Of the literally hundreds of books in my personal library, one of the most-cherished is my 1970 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. Weather-worn from years of return-reading, it is easily one of the best combination-primers of leadership techniques, good citizenship, first aid, outdoor survival skills, and the finer points of manly virtue ever published.
I say “most-cherished” and “best” because I’ve read an untold number of great leadership and survival books over the past few decades – everything from business-management books, Marine Corps guidebooks, various military field-manuals and treatises on successfully competing in the world and surviving everything from war to economic downturns to the world’s most dangerous big-game animals. But few match the Boy Scout Handbook in terms of its conciseness, thoroughness, simplicity, and yes, its uniqueness as a practical guide for what it takes to be – not just a man – but a good man (sadly, a dissipating natural role).
