"Survival with Style" was my first survival book at age 10. I was already pretty accomplished in backyard survival by that time (grew up in the woods by a good sized creek - big enough to get in trouble with), so the book was a combination of supporting what I already knew, and providing some new skills that I hadn't needed to think of yet. My first backpack was a frameless CampTrails IIRC, but I quickly realized that wasn't going to work for me. The first expedition backpack I used was a Madden internal frame pack. My first purchased backpack was a Gregory Snowcreek in 1983. I 'discovered' lightweight backpacking in 1987. I probably am too young to qualify for this thread.

MNS