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Your Favorite Books on Preparedness, Self-Sufficiency, and Practical Skills

Survival Spot
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In descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute “must” for every well-prepared family!)

The Foxfire Book
series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best)

Holy Bible

Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson

“Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage
Stevens

The “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course

Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival by Jack A. Spigarelli

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon

Tappan on Survival by Mel Tappan

Boston’s Gun Bible by Boston T. Party

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

Survival Guns by Mel Tappan

Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911 (Most readers recommend getting pre-1970 editions.)

All New Square Foot Gardening by
Mel Bartholomew

When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency by Matthew Stein

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring

Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition) by Aton Edwards

Putting Food By by Janet Greene

First Aid (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens

Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)

Cookin’ with Home Storage by Vicki Tate

SAS Survival Handbookby John “Lofty” Wiseman

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables by Mike Bubel

Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen

Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America’s Classic Preserving Guide by Carol Hupping

The American Boy’s Handybook of Camp Lore and Woodcraft

Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton

98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive by Cody Lundin

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss

Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management by Maurice G. Kains

Essential Bushcraft by Ray Mears

The Survivor book series by Kurt Saxon. Many are out of print in
hard copy, but they are all available on DVD. Here, I must issue a caveat
lector (“reader beware”): Mr. Saxon has some very controversial views that I do not
agree with. Among other things he is a eugenicist.

How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier

The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman

Tom Brown Jr.’s series of books, especially:

Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival

Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking

Tom Brown’s Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (Field Guide)

Total Resistance by H. von Dach

Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies by Hugh Coffee

Living Well on Practically Nothing by Ed Romney

The Secure Home by Joel Skousen

Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikesby Cody Lundin

The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfareby John Poole.

Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book by Paul Tawrell

Great Livin’ in Grubby Times by Don Paul

Just in Case by Kathy Harrison

Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)

How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment by Chris McNab

Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance by John & Martha Storey

Adventure Medical Kits A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicineby Eric A. Weiss, M.D.

Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener

Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook (superceded the very out-of-date ST 31-91B)

Wilderness Medicine, 5th Edition by Paul S. Auerbach

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Longby Elliot Coleman

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring

Government By Emergency by Dr. Gary North

The Weed Cookbook: Naturally Nutritious – Yours Free for the Taking! by Adrienne Crowhurst

The Modern Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson

Last of the Mountain Men by Harold Peterson

Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness by John McPherson

LDS Preparedness Manual, edited by Christopher M. Parrett

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging
Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century by James H. Kunstler

Principles of Personal Defense – Revised Edition by Jeff Cooper.

Survival Poaching by Ragnar Benson

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
by Eliot Coleman

3 Responses

  1. Dana

    Don't forget the Merck Manual.

    Reply
  2. Ashes

    …why is the bible on this list?

    Reply
  3. Someone You Know

    Survival Spot,

    Nice list, but I suggest you don't purchase "Rawles Gets You Ready" offered by Arbogast Publishing LLC and advertised on Survival Blog.

    I say this for a few reasons.

    First, the cost. I bought a copy for $80. Now, the manual is $150. That is expensive, very expensive.

    For about $150 you could buy:

    Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage

    The New Passport to Survival: 12 Steps to Self-Sufficient Living by Rita Bingham

    Cooking With Home Storage by Vicki Tate and Peggy Layton

    Country Beans by Rita Bingham

    Nuclear War Survival Skill, 1987 edition by Cresson H. Keary

    Additionally, there is free survival information on the web.

    Captain Dave's Survival Guide, I highly recommend it! http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/

    Nuclear War Survival Skills http://www.ki4u.com/webpal/d_resources/survival/b…

    American Red Cross Publications http://www.redcross.org/pubs/dspubs/genprep.html

    United States Army Publications https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/soldier….
    click on "Official Departmental Publications" to get to the manuals than
    click on submit to get all of the stuff. Over 80 web pages of military information.

    Second, I felt the manual was lacking in How-To information. How-To information that is easily found on the internet.

    Now don't get me wrong, I think "Rawles Gets You Ready" sucks. It is a waste of money; however, Survival Blog is a great site. James Rawles and lots of other people providing free information for you to use; what more could you ask for?

    Update: 1 Dec 2010
    They seem to have renamed it "Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course" Probably still sucks.

    This Blue Marble – Rawles Gets You Ready? http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread.php?t=3968

    Emergency Prep Blog – “Rawles Gets You Ready” review http://emergencyprepblog.com/?p=76

    The Survivalist Blog – Review: Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/reviews/review-…

    Glock Talk – Is the "Rawles gets you ready" course any good? http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=…

    Note: These links are just in case you're still thinking about spending $150/$80 for the "Rawles Gets You Ready" course from Arbogast Publishing LLC.

    Reply

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