Matt Graham, star of the Discovery Channel’s Dual Survival and Dude, You’re Screwed, details the physical, mental, and emotional joys and harrowing struggles of his life as a modern-day hunter-gatherer in EPIC SURVIVAL (Gallery Books; on-sale: July 14th, 2015; Hardcover $24.99).
For the past twenty years, Matt has lived entirely off the land as man did thousands of years ago. In this riveting narrative, Matt takes us along into the wilderness to live alone for half a year, “wearing only a loincloth and a pair of handmade sandals and carrying a blanket, a stone knife, and a bag of chia seeds.”
Matt relays captivating stories from his life to show just how terrifying—and gratifying—living off the grid can be. He shows us what extraordinary things the human body is capable of when pushed to its limits. Matt details:
• Running 1,700 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail− Not knowing what was over the next hill or around the next curve was exciting. With each amazing vista I took in, I was compelled to push forward to see if there was an even more amazing one over the next hill. Being constantly surprised by the beauty of the terrain was the greatest joy of the journey.
• Racing against Arabian Horses− The race was a three-day, fifty-five-mile event, with the middle day of twenty-five miles being the toughest…I put on a pair of thin sandals with rubber soles made from old VW bus tires and lined up with thirty-seven horses and riders…I ended up finishing third with a cumulative time of six hours, fifty-seven minutes.
• Near death experiences− I was certain I was going to die; yet I was okay with it. It was time to go do something else. I closed my eyes. Then I heard a voice. “Your mom’s gonna be pissed if you die in the snow,” it said. “She’ll be forever cursing your primitive skills and earth-living life if you die here.”
• Matt’s Epic Survival Rules−Set Your Own Path; Be Physically in Control; Know Yourself; Deal With Danger; Learn from Others
EPIC SURVIVAL is part memoir of Matt’s extreme adventures and incredible spiritual quests and part guide to renewing your own relationship with nature. With the help of five-time New York Times bestselling author Josh Young, Matt shares his inspiring and invigorating story, teaching even the most urbane among us breathtaking lessons about answering the call of the wild.
ABOUT MATT GRAHAM
Matt Graham is one of the world’s premier survival adventurers and primitive living skills teachers. He lives in a remote area of southern Utah where he primarily sleeps in primitive structures. Matt has been teaching primitive skills for the past twenty years, including at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School, while continuing to compete as an endurance athlete. His passion for revealing the challenges of living in the wild has been featured in documentaries and on TV, including the Discovery Channel series Dual Survival and Dude, You’re Screwed. He has been both a Stone Age living consultant for “Survivorman” Les Stroud and The Amazing Race.