Have You Read the Polar Manual? ©

 

The cover of the Polar Manual, 4^th edition, 1965

How many of you like to adventure in the winter wilderness?  How many of you have ever read the Polar Manual, Fourth Edition, 1965, by Captain Earland E. Hedblom, MS, USN?  Come on, be honest now, raise your hands?

If the answer is a “yes” followed by a “no”, then you are in luck because I am going to talk about a book that you have to read!  In fact, you should take notes: I know that I did.

This book should have been titled, the Polar Manual, How to Survive and Have Fun When It’s Cold!  Most modern adventurers probably haven’t read this book, which is a shame because it is an excellent book, full of timeless and interesting tidbits, tips and “do’s and don’t’s” on winter, Arctic and Antarctic camping.  Now the reason most people haven’t read this is because the 4^th Edition of the Polar Manual, 1965, is a hard book to find.  I know, because I looked and only found one copy for sale, world-wide, and I bought it!  But don’t despair, there is an excellent PDF, provided by www.archive.org, found HERE.  This is a great PDF, I downloaded and printed it, studied, wrote notes and generally enjoyed it; long before I found a copy for my library.

Recently, I started to re-read the 4^th edition of the Polar Manual and I thought I would bring it to your attention.  Now, notice that I specified 4^th edition, because there is a big difference between editions.  I have a copy of the 1960, 2^nd edition and it only has 124 pages, while the 1965, 4^th edition has 163 pages, that is 25% more! 

Where is the Arctic and sub-arctic, an excerpt from the Polar Manual, 4^th edition, 1965

The Polar Manual covers Arctic and Antarctic geography, physiology, hygiene, heat conservation, clothing, nutrition, sanitation, cold injuries, survival and many other topics.  But you don’t have to be in the Antarctic or Arctic areas to use this valuable information, you can be anywhere, wherever it is cold in the winter, like the northern temperate zone and most of Europe, the United States and United Kingdom!

In future posts, I will write in more detail about the information that is found in the Polar Manual, but to whet your appetite, I hope that you enjoy the excerpts below.

 

From page 6 of the 4^th edition of the Polar Manual.

 

Winter hygiene “do’s and don’t’s” from pages 22 and 23 of the 4^th edition of the Polar Manual.

 

Clothing, insulation and layering from page 31 of the 4^th edition of the Polar Manual.

 

Survival tips from pages 116 to 119 and pages 129 to 130 of the 4^th edition of the Polar Manual.

  

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Hedblom, Captain Earland E. MC, USN; Polar Manual, Fourth Edition, [National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MA, 1965], p. 37, https://ia800305.us.archive.org/33/items/PolarManual4thEd1965/Polar%20Manual%204th%20ed%20%281965%29.pdf, accessed 12/07/2019