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Apparently, people who start eating radically different diets have ended up in the hospital from abdominal pain and diarrhea--not the situation you want when the lights go out. After an earthquake, hurricane or terrorist attack you just need to know how to remain safe and warm for a few days (up to a week) until help arrives, not how to mill wheat. If you live in the Bay Area and want to prepare for an earthquake this is not the book for you.The first two thirds of the book are an exhaustive discussion of food storage theory, plans, examples, methods and equipment.
For example, in the "Transportation" chapter he informs the reader that "Skis and snowshoes can be effective winter transportation." But there's no discussion of how to improvise or use snowshoes. But for people who live in a city where establishing livestock, gardens and hundred pound stockpiles is not practical his only advice is "get out while you still have time."If you want a thorough plan for surviving indefinitely after a complete breakdown of society or you wish to design a large, long lasting food stockpile this book will be helpful to you. Most readers probably know that skis and snowshoes are useful in winter, but you need more detail when you find yourself snowbound.Regarding urban living he has nothing to offer.
The book is well written, but clearly targeted at rural people who expect a nuclear war or devastating pandemic to bring all modern technology to a halt. The last 100 pages are quick 3-5 page chapters on broad topics like "Medical And Dental," "Sanitation," and "Transportation." These are too broad to be of practical use during a real emergency. If you are looking for a resource to get ready for "The Big One" or "Katrina II" keep looking.
He gives good examples of not just what to store, but why certain foods/plans are better than others. He recommends a year's worth of stored food.
You will need shelter, water, food, and personal protection/hunting tools. This book is a good overview on all kinds of things you need to do to prepare for an extended emergency like a 2 year power outage resulting from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a single nuke detonated just a few miles above the center of the country. When he asked his expert what that meant, the expert said, "80% of the people in the country would die." Think about that. I hope you like westerns.
The would only need a boat off our coast and one or more nukes on even pretty crude rockets. It's all on the black market and with just a few million dollars, we'd be back to cowboy days for the forseeable future. Imagine the motivation they'd have if someone gave them a nuke and told them the unimaginable reward they would be given if they could destroy the entire country or even continent. There are also people willing and able to blow themselves up to kill a few infidels.
No gas, no food in stores, no medicine, no hospitals, no heat or air conditioning, no water, no cars, no trains, no digging coal, no industry. There are already several countries that have the ability and desire to take us all the way down, North Korea, Iran, even China as soon as they find out that we'll never be able to pay back our debt to them. I had a visit with a congressman a couple weeks ago who said one nuke detonated a few miles over Nebraska would knock out 70-100% of the power in the US. Get the book, tools, and training now before it's too late.
Prepare now while you can. No power means no gas since it takes power to pump gas. In short, one day we are living normally, the next day we are living in the 1850's, but without the knowledge or tools that they had.
More people die each year from peanut allergies than from acts of terrorism. This guy actually thinks the Patriot Act is a good thing. If someone is going to write a book about Crisis Preparedness they should at least do their homework. If your going to write a book about getting prepared it should be about the Police State we now live in. How some people get published is beyond me. Fear mongering about terrorism and the U.S. Government Approved boogiemen is quite lame.
Decent overview, but no real revelations at all. Has very few, if any, "original" ideas.
The overall tone of the book is definitely crisis mode. I will not be reconstructing my masonry fireplace, fixing my car or doing dental surgery, but with Jack's list you'd be prepared to enlist someone else to take on the tasks.I sort of resent the "Crisis" in the title when most of my reading time was consumed with food storage. The food information is detailed and comprehensive. If books that "scare to prepare" get you going, this one qualifies. I keep this book in my general preparedness stash with my dehydrated food.Nancy Overton is the author of: "A Checklist/ Making a Family Plan For Emergencies" There are items on canning, sprouting and gardening and charts on nutritional values, recommended daily dietary allowances, the water content of produce and dehydration ratios and other whimsies (more than I wanted to know) about the secret life of food.The last part of the book covers all the emergency scenarios, the supplies and equipment needed to survive them. After noting how bad things can get, three-quarters of the book deals with food preparation, food handling and storage. I find the length of the list of tools, auto parts, medical and dental supplies overwhelming and I know I won't be choosing a firearm from his list.
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