I have read and reviewed many crisis and survival preparedness books in the past year (feel free to look at my other reviews). This is by far the best book on these topics that I have read. I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about preparing to weather the current economic crisis or to survive a natural or manmade disaster.
How is this book different from others on this topic? After reading it, it seemed to me that the author had read the most popular books in the genre, eliminated the impractical bits, collected all the good and relevant insights, and then put it all in an easy-to-read, friendly language. There is no annoying political agenda here (many books tend to be right-wing libertarian or left-wing anticorporate eco-new-age) - just a pragmatic description of how things work in today's economy or during a disaster. There is no gear and guns obsession in this book, nor fear mongering, nor advice on how to build a sustainable bamboo house :) Yes, there are so many quirky annoyances in many books in this genre, that this one is a breath of fresh air. There are also little puns and jokes here and there, which make this book more fun to read.
The author wrote this for urban and suburban middle class folks. The book basically tells you how to continue living your life, with minor modifications so you are better prepared for hard times. This book is not about "hard core survival" in rural areas.
Topics covered in this book (pretty comprehensive):
- Likely short and long term disasters (fire, flood, future oil crisis, financial instability)
- Examples of how societies dealt with crises, e.g. Katrina, collapse of Soviet Union, Cuba, Argentinean financial crisis
- Personal finances and big economic trends (demographics, energy, water, etc) you may want to exploit (the author does not push any specific stocks or funds, just gives you ideas and directions, plus explains how to use Yahoo Finance and other tools for doing your own research)
- Gold and precious metals investing (this is one of the sanest discussion of precious metals I have come across anywhere; basically, you may want to put ~10% of your holdings in precious metals as an inflation and currency devaluation protection, at least in present day)
- Water storage and purification
- Food storage at home, with surprising detail about various storage and preservation techniques, cooking without electricity, etc
- Shopping tips for saving money on daily stuff
- Gardening in your back yard
- Health, medicine, first aid
- Home security (yes, discusses guns here, but again in a sane and low key way)
- Books and education resources for times when you are off the grid, need to keep your kids occupied, etc
- Transportation and evacuation
The author does a splendid job of covering big economic trends and financial advice, combined with more traditional survival topics like food storage or off-grid living. Each chapter has a handy "least you can do" checklist at the end.
Are there any shortcomings? Yes but nothing major. There are no pictures in the book (besides a couple of financial charts). It is so wrapped up in current events (mentions Obama, Bernanke, current trade relations with China etc) that it may look dated in a few years. Also, given its size, the book does no cover the topics in huge depth, so for big topics like first aid, investing, personal and home safety you are better off following up with other resources.
Highly recommended.
