Book: Wilderness & Travel Medicine

The easy-to-pack reference guide, Wilderness and Travel Medicine, is written for the layperson in how to manage medical emergencies while in the backcountry. Topics range from abdominal pains to kidney stones to fractures and burns. The book is categorized by signs and symptoms (how to diagnose the affliction), tips in preventing the injury, and ways to treat the problem. Unfortunately most treatments involve prescription medications one probably would not have on their person while in the backcountry.

There are also “Weiss advice” sections which are improvisational ideas to making use of the objects you have on hand, and “when to worry” boxes that tell you how to identify situations in which immediate evacuation is recommended. The guide also has valuable insights like what to include in your personal first-aid kit and shots and immunizations to consider before international travel.

As a whole, this book should be taken as a supplemental guide to a first-aid or wilderness training rather than as a course itself.