about touching animals. Just as when we reach out to comfort or shake hands with a friend or to pet an animal, there is magic in a touch if it is done with the right attitude. If we touch an animal with a sense of brotherhood and curiosity, we get back more than a sensation. At its best, a touch is a mingling of spirits that reaffirms the common bond between all living things." (pg. 57)

"...At times the "I" seems to be lost among the stars, and you feel from your vast new vantage point that you must be sensing as complete a oneness with nature as any human can. Even after returning to a more "normal" state of consciousness, you continue to feel the environment as an extension of yourself. The animals, plants, trees, and rocks are not the separate entities they were before. Instead, they seem more like the limbs of your own body. You feel a natural respect and love for them. You feel their joys and pains as your own. You feel the scars on Earth Mother that have been inflicted through thoughtless deeds, and you are oved to do what you can to heal them." (pgs. 76-77)

"There is no doubt that you can have meaningful conversations with animals if you keep an open heart." (pg. 77)

"The ceremonial rocks (symbolizing both the earth and the indestructibility of the Great Spirit) are gathered from a high, dry place...." (pg. 82)

Now this is just a few quotations from a book with whole chapter like this. I'm halfway through the book and I still haven't gotten to the reason I bought it -- to read sign!

And here's just one quote from page 19 of "Tom Brown's Field Guide: Wilderness Survival", Brown, Tom; Berkeley Publishing Group, 1983:

"For too long mankind has been fighting, resisting, and trying to control or destroy the pure and natural. This is a grave mistake, for in doing so we also resist and destroy ourselves. I am very much Indian in my beliefs. In the Indian world, even a rock is alive and has a spirit. The plants and animals are friends and brothers, communicating their wisdom and advice in times of need. How could the native Americans feel alone when they knew themselves to be part of the "spirit-that-moves-in-all-things? With such an attitude, wilderness survival takes on a completely different meaning."

Much of the rest of this book could easily have been taken from a myriad of survival books and offers nothing new. You must constantly work at separating the wheat from the shaff and the two books could be combined into one book if you took out all the philosophical stuff.

I do thank you for asking. I inherited a large collection of books and have been trying to do a bit of separating of both my collection and the new one into those that stay and those that get tossed, and referencing the Tom Brown books for this post made me realize they go into the latter pile.

[Spade]

Tom Brown uses his books to push his own native American shamanism/new age religion and it gets in the way of just trying to learn whatever valuable information may be in the books. Here are just a couple of quotes from Tom Brown's Field Guide: Nature Observation and Tracking, Brown, Tom; Berkeley Publishing Group, 1983:

"We have littered our Earth Mother and destroyed natural habitats with little regard to for the plants and animals that are inevitably destroyed along with them." (pg. 12)

"A young friend of mine, after touring a slaughterhouse, was about to give up meat until I told him that the grass we cut with the lawnmower screams as loudly as the cow -- that he had just not learned to hear it yet." (pg. 12)

"The is something mystical about touching animals. Just as when we reach out to comfort or shake hands with a friend or to pet an animal, there is magic in a touch if it is done with the right attitude. If we touch an animal with a sense of brotherhood and curiosity, we get back more than a sensation. At its best, a touch is a mingling of spirits that reaffirms the common bond between all living things." (pg. 57)

"...At times the "I" seems to be lost among the stars, and you feel from your vast new vantage point that you must be sensing as complete a oneness with nature as any human can. Even after returning to a more "normal" state of consciousness, you continue to feel the environment as an extension of yourself. The animals, plants, trees, and rocks are not the separate entities they were before. Instead, they seem more like the limbs of your own body. You feel a natural respect and love for them. You feel their joys and pains as your own. You feel the scars on Earth Mother that have been inflicted through thoughtless deeds, and you are oved to do what you can to heal them." (pgs. 76-77)

"There is no doubt that you can have meaningful conversations with animals if you keep an open heart." (pg. 77)

"The ceremonial rocks (symbolizing both the earth and the indestructibility of the Great Spirit) are gathered from a high, dry place...." (pg. 82)

Now this is just a few quotations from a book with whole chapter like this. I'm halfway through the book and I still haven't gotten to the reason I bought it -- to read sign!

And here's just one quote from page 19 of "Tom Brown's Field Guide: Wilderness Survival", Brown, Tom; Berkeley Publishing Group, 1983:

"For too long mankind has been fighting, resisting, and trying to control or destroy the pure and natural. This is a grave mistake, for in doing so we also resist and destroy ourselves. I am very much Indian in my beliefs. In the Indian world, even a rock is alive and has a spirit. The plants and animals are friends and brothers, communicating their wisdom and advice in times of need. How could the native Americans feel alone when they knew themselves to be part of the "spirit-that-moves-in-all-things? With such an attitude, wilderness survival takes on a completely different meaning."

Much of the rest of this book could easily have been taken from a myriad of survival books and offers nothing new. You must constantly work at separating the wheat from the shaff and the two books could be combined into one book if you took out all the philosophical stuff.

I do thank you for asking. I inherited a large collection of books and have been trying to do a bit of separating of both my collection and the new one into those that stay and those that get tossed, and referencing the Tom Brown books for this post made me realize they go into the latter pile.

Thanks for the amount of detail in your reply. I had noticed a new age type of feel to is books but usually by passed it to get to the meet & potatoes. I saw a thread about a book by Les Stroud that is getting good reviews. I have read the SAS survival manual & just picked a copy of "Build The Perfect Survival kit" by John D. McCann, which I have not started reading yet. I'll try to post a review after I finish it. (probably a couple of months as I read at a snail pace.)

[JSandi]

His survival books are worth a read, just to add tools to your survival tool box, most of which is common sense survival, but worth re-reading.

His tracking book is akin to drinking a cup of peyote and trying to comune with the spirit world, as others have said the book by David Scott Donelan is well worth the money.

Another great read if you can find it is the book by Jack Kearney, Tracking : A Blueprint for Learning How.