Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles [Paperback]

James Ballou (Author), Ragnar Benson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

Would you be prepared to survive in the event of a complete breakdown of modern civilization? A man-made or natural global disaster could strand you for months, years or forever with no electricity, no water from the taps, no grocery stores, no city services and no government. Further, you'll be surrounded by countless others who didn't prepare - the very same people who mock survivalists by calling them paranoid pessimists and worse. But survivalists are the ultimate optimists. They believe that they will succeed - no matter what happens to the rest of the world - if only they can assemble the right supplies and learn the right survival techniques. Author Jim Ballou introduces you to the essential skills and mind-set you will need to survive a complete, long-term shift in the way the world operates. He tells you what items you need to assemble now and what skills will be priceless later. Learn how to assemble a survival workshop, recycle and salvage everything, develop survival bartering skills, prepare and store caches, and much, much more. More than a blueprint for bad times ahead, this informative guide may inspire you to attain a new level of self-sufficiency.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

As far back as James Ballou can remember, his interests have included survival activities - hunting, fishing, exploring, treasure hunting, backpacking, shooting, making and using tools, and just plain improvising. The author of dozens of magazine articles on various subjects, he also served four years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Ragnar Benson is America's most-esteemed survival expert. He has written more than 20 books for Paladin throughout the years on a variety of topics covering everything from weapons to politics to survival medicine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581605757
• ISBN-13: 978-1581605754
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading before TSHTF, April 22, 2010

By 

Happy Face (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles (Paperback)

It's impossible to predict exactly what type of disaster might cause the disruption (or total collapse) of The World As We Know It, therefore it is hard to create a book that will tell us everything we need to know to survive in such a scenario.
That said, Long Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age takes a pretty good stab at it.
I enjoyed the chapter on how to make caches so that supplies can be hidden and recovered years later.
The author takes the basic premiss that life will revert to something like the 1800's, so much of the book describes methods of improvising things like axes, knives, tools, clothes, rope, etc. While the author's homemade tools and clothes are beautifully crafted, I have a hard time imagining myself spending much time forging steel during a survival scenario. Even if all the stores are looted I think our society will have an abundance of remnant knives and axes to last quite a while. For at least a couple of decades I think scavenging will be a more important skill than blacksmithing.
This book is full of interesting skill and project ideas, but it's fragmented. The author has us building forges as if we will be cut off from the remnants of our civilization, but also caching guns, as if rounds or shells and gunpowder will somehow be available. It's somewhat hard to picture the scenario in which all these skills come together.
No one can paint a perfect picture of what survivors will be facing so we never know what skills exactly will be essential, so I will take what I can from this book. But I think the long term survival picture is going to be extremely dependent upon exactly How Many people are left vying for resources.
I think there will be few or no "free people" left. Men will all be killed or forced into ad hoc armies fighting and pillaging each other and women and children will all be captives of the armies, which will eventually evolve into the new civilizations. I don't like my scenario, but I think it resembles what life will be like a lot closer than the 1800's does. The 1800's may have been rough around the edges, but it had functional law and government and effectively it had castes so everyone had their "place." If society collapses today people will not fall into their new role as butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers. They will become feral and destructive.

Okay, so all in all, I'm not sure the author takes us down the right path but I really like all the skills he goes into. There are lots of helpful photographs and a few "cutaway" drawings to help us understand how to construct devices, and the writing is easy to understand. I also like the advice to hunt small game like squirrels and pigeons. Every yahoo in the cities who's ever bought a gun will go roaming into the woods and ruin the hunting and probably all shoot each other. I wonder how to tell what animals should be avoided because of the possibility of rabies, plague, etc. I also wonder how to make gunpowder or anti-biotics.

I enjoyed this book. If you are thinking about survival you could do a lot worse than to read this.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well worth it, January 24, 2009

By 

Eric W. Bergeron - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles (Paperback)

while much of the info can be gotten elswhere, this author actually knows his subjects first hand,,,the barter economy chapter alone makes this a good buy....exceptional, imnsho

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, very informative., January 18, 2009

By 

C. H. BRITTON "Twoshots" (Grand Lake Ok. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles (Paperback)

The first couple of chapters sound stangely familiar, it doesnt take much imagination to believe the premise presented for the collapse of our economy and goverernment, to me it sounded very much like what is happening right now!! It is fiction of course, but intwined in the story are hundreds of useful tips, stategies, and survival techniques. Well written, entertaining, and informative.