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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wasn't at all what the title led me to believe it would be..., May 16, 2009
This review is from: Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Through the Amazon Vine program, I received a copy of the book Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters by Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore and Ron Martz for reviewing. I'll admit that the title had me expecting something far different than what was delivered. As such, I found it only marginally applicable to what the general premise seemed to indicate. Someone going into the book with a proper understanding of what it was actually about might fare better than I did. Honore was the main person placed in charge of the government response to Hurricane Katrina. Hailing from that area himself, he was immediately seen as "one of us" by the people who were affected by the aftermath of the storm and the cleanup efforts afterwards. In Survival, he presents a first person account of how he came up through the military, the preparation that placed him in the position to lead the storm response, and a blow-by-blow description of what happened behind closed doors as turf wars and personalities warred to get attention and exposure from the crisis. Rather sad that so many in charge had so many ulterior motives beyond the service to those they were sworn to serve and protect. At the end of each chapter, there is a list of "lessons learned" in terms of what came out of the Katrina disaster, as well as things that need to change in order for America to better prepare and handle these events in the future. Now, had this been titled something like Katrina, or Surviving Katrina, I would have been in a much different mindset when I placed the order. What I expected was a book that talked about how you can prepare your family and yourself for local disasters, and how you can be ready for a disruption in your normal routine. And to be fair, one of the appendixes does cover preparedness kits you should have on hand. But the rest of the book read like an autobiography of Honore, a defense of his decisions, and a storytelling of what it was like to be on the ground after the storm passed. All fine if that's what you were expecting, but far from satisfactory if you were looking to improve your chances of getting through a local crisis. The best I can do here is give this a three star review, knowing that others might like it better based on their interest in Katrina. Personally, I probably would have been reading something else had I known then what I know now.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Survival, April 25, 2009
This review is from: Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Russel Honore (b. 1947) is a recently retired 3-star US Army General who was in command of the Federal military relief operations for Katrina. He is of Creole descent and became something of a popular hero in the press for his straight shooting non-nonsense tough guy attitude. While Brown of FEMA and other state and local leaders lost control on TV pointing fingers, yelling mad and even crying - Honore was always there tough as nails getting things done. In this memoir he recounts what happened and along the way dispels popular myths about who was at fault and why, in particular related to the Superdome debacle. In the end he concludes it's a systemic failure of a culture quick to blame and slow to take up a can-do attitude of being prepared for a disaster. To that end he has found it his "life's mission" to teach and educate on being prepared, this book is just part of a larger lecture tour and other programs he has undertaken to help educate America about preparedness. `Survival` can be approached in a number of ways: 1) as an autobiography of Honore, 2) as a first-person history of Katrina, 3) a practical and specific "after-action" report on what went wrong and what could be done to improve it in the future and 4) a guide for the average citizen on ways to be more prepared, physically and psychologically. Honore admits early on he is not a great writer and the book is co-authored by Ron Martz who no doubt technically wrote much of the book. However the voice of Honore is clear and pronounced - Honore is a great speaker and most likely much of it was dictated and cleaned up for the page by Martz. Honore's personality and character come across clearly, he communicates well and gets the ideas across with occasional humor and grace. It reads quickly and I often had trouble putting it down. Overall, even if your not interested in the "preparedness" angle, it's well worth reading just as an easy accessible first-person account of Katrina. It's not authoritative - that may come later by an archival based professional historian cranking out a 880 page tomb - but it is easy to read and clears up a lot of misunderstandings. And in the end you may even find yourself agreeing with Honore about being prepared. Today as I write this review, the news is full of stories about a Mexican swine-flu, it may be nothing or it may be the next disaster.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So-so, June 7, 2009
This review is from: Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I remember watching interviews with Lt. Gen. Honore in the aftermath of Katrina. He came across as someone refreshingly honest and in charge at a time in which there did not seem to be much competence or honesty coming from the federal government. It was with great interest I began reading "Survival." The entire title of the book, "Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family From Disasters," may mislead some folks. Most of the talk of preparing from disasters on an individual or family level is contained in the appendices. The bulk of the book is a biography of the author and an examination of the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Does that mean this book is not worth reading? Absolutely not. Honore gives essentially a personal narrative of what happened after the Hurricane struck. He also is very critical of some of the areas of government, and goes on to outline what he believes needs to be done for future events. The appendices are interesting as well. Not only does Honore give detailed lists of what people should have at home and other places in the event of a major disaster, but he also includes lists of things such as nineteen rules for leadership during a disaster, as well as a list on how to deal with media contact. Rule number one on the latter list, appropriately enough, is "Don't Lie. Tell the truth." All in all "Survival" is a good read. The information is straightforward, although the book does seem to veer into uninteresting details at points. People who, like me, were impressed with Lt. Gen. Honore and want to get his assessment of Katrina in detail will enjoy reading "Survival."
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