The birth of the book! Nearly ten years before the publication of 98.6 Degrees in 2003, I had been thinking about writing a book about outdoor survival skills. I wanted to do something "different" in the survival book genre and focus exclusively upon the issues facing the vast majority of modern outdoor enthusiasts, and why many of them came home dead. I knew I would experience fallout from some readers and survival instructors alike who were enslaved by out dated, mind numbing concepts of what a modern survival book should contain. These misconceptions had been indoctrinated and perpetuated since time began by old military survival manuals that while cool, were geared for combat and “living off the land,” not surviving a day hike gone bad and dealing with hypo and hyperthermia--statistically the biggest killers of all outdoor travellers. I also knew that I wanted to go with a real publisher. Self-publishing seemed like an endless, self-marketing journey, complete with sagging leaf springs from a vehicle overloaded with poorly photocopied “books” held together with staples. Worse yet, I had to pay someone to print them!
Survival expert Cody Lundin shares practical wilderness wisdom for maintaining your core temperature at 98.6°—the ultimate guide to staying alive whether you're in the backcountry, backyard, or stranded on highways.
In his entertaining and informative style, Cody stresses that a human can live without food for weeks and without water for about three days or so. But if the body's core temperature dips much below or above the 98.6 degree mark, a person can literally die within hours. It is a concept that many don't take seriously or even consider, but knowing what to do to maintain a safe core temperature when lost in a blizzard or in the desert could save your life. Lundin delivers the message with wit, rebellious humor, and plenty of backcountry expertise.
Watch naturalist Cody Lundin on "Dual Survival" as he uses many of the same skills and techniques taught in his book: 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive.
CODY LUNDIN is an internationally recognized professional survival instructor with more than 34 years of hands-on teaching experience. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Cody's love of all things self-reliant began as a child with the influence of his homesteading grandparents. Their rural South Dakota lifestyle of living close to the land and doing more with less was Cody’s first exposure to what the family still calls, “that good ol’ pioneer spirit.”
The only child of a military family, Cody moved frequently, including time spent in Europe. During these years of migration, with no formal base to call home, Nature became Cody’s constant companion, whether in the neighboring woods or the back yard.
During his teenage years in the prairies and mountains of Wyoming his interest in self-reliance training continued. He would frequently hike alone into the Wyoming wilderness with spartan gear and a piece of fishing line to improvise catching brook trout. Cody graduated early from high school, created his first survival kit for living on the road, and boarded a westward bound greyhound bus with a duffle bag and a guitar – making raw choices that would nearly cost him his life. He lived on city streets, alone in the woods, in a radical commune a few miles from the Mexican border, and generally immersed himself in the dark years he simply calls, “my warrior training.”
Cody’s life changed forever when he experienced a transformation in the red rock wilderness of Arizona. This profound experience with the natural world inspired him to change his life and share Nature with others. He then consciously entered a multi-year journey of hard choices, deprivation and self-correction.
Cody's famous feetIn 1991, with an initial investment of less than $10, Cody founded the Aboriginal Living Skills School using the same passion, determination and psychological stamina he used to overcome personal challenges and heal his life.
Cody wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Survival Show with Cody Lundin, the only survival show created by a real survival instructor. He is also the best-selling author of two books on survival and preparedness, 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive (2003) and When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes (2006). Both books have been translated into several languages and are routinely featured in the top ten best-sellers for their genre on Amazon. His expertise in practical outdoor skills comes from a lifetime of personal experience including two years spent living in a brush shelter in the woods where he slept on pine needles and cooked over an open fire.
