Customer Reviews

Wright's Complete Disaster Survival Manual: How to Prepare for Earthquakes, Floods, Tornadoes, & Other Natural Disasters

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

 

 

Even though there are mistakes and various ctiticisms about this book, Mr. Wright has prepared an important resource for those wishing to be better prepared for "the big one". I found that it was not "complete" but still valuable reading, even ten years later.

None of us want to think about disasters, but they still happen. After reading this book I immediately made "72 hour kits" or "mobility bags" for every member of the family. I have one in the car along with a cheap crow-bar under the seat. I am making a kit for work and even gave them away as Christmas presents!

It is my intention to stock a few critical supplies in a safe place in my yard in case the house collapses and my supplies are not safely reachable. This I do because of this book. I believe this book should be evaluated by every family, and some of the ideas about schools should be addressed by teachers, PTA members and legislators throughout the country. Great food for thought. Great food for action. Thank you Mr. Wright.

The old gentleman who wrote this book rambles on for much of the book about how stupid people are. I just opened to page 133 and found something "Honey! (High-pitched hysterical voice) Look at this awful book written by this terrible man. (Thrusts book under husband's nose) Honey, do you know what he is saying? (Goes on without stopping) He is saying that our house is going to fall down. ..."

END QUOTE

Where he isn't disrespecting his readers, he's babbling about every type of place imaginable and what might go wrong there -- with little constructive advice. The author has readers paying to hear him pat himself on the back for seeing how how stupid the rest of us are, when he has little to contribute himself but the chip on his shoulder.

This would be a simple waste of money if it weren't for the bad medical advice. He wants readers to pop burn blisters and apply aloe vera cream or honey. In another instance, he says to apply "a little salve" to a burn. For a THIRD DEGREE BURN, he says to put aloe vera juice over the dressing.

I'm not complaining just because aloe vera burns my skin, but because it is wrong, wrong, wrong to put any gunk on a third-degree burn.

He recommends garlic tablets for DIARRHEA.

When it comes to food, there's little of look up and young women in the audience tend to have a stunned look on their faces... END QUOTE

Then he goes on about people who only have time to microwave, and cooking being a lost art. Pat pat...

For GOOD first aid information, take a course from the Red Cross -- it only takes 4 hours, and you can also get certified in CPR in 3 hours. Your time and the low fees for the classes will be MUCH better spent than as a purchase of this book, and you could actually make an injured or ill person better instead of worse!

I got this book because it was recommended in the e-dition of my home-town paper. Now I'm too ashamed to say which home town. The book just stinks.

One book I *do* recommend is "Secrets of Warmth," by Hal Weiss, which is available on Amazon.

What an incredibly useful book. I don't know what some of the other reviewers were reading, but it wasn't this work. I didn't see anything about weird medical advice. I did find it chock full of very useful, pertinent information. Having lived through the Northridge quake, I know what this man says is true. The simple-to-follow procedures make so much sense and are very practical.

In the event of an emergency, natural or manmade, you would be on your own. This book provides a very concise and clear-cut plan to not only prepare for emergencies, but to survive them and live in a relative degree of comfort as well afterwards.

Mr. Wright survived disasters in his long life, starting with his boyhood in war-torn Britain. Unlike other authors, who pontificate on theories and feelings, but who never lived through a disaster, Mr. Wright offers hard advice that may sound harsh and unappealing, but useful nonetheless.

If you're a realist, and a practical sort, buy this book and share it with those whom you love.

The most important thing you learn when reading many, many books on the same subject of survival, is that they all have different focuses and approaches to surviving various disasters. They should also make you think and develop new ideas for a survival plan. If you're relying on only 1 or 2 books to cover everything, you're already in trouble as disasters never follow a set script.
The Author of this particular book lived through the London Blitz and learned a few things that many authors of other known survival books can only imagine as possibilities. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten lots of good information from other books on the same subject, but this one led me to think of lots of things that the others did not.
A wide variety of books on the subject is the best approach. If you are serious on the subject, then this one should be read. It covers Sheltering In Place very well, as well as being a fairly entertaining read.

This is a down-to-earth (I see the pun) look at surviving earthquakes while at home, in your car, at school, at work, and so forth. The author recommends a minimum of five days' supply of food and water per person, kept in your automobile and stored outside your house, buried or stored in an earthquake stable shed. He advises schools to have the same for all their staff and students. Earthquake survivors must be prepared to survive without professional help, to rescue and care for the injured around them, to camp and live in their backyards or the school grounds until conditions change, and in that outdoor environment to provide for the critical needs of health and sanitation. The book is a warning of what can occur and of what preparations and actions must be done in order survive the aftermath of an earthquake. It does not address the need for self-protection against violence or what to do when the food and water run out.

The author grew up in WWII Britain and experienced the devastation of the German bombings. His approach to earthquake survival sees the earthquake like a surprise bombing raid, coming without warning and with devastating effect. The danger of flying glass, falling objects, collapsing roofs and walls is ever present. It is the fundamental fact around which life must be structured. Large windows, overhead lighting and high stocked shelves represent danger, not convenience or comfort, and one should be wary of them. The need for durable clothing and shoes, the need to break out from a damaged vehicle or to crawl out from under debris, the need for water and food and first-aid and essential medication is absolute and unconditional. Without the ready-to-hand preparation for these needs one cannot survive. Because an earthquake comes without warning, these needs are constant and must inform one's very lifestyle.

Readers not in danger of earthquakes may find the book mostly irrelevant. The author occasionally attempts vaguely to refer his advise to other natural disasters, but his overriding concern is, without question, earthquake survival.

it is a weel writen book, even that the title is about earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, etc, it is most focused on earthquakes and the other scenarios are basic covered.
This books covers about how to prepare for a disaster and increase your survival chances

Pros:
*The way the book is writen, very friendly. logically writen from start with basic things to more focused scenarios.
* easy to read and put in real perspective what situations you can find in case of a disaster.
*Explains how some desicions affects your and your families's survival chances.
*cover almost all sitautions you can find yourself in case of disaster and what to do and don't (at home, at your car, workplace, etc).
*List basic items(food, tools, etc) needed to be prepared for survival at many disaster scenarios and live better than the average after the disaster.
*Includes Facts and Myths

Cons:
Basically i did not find any, but it would be great to have an internet link to download a basic exel file with the items listed in the book, so you can modify it according to your needs and posiblities.

In general is a book fun to read and informative. Recommended.

Wright's complete disaster survival manual:

The most complete emergency preparedness related book known to man! Chosen as one of the top 400 books in 1994 at the A.B.A. Convention in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, we didn't know about this book when we started putting the TheEpicenter site together. Our job would have much easier!

Take the information provided at this site, and multiply by a few notches on the Richter scale, and you start to get an idea about the magnitude of this book. A must for your library!

This is the most complete book on the subject that we have seen! When you combine the information presented at this site with the material in this book, you will be that much closer to a full understanding of how to prepare for a disaster.

Here are some of the topics covered:

Myth and facts about personal preparedness. Travel preparedness and the automobile. Schools and student survival kits. The workplace. Apartments, Mobile homes, parks, and condos. Public transportation. Federal and local response. Survivors Medicine chest for most common ailments.