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AMC

The Shaman of suburbia's son and apprentice.
Neighbor
Joined
Mar 1, 2022
Messages
262
When an EMP hits my neighborhood, we will be the only ones in a while with clean water, among other tradeable necessities.

I'm' going to print out everything from survival manuals, books on pdf I bought, like the ones my dad linked me, (magus) and such.

I'm starting this thread on what books would be best in an emergency.

I reasoned that leadership books would be invaluable.

I'm getting the seven military classics by Ralph D. Sawyer, as well as his Tao of espionage, and complete art of war.
How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie.
On war, by Carl Von Clausewitz
Leaders eat last by Simon Sinek
Biographies on Napoleon, Alexander the great, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, Cornelius Vanderbilt. And more.
Books on how to handle an EMP, such as this "Darkest Days" book I bought recently, yet still need to print out.
Medical books.
Guitar books
Russian and Chinese language books.


What else should I have in my end of the world library? What other books should I read beforehand to be prepared?
 
Just my personal opinion - if we really do slide all the way back due to whatever catastrophy hits be that emp or whatever. You need books on how to do stuff the old way.

Even if you know a bit, get books on gardening, food storage, weaving, sewing, blacksmithing, tracking, snares, animal hunting, processing, husbandry etc etc you covered medical so that's good. And urban gorilla warfare tactics.

Try and pick up the full Foxfire series if you can find them

Even if you never plan on doing any of that they are a good back up incase, and I bet a hot tradable commodity to someone who does want to be able to do and learn those things.
 
I have a lot of cooking books
How to make your own pasta, mill your own flour, make your own cheese, canning, preserving, that sort of thing.
Knitting, sewing, useful stuff like that.
We also have all our medical books left over from school, thankfully most knowledge for that is In our heads, but there's always the occasional weird thing that pops up -- and really if its fatal, without tertiary care, best to just make the person comfortable and let nature take its course (such as a GSW to the aorta, abdomen, femoral artery)
 
I tend to lean towardthe “how to” subjects already mentioned - gardening, animal husbandry, homesteading, etc.

I like the topics you mention, @AMC. I’d not considered leadership books. But I do consider it important to keep an eye out for real history books - when the globalists re-write everything (1984-style), we need to preserve the truth.
 
My fault, I kind of groomed the little guy to be a take charge type. Mostly to p1$$ off his mother, but hey, he ran with it and is pretty good at it!

Son, Medical books, food preparation, herbal uses, plant identification and martial arts, not just the hand to hand type, but firearms use, repair and maintenance.
any of the foxfire series will be a great use, also. learn how to convert gasoline motors to run off methane and how to make and bottle it.

https://www.foxfire.org/shop/category/books/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/ca..., secondary injectors plugged into an adapter.
 
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this is a great book...its old version...theres new versions out and they have various cover colors...they are not the same from few times i picked up and flipped through them....the yellow copy is not without flaws...i could tweek this book and make it so much more.i.e. a canning chart table for pressure canner and waterbath. i dont know the ins and outs of copyrights etc. but this book was a readers digest and now it has a womans name on it..copyright ran out?

R.d9153acec09955fe1f69ea00b577ba2b
 
I probably have wayyyyy too many books, but I just love em'. I wish I could carve out more time to enjoy them. I am in the process of organizing them into specific topics. Here's what I can come up with just off the top of my head.

*Medical - including several copies of PDR's so that if you came across meds you weren't familiar with, you could find out what they are used for and get dosage information.
*Survivalist books
*Gardening books
*Foxfire Series - even though I have yet to read a single book out of that series
*Building and Mechanical
*'How To' books on many topics including 'fix it' books for around the house.
*Kids text books (chemistry, physics, math, etc.)
*Several fiction and puzzle books for enjoyment (including a comic book collection)
*Encyclopedia set
*Cooking books
*Specific books on magnesium, collodial silver, sodium bicarb, iodine, etc.
*Herbal and tincture books
*Spiritual books including the bible

I figure if we had a truly SHTF situation (internet and grid down), everyone would specialize in their area of expertise and would use the books as backup or refresher knowledge. Down time would be spent reading and trying to sharpen skills that perhaps haven't been practiced in a long time. Those skills and knowledge would also need to be taught to the younger generations. Having an expert and books (and notes) as a backup would be extremely important. I also have a stack of notebooks that were given to me by a friend who was going to just trash them. They would be valuable in that type of situation where those 'cheat sheet' notes (written down by the experts in the group) could make the difference between a good or bad outcome. Libraries could once again become extremely important.
 
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I would concentrate on books about short term survival. I don't care how many books you have on the subject, but if you don't already have the knowledge and experience to build something - say, a house - you're not going to learn and become proficient at that from a book. You'll be living in a lean-to instead. Same thing for planting and harvesting crops, properly preserving and storing what you harvested, raising livestock, etc. By the time you became proficient at that just from reading books you'd already be dead of old age.

There are some exceptions though. Medical being one. No, you're not going to become a heart surgeon, but you could easily learn how to control bleeding, and ways to realign fractures so you get the most function out of the extremity after things heal. There are many simple things you can learn that mean the difference between life and death in an emergency. Like keeping the airway open as top priority - you gotta breathe to live. (Hopefully you read the book in advance and learned this before you needed it.)

Survival books will tell you how to make water safe to drink. You'd need to know that. But discussions on large scale city-wide water treatment, coastal desalination stations and stuff like that would probably be extraneous information. Maybe about ten years after the apocalypse if you're still around, some of that information may eventually become handy. But very few will still be around at that point, so even then, the utility of information like that is questionable.

Overall, my choice in books would be more related to basic survival than rebuilding society. I would also get books that reinforce what I already know. Say you already DO know about planting and harvesting crops. A few books on that subject might help refresh your memory if you face some problem that you haven't in a long time and just can't remember the old solution your came up with. Also good if you're trying to train a family member in what you already know - books would be helpful to supplement that teaching.
 
Basic metal working and blacksmithing, without those skills society will slide back to the dark ages.
learn to listen to the small quiet voice inside, until it grows in volume, so that you can hear it.
Learn to face down your fears , fear is the greatest enemy.
Manuals of any kind,
Journey to Forever all kind of links to how to function in less supplied environments.
 
Medical books. Not just first aid for dummies type books either. Text books. If you have a doctor or nurse in your MAG and they don't have their school text books they will thank you. Most medicine today rely on devices too much and the text books remind medical professionals of the basics they learned in school.

https://www.doomandbloom.net/med-herbal-book-resources/
 
Learn to live by trust and respect. You can trust anyone to be themselves and turn on you in a split second. Respect others and yourself.
It has been said that you should smile when you greet someone while having a plan to kill them quickly if needed. That shows respect for them and respect for yourself.
 
I didn't see Rawles book

How to survive The end Of The World As We Know It

He invented the term TEOTWAWKI

Army and SAS survival guides.

Ben
 
this is a great book...its old version...theres new versions out and they have various cover colors...they are not the same from few times i picked up and flipped through them....the yellow copy is not without flaws...i could tweek this book and make it so much more.i.e. a canning chart table for pressure canner and waterbath. i dont know the ins and outs of copyrights etc. but this book was a readers digest and now it has a womans name on it..copyright ran out?

R.d9153acec09955fe1f69ea00b577ba2b
I have an old copy of that one and it is a good book.
Many other have been mention already that are first ones to come to my mind
 
Gene Logsdons 'small grain book'

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Before you spend more money on books look through the offerings at Gutenberg library. The books are free and most are old enough to cover the skills and tools you need to work without electricity.
 
Thanks!

Edit: I am aware of that site, are you aware of library genesis?
 
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No, I will check it out, thank you!
 

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