Brendan Leonard is an adventure writer whose work has appeared in Outside, Men’s Journal, Backpacker, Climbing, Alpinist, National Geographic Adventure, and dozens of other publications. He is the author of Surviving the Great Outdoors. He lives in Denver, Colorado. Find him on Instagram @semi_rad.
Leonard's durable tome (seriously, the cover is rubber) is stuffed with so many tips about surviving in the wild, you'll be able to leave your smartphone behind. --Entertainment Weekly, Best New Books Essential knowledge for planning rustic adventures. . . . Encyclopedic. --5280 magazine Tips for surviving, thriving in, and enjoying the wilderness beyond urban dwellers' backyards. With diagrams, lists, and questions answered . . . even the most uninitiated will feel ready to tackle the (truly) great outdoors. --Booklist Highly giftable. --New York magazine How much embarrassment I would have been spared had I owned this book when I first started going on adventures. I'm putting it in my glove compartment to prevent future calamity. --Jonah Ogles, Outside magazine The pragmatic and useful advice is from real experience, and cuts through the myth and confusion created by marketers and our well-intentioned friends and family. The Great Outdoors is worthy of your shelf space--even if your home has limited space, i.e., a camper van. --Mitsu Iwasaki, executive director, Northwest Outward Bound School Most guide books are specific to an area or already assume a certain level of 'radness' for the potential reader. Surviving the Great Outdoors highlights that being rad is up to the individual to decide and it can be just as great to camp in the backyard--and he'll tell you how--as it is to explore mountains from New Hampshire to the Himalayas. --Stacy Bare, director, Sierra Club Outdoors