The Great Outdoors: A User's Guide: Everything You Need to Know Before Heading into the Wild (and How to Get Back in One Piece)

“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

This easy introduction to outdoor life will ensure that even a novice won’t get lost in the woods while finding an activity he loves to do in the great outdoors--whether it’s hiking a 14er or camping on ice. With 400 strategies for engaging in the outdoors, and expert tips and tricks, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide makes Mother Nature easier to understand than ever before. Brendan Leonard, writer, filmmaker, and outdoor adventurer, shows the reader how rewarding it can be to live life away from the computer and get outside. From mountain climbing, to skiing, sledding, and sailing, Leonard shows that you don’t need to be a risk taker to enjoy the outdoors. And if the reader does find himself at the point of man vs. nature, Leonard shares survival skills from how to bandage a wound and read a topographical map, to how to drive on sand and remove a tick from your skin—all organized thematically and written in short takeaway entries with helpful line drawings. Bound in a uniquely rugged (and waterproof!) PVC cover material, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide is a friendly way into the outdoor lifestyle, whether you're looking to dabble or go all in.

Brendan Leonard has completed more than a dozen organized ultramarathons and marathons, including three of the most difficult 100-mile trail races in America. In 2019, he set out to complete 52 marathon-distance runs in 52 weeks, and survived, while having fun part of the time. Leonard is a columnist at Outside, and his writing has appeared in Runner’s World, National Geographic Adventure, Climbing, and Alpinist and on CNN.com and in dozens of other publications. He directed the 2017 short film How to Run 100 Miles, which screened at film festivals in more than 20 countries and on six continents and was viewed more than 5 million times online. He is the author of Surviving the Great Outdoors and the coauthor of The Camping Life. He lives in Denver, Colorado. Find him on Instagram at @semi_rad.

This author is represented by the Hachette Speakers Bureau.