SAS a survival guide

Selected by Richard Walker, Creative Director

I found this book in my local library when I was a child and was pleased to discover that it taught you, in very functional and attractive illustrations, how to build most of the booby traps and make most of the weapons that I had just seen John Rambo use in First Blood Part One the previous night.

This book was, to an eleven year old boy, the business. The ultimate in escapism. I felt naughty owning it- more naughty than I did owning a Razzle magazine. You were the guardian of this book and you made sure it would never get into the wrong hands. It gave you confidence knowing that you could garrote a man with a twig, kill a row buck deer with a bow trap and survive a nuclear attack just by digging a hole and jumping in.

This book has always had a strange influence on me. The sense of urgency in the writing, the illustrations of grown men stabbing the enemy with a sharpened stick. You are meant to remember this stuff.

P.S. If you steal this book I will fucking kill you.