Customer Reviews

Peak Oil Survival: Preparation for Life After Gridcrash

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you have never read anything about peak oil or survival perhaps this book will get you thinking. If you have any knowledge of these topics you will find this book very high level and not informative. If Mr. McBay has an understanding of survival, or in a more relevant vein self-reliance, it does not make it to these pages.

Two quick examples: The book is a very light at under 100 pages and he spends 33 of those pages talking about cooling and cooking food. In his post crash world there is a big issue with cooling or cooking food but apparently after grid crash there is no problem actually getting the food. If there is, he does not address the issue. Personally I have become accustomed to eating.

Second, he spends less than 2 pages addressing heat (in the winter). If you live in the North one would hope Mr. McBay would address the topic as a lack of fuel would definitely have an effect. His suggestions are pitiful. Light a fire (great if you live on the third floor of an apartment with no fireplace) and put on more clothes. Brilliant! I need someone to remind me to get dressed. How about a simple suggestion to prepare yourself by getting a high quality sleeping bag that can keep you alive when the temperature goes sub zero. No such common sense suggestions are to be found.

If you want a book on survival then buy one on that specific topic. May I suggest "SAS Survival Handbook". If you want a book on Self-Reliance then buy one on that specific topic. I would suggest starting with "Storey's Basic Country Skills" or "The Self-sufficient Life and How to live It" or "The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living". All these books are tomes of knowledge that may actually help you if hard times come to pass.

There is an entire literatue on Peak Oil (now, 30 years too late). Of the seven or eight that I have read, this is the single best most sensible book. Easy to read, to "connects the dots" and makes it clear just how tough urban and surban survival is going to be--imagine Baghdad at home.

The author has really knocked the ball out of the park with common sense. This is not a book that states the obvious as much as it is a book that really drives home the importance of obtaining water, treating water, creating latrines and making best use of gray water, keeping food cool, heating for fuel (with a dramatic savings achievable for short-term fuel use augmented by hot box "sitting"), and then ending with lighting and heat.

The layout of the book is first-rate, the diagrams are superb and easy to understand, and the practical list of tools and supplies needed for sustainment survival is explicit, not over-stated, and just plain serious.

Absolutely a great book and a serious contribution to the good of any community.

Other books:
Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage
Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum
The Party's Over: Oil, War And The Fate Of Industrial SocietiesResource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict With a New Introduction by the Author
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

There are two parts to this book.

The first is the Introduction which is only 16 or so pages long. But in these pages is as good a summary of what's going on as I have ever seen. The opening sentence: 'We live in an age of converging crises.'

I've never heard it put better. Global Warming, freshwater, fishing, destruction of topsoil, all are headed our way. Our politicians ignore it, they are much more concerned about a non-binding resolution about Iraq.

I've likewise never seen the description of the inadequacy of renewables described as well in as few pages. The introduction alone is worth the price of the book.

After that the book is on what it will take to survive after the 'Grid' crashes. No electricity, no fuel, no food. Here is how to process your own water, how to grow your food and cook it without using your gas/electric stove.

What he doesn't mention is that without oil, and with a true grid crash, the population of the world has to go back down to what it was before oil, say about the year 1900. And the population then was perhaps 1/4 what it is now.

McBay foresees converging crises (depletion of freshwater supplies, devastation of fish in the oceans, destruction of topsoil, and global warming - combined with the end of cheap oil) perhaps as early as 2010. "Peak Oil Survival" provides a number of hopefully practical approaches to then obtain and treat water, dispose human waste, keep food cool, etc.

Unfortunately, the "flies in the ointment" are not addressed - the earth cannot support anywhere near its current population without the availability of cheap energy, nor would civil order long be maintained in the face of disruption such as McBay envisions (look at New Orleans after Katrina). Thus, while McBay's approaches may be valid in theory, we need to focus more on resource conservation and developing alternative energy sources.

As an introduction to some new (to consumer) concepts, this book is decent enough. There are many other books that delve into each of the subject areas with the necessary information to utilize the concept. If you can only buy one book on the subject, skip this one. If you already have many books on the subject you probably won't need this one. This one will "peak" a newcomer's interest and covers more ground than other survival intro books.

This is a great read and will scare your socks off. Full of very useful information and a necessary read for informed people. While we might all argue a bit about just when the end of oil will occur, we know it will, and we better all be prepared.

What I'd like to hear more of, however, and what is lacking in print, is practical concrete plans for surviving the post oil collapse. I keep coming back to Jerome FitzGeralds "Sea-Steading" as the best example of an optimistic vision out there.

The premise of this book is more or less that we can all go back living on our little farm, cooking with our solar oven, composting our waste, storing our food without a fridge, etc. What I like about this book is how it portrays Peak Oil not as a cataclysm but as an event that can be dealt with, given a bit of resourcefulness and patience. It is certainly the most constructive, uplifting book on the subject and stands in stark contrast to some of the fearmongering that abounds elsewhere.

But is this approach realistic? Can we really "downsize" to a simpler lifestyle this painlessly? I guess the problem is ascertaining if Peak Oil will be apocalyptic or if it will lead us to a simpler, more bucolic, and probably even healthier lifestyle. Was industrial civilization just a phase that we will eventually outgrow to our benefit? It is difficult to say, but perhaps just the idea that this uncertain future is something that can be managed on an individual basis is reassuring in itself.

And if you don't think this is what the future will hold for us, treat the book as a history lesson about what people used to be doing _before_ our current (and perhaps quite fragile) technological bonanza...

This book is just under 100 pages, about a fifth of which is Introduction. The author states he is hoping for a rapid collapse of industrial civilization, via deliberate attacks by a group of 'committed individuals' if necessary. He goes on to give advice on basic long term survival without electricity or plumbing, most of it intended for a rural setting. Emphasis on BASIC. He covers a handful of topics, focusing on what can be built with recycled parts and little experience. I found the writing clear and some of the information very helpful, above all the pages on water filtration and purification--a variety of methods for different situations. Good suggestions for further reading, as well.

This is a concise, little book of basic techniques and mechanics for individually recreating many of the suburban comforts we have come to depend on, i.e. lights, potable water, heat, food, contact with the outside world, etc. It is pretty basic stuff for anyone who has developed skills in these areas already. However, if you are a relatively clueless urban or suburbanite who can't do without the necessities of the 21st century, American lifestyle and don't know how to produce them, you definitely need this book.

I received this book last week and finished it last night. It is an invaluable resource for finding water, purifying it for drinking, and more. However, I was hoping for more information on how to prepare for this event and more importantly from my perspective...how to prepare to stay warm in the winter. I think another reader had a very good point in that it doesn't seem that this book really covers the topic of how to find food in an emergency adequately. I was most appreciative of how the author laid out the beginning of the book and how through the water sections were.