19 July 2011

Reading List for Survivalists

Recently I came across a blog post that had a list of (physical) books that would be important to have on hand just-in-case.  It reminded me of the beautiful work by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, Lucifer's Hammer, in which a comet slams into the earth and the ensuing struggle of survival is documented in gorgeous detail.  




The tone of life after "Hammerfall" is one where those who do not have valuable professions for a world without power or civilization are relegated to being manual laborers, regardless of their socioeconomic status or profession before the Fall.


One of the interesting things woven throughout the book is a subtle dropping of a list of books. I'll include that list in a follow-up post here, so watch this space.  For now, here is the aforementioned blog post, from codenameinsight:



The Survivalist's BookshelfWhen it comes to preparing for disaster, almost everything you need to do/know/learn can be found online.  There may be a time, however, when power is not available, the internet is not available, and all of the information that you have so careful stored away in the cloud is unreachable.  This is why, even though nearly all of my survival-related stuff is online, I still have a stack of useful books in storage for use in the event that TSHTF and I need valuable survival information at my fingertips.  Here's some books that should be in your library:
  • Where There Is No Dentist
  •  (ditto. I don't use this as much but for third world travel I have used this info to share with others) 
  • Boston's Gun Bible
  •  (this is on my list of things to buy when I get back, comes highly recommended from a couple of friends)
That's a pretty long list but it hits all of the essential skills: how to find food, how to prepare food, how to preserve food, how to take care of medical emergencies, how to navigate, how to make shelter, and a multitude of other survival skills.