The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster [Paperback]

Bernie Carr (Author), Evan Wondolowski (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 2011

BE PREPARED
BE SAFE

From California earthquakes and Rocky Mountain wildfires to Midwest floods and Atlantic hurricanes, you can’t escape that inevitable day when catastrophe strikes your home town — but you can be prepared! Offering a simple DIY approach, this book breaks down the vital steps you should take into 101 quick, smart and inexpensive projects:

#6 Make a Master List of Passwords

#16 Calculate How Much Water You Need

#33 Start a Food Storage Plan for $5 a Week

#60 Make a Safe from a Hollowed-out Book

#77 Assemble an Inexpensive First Aid kit

#89 Learn to Cook Without Electricity

#94 Pack a Bug-out Bag

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bernie Carr has had extensive experience with surviving natural disasters and keeping her family safe. She writes The Apartment Prepper’s Blog and resides in Houston, TX with her family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ulysses Press; 1 edition (July 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569759294
• ISBN-13: 978-1569759295
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (177 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Disaster Relief
  • #27 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences
  • #30 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Sustainable Living

More About the Author

Bernie Carr became fascinated with survival techniques and self-sufficiency as a child, hearing stories of her father's adventures in the wilds of Southeast Asia as a land surveyor and avid outdoorsman. As an adult, she developed an interest in emergency preparedness and self-reliance, having survived the 1991 Northridge earthquake in California, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the evacuation of her home during the Southern California wildfires. She relocated to Houston, Texas, in an effort to avoid more natural disasters only to arrive in time to encounter the fury of Hurricane Ike in 2008. Bernie has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Southern California and has worked as a technical writer in various fields such as personal finance, insurance, and health care. She writes The Apartment Prepper's Blog at http://apartmentprepper.com and resides in Texas with her family, along with her two cats, Cesar and Cleo.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

254 of 257 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginners guide and experienced checklist July 19, 2011

By Leslie B. Hock

Format:Paperback

I am not usually a fan of the 'dummy's guide to....' or '101 easy steps to...' kind of book. This excellent little handbook is a rare exception. Well written and broken down into logical subject headings it is a great checklist for the seasoned prepper to see if their preps are as complete as they think. Have you really checked to see if you have everything needed to cook that food you stored? Really? Going through the food section will help double check what you have.

For the beginner who is overwhelmed by the idea that they have to go out and get a year's supply of food at $1300 per person this little book is the answer. Simply put, don't waste your money. The guide leads through easy stages to find what you need, where to get it, and how to store it. No huge outlays - you can successfully prep on $5 a week and this guide shows you how.

In each major area, the book takes you through the essentials and shows you what you need and how to get it. There is no attempt to sell you on this gizmo or that food supplier. It is a simple straightforward look at those things that one needs should the support structure that we have grown accustom to disappear.

Now, for the draw back. One of the reasons I am not a fan of most guides is that they don't contain enough detail. While this guide is better than most, no pocket guide can contain the background information that will help you understand the 'why' of something. It can tell you to use unscented chlorine bleach to make your water safe to drink but doesn't go into detail as what is wrong with the lemon scented stuff in the laundry room. It is a minor point and I would hope all readers would get interested and seek more information in every area. While I found the book accurate and often offering alternatives to critical needs, my bias says that being informed of the 'why' of a thing better equips you for survival.

With that caveat, this little guide is very helpful for both old and new preppers alike. It is small enough to be carried (do you remember EXACTLY how much bleach to use per gallon of water? It's in the book) so it should always be available. It is a great refresher for things you already know and a really solid checklist to see if there are any gaping holes in your preps.

The price is very reasonable and you can have a hard copy and a copy on your Kindle for under $20. I highly recommend it as an easy read with a great deal of information that just might keep you or a loved one alive.

108 of 112 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Man! I just love this book! July 19, 2011

By Self-Sufficient Homestead Show

Format:Paperback

I try to be ready for any situation that may come my way. Storms, floods, hurricanes, unemployment; anything can happen. I am amassing a large collection of books from all my reading about becoming self-sufficient. I have books on canning, cooking, camping, chickens, goats, pigs, farming, gardening, solar, green energy, survival... You get the point. I always encourage people to be self-sufficient and to be prepared for any situation. I am so glad I found this Pocket Guide, because it really packs so much into a nice neat package. When people ask me what they should do to be prepared for anything, I will just hand them a copy of the Prepper's Pocket Guide. It will be easier than trying to explain everything, which I would probably do in a way that would intimidate them.

This book taught me things I did not know and reminded me of things I don't want to ever forget. This book will encourage you to get prepared, because each of the 101 things listed are so doable! If you do just half the things listed in this book and a disaster never happens, you would not regret it and your Grand-maw and Grand-paw would be proud of you. You will live a more relaxed life knowing you can take care of yourself, your family and even your dog or cat. I know one thing, I can't wait to try roasting my own coffee beans over a camp fire and following the instructions in the guide to make the perfect cup of coffee. When everything has gone wrong, who says you can't enjoy the good things in life.

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Resource. July 28, 2011

By Kris

Format:Paperback

Sometimes prepping can become overwhelming. It's difficult to put a plan or checklist down on paper, and then apply a timeline to it. There's just so much to do! It's practically impossible to focus on every area of prepping at once. Consequently, you may be sacrificing security preparedness while focusing on long-term food storage, for example. Frequently while working on one thing, I'll realize there's another area that I've been neglecting. I'll make a mental note to tackle it next, but then often forget about it (I'm no spring chicken!). Several times now, I've intended to make myself sit down and write out a checklist. But as soon as I get started, the enormity of what needs to be covered quickly intimidates me.

Enter this nifty little book. The author has taken general emergency preparedness, and broken it down into 8 key areas, making it much easier to see the big picture. At the same time, the book acts as a checklist and/or plan for my prepping, which helps me keep all areas in mind even while focusing on one component at a time.

This book is not the be-all, end-all on the subject of prepping: it would be impractical for the author to try to cover each topic she presents in-depth. Some topics require--and are given--more coverage than others. What this book does do is give anyone interested in preparedness a foundation on which he can build to meet his own needs.

I, for one, have gone through the book, highlighting areas and ideas the author presents that I can utilize to improve my preparations. I'm sure before long the margins of my copy will be filled with notes. This book would be good to give as a gift, if you're looking for a way to introduce others to emergency preparedness, but is also a good resource for those already knowledgeable about the subject, as it condenses a large amount of information into one small package.