Lost in the Wilds
In the 1997 movie The Edge, Anthony Hopkins plays an eccentric billionaire (is there any other kind?) bookworm who is stranded in the Canadian wilderness with Alec Baldwin (poor guy) after their small plane goes down. Lucky for him, he’s in the process of reading a book called “Lost in the Wilds” which he uses to help them survive.
After the movie came out, a lot of fans went looking to pick up a copy of the book, a task which was made particularly challenging because it didn’t really exist. The book was a prop made for the movie. As I understand it, there were three copies made for the filming, one of which was lost after the shot where it slowly sinks to the bottom of a lake.
I seem to recall reading online that the inside content of the book was taken from an old fishing guide, but that does not appear to be the case. The content looks to be from a survival book published in 1914, although I don’t know for certain how much, if any, of the content is original and how much may have been created for the movie. The same goes for the interior artwork, some of which is quite good. The index in the back of the book does not match the book’s contents.
The book’s author is shown clearly on the cover as one “D. Croyle”, which is in fact my name… But in this case, it was a tip-of-the-hat to director Lee Tamahori’s assistant, one Darragh Croyle. Darragh is my sister, contrary to another internet discussion about the book which refers to her as a “bloke.” (Darragh married not long after the movie was released, so her last name is now Danton.)
After filming was completed, my sister kindly sent me one of the two remaining copies of the book for my birthday. I knew nothing about them at the time, so it was a fun surprise. She included a note with it, joking that we had been published, which was written on stationery with the movie’s working title of Bookworm.
I don’t imagine that many people care about all of this, but I found it amusing and since there was some misinformation floating around on the internet (shock!) I thought I could help set the record straight, FWIW. It’s also a little ironic that several years after “Lost in the Wilds by D. Croyle” was featured in a movie, that I found myself employed as a navigation instructor for the REI Outdoor School.
Thank you from Montreal for the insight!
January 31st, 2009 at 2:56 pmI’ve been teaching boys in a scout program for nearly 15 years, and found this movie alarming and yet very useful to drive home the importance of the “obeying the leaders over us” so that we doi it with joy and not with grief. It was greatly received, and has been a right of passage for my older boys turning 13. With their dads present we embark on various journeys through nature. As a Pastor and Scouting leader, I was commisioned by a wealthy father whom wanted me to buy this book for all the boys this year, and their dads. Well as it turns out this will not be possible. But it has given me a great Idea, as a ghost book, I can cover it, leaving the pages blank, and allowing them to journal their thoughts and afterwards the fathers and sons can swap at the final night of their adventure. With your permission, or the producers permission I’d, like to copy the cover for this purpose. Please feel free to email me or visit our business website and or call 918-7867-TREE(8733) Thank you for help and fine work on the film.
Sincerely,
May 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pmPastor Jackson Baker
Harbor of Hope Church of God
119 N. Mill Street Grove, OK 74344
Unfortunately I am not in a position to give permission, as I merely own a copy of the book, I am not the creator or rights owner. As noted in the post, I was not involved in the film either, but thanks for your comment anyway.
May 30th, 2009 at 4:59 pmHi David,
I’m so glad that I stumbled across your article. I’m aware that book is a prop and not in print, and is also the intellectual property of the film studio. However, would you be so kind as to share the title, author or any publishing information pertaining to the 1914 Survival book this may have been modeled after?
Best regards,
June 30th, 2009 at 5:55 pmJohn
Hi John,
June 30th, 2009 at 6:17 pmIt shows copyright 1914 by Goodine Publishing Co., New York, but I don’t know if that info is fictitious or what. Googling the exact phrase “goodine publishing” returned no results. The title and author are as shown on the cover.
David,
Thanks for the fast, informative response. After searching I came up with The American Boys Handy Book, published 1882, with subsequent copyrights into the 20th Century. Among other things, such as building and flying kites, fishing, etc., the book does have a chapter dedicated to Snares and Traps (which is the only section of the book that can be seen in the film). I wonder if this is a portion of the source material for the prop artists?
Does your copy have a table of contents? If so, could you confirm if the first 3 chapters are entitled like the following, and if any chapter is entitled: Traps And Trappings
Kite Time
War Kites
Novel Modes of Fishing
Thank you for help!
June 30th, 2009 at 6:29 pmSorry John, those chapters do not match the ToC, index, or book contents. FWIW, chapter one is “Making a Fire”.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:02 amOk. Thanks for all of your help, David. I’ll leave you alone now, haha.
Best,
July 1st, 2009 at 10:09 amJohn
Hi David, The date of 1914 sets this book content just after the Boy Scouts was formed, this being 1909 in England and 1911 in the USA. There were competing groups for this type of youth program one being from Daniel Carter Beard and his Sons of Daniel Boone started in 1905 and Ernest Thomas Setons, Woodcraft Indians started in 1902. Many youth oriented outdoor living oriented books were written during these years. One notable book is DC Beards “Shelters and Shanties” published in 1914. This and other books of this era have the same style ink sketches as the “Lost in the Wilds” book. I suspect that your book has had the cover and front end changed (table of contents & etc) to suit the producers purposes. I also doubt that a rare collectable book such as an original copy of “Shelters and Shanties” was used since 3 good fist edition copies would be hard to find and expensive. This book and others have been reprinted as collectors editions and can be purchased now as new books, printed on demand. The publisher, Goodine does not seem to exist also supporting the fake TOC and front end pages. Anyone interested in this type of book should look into the D. C. Beard books.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:26 amThanks for your time,
Kevin
Thank you for this informative post. I have loved the movie since it came out and have always wanted to find a copy of this book and now that i read your post and you state it really doesn’t exist I can stop my search. It was very interesting how it all came about and that your sister had sent you the book.
July 30th, 2010 at 8:01 amHey I found this intresting, I just watched the Film “The Edge” for the first time about an hour ago and was wondering about the book. I thought it would be a good addition to my other survival books however it seems as though that will never happen. I have to say I cannot believe have not seen that film before. That was the best movie I had seen in a long time. Thanks for the information about the book.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:26 amGlad you found the info helpful, Andy. And luckily there is no shortage of survival/outdoors books for your collection. 🙂 Cheers!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:07 pmso i cant find this book at all because i have the movie and i have been trying to find the book for a really long time, pls just let me have a copy of the book it would be really nice
September 29th, 2010 at 8:38 pmEr, no.
September 29th, 2010 at 8:41 pmWow, great post about a great movie. I appreciated your rare insight into the movie the Edge, and solving the mystery of the Lost in the Wilds book. I enjoyed your post so much I linked to it from my blog. Thanks!
November 20th, 2010 at 2:49 pmI’m so happy to have run across this information. My father just told me he’d enjoy receiving a copy of “Lost in the Wilds”, a book he’d seen in one of his favorite movies, “The Edge” as a gift. Now I must break the news to him that there is no such book, but at least I won’t continue the search for something that doesn’t exist. Thanks for the info!
November 25th, 2010 at 4:13 pmSo it really doesn’t exist!? 🙁
December 5th, 2010 at 8:29 pmSo far as I know, it’s just a prop. It does have basic survival information in it, like you see in the movie. But there certainly was no “Lost in the Wilds” by D. Croyle in real life.
At some point I’ll check with my sister and see if she knows anything about the source material, whether it was lifted from another work or created specifically for the movie.
December 5th, 2010 at 8:44 pmThis is an interesting coincidence. I bought a copy of this movie so I could research the knife, which is available, sort of:
http://www.lyttleknives.com/gedgcm.htm
Interesting about the book, pretty cool you have a copy! Talk about a collector’s item.
Rick
January 1st, 2011 at 4:50 pmHello.
February 4th, 2011 at 8:29 amthank you for the informaton. I’ve been looking for this book since I saw the movie in 97.
It’s not that easy too find a book like that when you live in sweden, well now i know why, smiling…
Have a great day.
Best regards,
Mikael from Sweden.
The movie was pretty good.
February 20th, 2011 at 7:49 pmI am working on a survival book my self. I guess i need a different title.
Hello it was a relief to finally find out this book was not real, me and my father have been searching for this book since the movie first came out. I am a huge fan and consider myself a bit of a survivalist, and a book like that would extremely benefit me and my father. So if any way you could let me know where I could find a book of the same quality, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
May 12th, 2011 at 10:07 amCody, I’m not up on current survival books and what the best is out there, but I do know there are a lot of books available and getting more than one is probably a good idea. I suggest browsing Amazon.com and reading the reviews there. There are also online resources (websites with information) and instruction available from various sources like the REI Outdoor School. Cheers and best wishes on your education!
May 12th, 2011 at 10:16 amDavid: I located the Daniel C. Beard ‘Handy Book’ entitled ‘What To Do and How To Do It’ on Google Books.
On the page after ‘Autumn’ there is a line drawing of the dead-fall trap which also appears in the film reaffirming your observation that this is the source material for the book.
May 27th, 2011 at 2:55 amFor anyone who is searching for a book which will expalin just about anything and everything you could ever want to know about survival… I recommned the following:
Special Forces Survival Guide: Wilderness Survival Skills from the World’s Most Elite Military Units
The above book is filled with info on how to survive in the wild. It also has lots of great photo sketches which help to give you a better picture of what is being explained. The author of the book is Chris Mcnab – who compiled thousands of survival techniques and tips from special forces unites world wide into one book.
If you don’t have the money to buy the book then you can also join the US Military and every branch provides you with a similar text in basic training/boot camp. I hope this helps.
May 28th, 2011 at 6:46 amMark: I think you are perhaps mixing up my comments with those of someone else (Kevin?)… The book you reference most definitely is not the source for the book in the movie. The content of that book (art & written material) do not match my copy of the book in any way.
May 30th, 2011 at 10:20 amRyan: I am going to go ahead and call your suggestion to join the military if you cannot afford a book one of the worst I have ever heard, even for the internet. Seriously? Nothing against people joining the military, but because they can’t afford a book?
I’m going to ask – please – that there be no more discussion of survival books in general, which is off-topic. Anyone wanting a serious survival book because it was in a Hollywood movie need to seriously reconsider the validity of their sources! 😀 Let’s please keep the discussion to this particular book and/or its place in the movie.
May 30th, 2011 at 10:25 amDave: Respectfully, I understand your reasoning for advising against joining the military to obtain a survival book. I was simply just trying to make the point that the military will teach one how to survive in the wild – not that people should join up simply to obtain a survival book.
Also, the movie the Edge is one which I did not discoveruntil recently. When watching it, I found my self like manyothers on here wnating to find out if there is indeed a publication of the book included in the film. Unfortunately, as you have previously stated there is not.
Itwas from there that I made the decision to recomend the book which I mentioned above – after reading several people were searching for abook of its similarity. Pleaseexcuse. My ignorant comment made about joining the military to obtain a book. And thank yo for a great followup to the validity of the. Book in the film.
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:53 amNo worries, Ryan! Thanks for the clarification and the kind words, and for your book recommendation. It is a topic that interests a lot of people.
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:32 amFirst of all I love The Edge, I decided to look for the book and luckily went to your wesite, thank you. I have found a book that is in print and works well for survival, it’s called Camping and Wilderness Survival by Paul Trawell and is PACKED with info. Thanks again
July 10th, 2011 at 9:58 amI looked for that book moments ago! Still, I’m going to try the compass thing tomorrow. I hope it works inside, ’cause I’m pretty stuck where I’m at. Now…to find a leaf.
July 30th, 2011 at 10:54 pmFound a book called ‘Lost In The Wilds(1886) by Edward Sylvester Ellis. Know it’s not the book now after reading the blog. Thank you, but wondered if anyone else has looked at this book. One book I have found good as I do a lot of walking in remote areas is: ‘Finding your way without map or compass’ by Harold Gatty. I originally got it on Amazon.Enjoyed the film and it’s the one film that made me terrified of bears and journeying to the remote areas of North America!
August 4th, 2011 at 10:25 amHow can we duplicate the copy. I would love to give my brother a copy. We live by the edge. This book is a must to acquire.
Pete
January 29th, 2012 at 1:08 pmi just ordered your book today jan 29 12 thanks GOD BLESS ALL!
January 29th, 2012 at 3:29 pmMy book???
No idea how one could duplicate the book, sorry.
January 29th, 2012 at 3:36 pmWould you be interested in selling the book or do you know the name of the book most of the content came from.
January 30th, 2012 at 6:34 pmAdam: No and no, sorry.
January 30th, 2012 at 6:37 pm