How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, October 4, 2016

This book is about what you would do if you had $1-$2 million allocated for preparation for doomsday. However, you can get perhaps 50% of the way there for $3,000 and 80% for $50,000.For $1+ million you have your remote fortress, multiple vehicles, sizable weapons cache with high tech thermal sights, immediate use food, long term food, seeds for doomsday, animals, redundant power (solar and generator) , medical supplies, fuel supply, diesel making equipment, solar power array, communications etc.It's a book filled with recommendations by someone who has put a lot of effort into the process and the product. It's inevitable that among the thousands of comments there will be some information subject to question.At some point you might decide to spend the $50K on the program and take the other $950,000 (if you have it) to Vegas, plunk half of it on the concierge desk and them them you want to have a very good time , something that you will treasure if doomsday lasts more than 30 days.Personally, I think it should be a crime not to have some minimal level of preparation, especially if you have a family. This includes the training you will need to be self sufficient (individually or with neighbors) for 30 days and to be able to leave home on 15 minutes notice with enough to survive for perhaps two weeks.General Honore talks of his post hurricane experience in Florida where only hours after the hurricane people were in the streets demanding to know when the government would arrive with water and food. People with 200 songs on their Iphone and a BMW in the garage seem to think that minimal preparation is beyond them.The author repeatedly emphasizes the need for training in basic skills including medical skills and firearms. This is one of the most important areas. I also appreciated that he repeatedly recommends that you be prepared to be a good neighbor to those in need.There's a lot to like in the book. Things I would have added or changed:The book needs to recommend or provide an introduction to understanding ohms law to provide a foundation for understanding what's practical to power with solar or a generator.Before you install a well pump look at the alternatives. It's tempting to put the largest pump we can power off the grid down the well. However, it might be better to put a smaller pump in that can be powered by an auxiliary generator or the solar system's inverter in an emergency. In any event the pump's electrical requirements should be written on the controller box. It's the voltage and starting amps that count i.e. 240V 20AThe simple way to make the system rapidly convertible from the grid to alternate power is to have the pump controller to power connection made with a plug (of the correct voltage/amp)and to label the breaker requirement for the pump.Much of the energy on a typical shallow well system is used to pressurize the system rather than pump water out of the well. Plan to go to an unpressurized system with a reservoir.There are also un-powered ram pumps used in developing countries which can take water with a 20 foot head and pump 10% of it up 100 feet. They are noisy. See internet for a description.Personally a seaworthy boat would make a great combination of escape vehicle and retreat. It needs to be one that will take you to safety with only unskilled crew.Best of all, I would like to have an airplane that I can fly or have a neighbor who flys. However, depending on the situation aircraft may be grounded and takeoffs prohibited at airports that are policed.I'm not impressed with electric vehicles as a doomsday alternative. Although he recommends them as the third vehicle, I would rather have a duplicate of something else for parts swapping.Ethanol containing gasoline has a relatively short life before serious deterioration begins. A fuel stabilizer is essential. I would also look to a vehicle which would run on leaded fuel in an emergency and perhaps invest in a few drums of avgas which is much more stable than autogas. Yes it will kill the cat converter and probably the 02 sensor.I have spent some time living on a remote cattle ranch in BC without electricity, refrigeration, TV, radio etc. Books are essential food for the brain.If the evil government is going to come looking for you and your followers my guess is that they will simply do a thermal scan on a cold night.I'm not much of a fan of building a massive front door unless you are going to put bars on all the windows and build using block. Putting bars on all the windows is likely to put you at a greater risk in the more probable event of a fire.If you are going to build your retreat then you need an auxiliary building to store some stuff in the event you burn down the main building.I'm not a gun expert by a long shot, but I would limit the types of guns to a small handgun (.22), large bore handgun, small rifle (same caliber as handgun) , large rifle and shotgun. If more guns were added they would be duplicates for parts and ammunition interchangeability and familiarity. Overall I think there was too much emphasis on weapons.Based on the same BC experience I would have a conventional long knife for utility purposes. There are lots of situations in the outdoors where a conventional knife is very useful.While I would not advertise what I had, I think the need for secrecy may be overblown. However, the author has it right when he talks about the need to react immediately. The real tragedy of New Orleans is that by the time the mayor issued the evacuation order it was too late. It was not a surprise in that the emergency plan for New Orleans emphasized that an early evacuation order was the key.In summary it is an informative and entertaining book. Recommended.

Rawles is a great non-fiction writer, and this is a well written book. However, it has some major faults:- The book is for hard core survivalists only. It assumes complete and absolute break down of civilization. It does not deal with "simpler" short-term emergencies (tornado, fire, flood) that you can ride out living in your normal urban or suburban environment. The book is practically all about establishing a well-stocked remote rural retreat, which you defend tooth-and-nail against looters and invaders, while keeping the curtains down not to let them see your window lights.- Rawles preaches to the choir, not to the uninitiated. If you are not familiar with the survivalist vernacular and have not read similar books / blogs, you will find this book a little jarring and over your head. In fact, Rawles often cross-references his fiction novel Patriots as supplementary guide. Speaking of preaching to the choir: all these five stars reviews which are highly rated as helpful - feel free to ignore the ones written before October 2. Given that this book started shipping on the last day of September and is not available for Kindle, there is simply no way people could have received and read the book before Friday October 2. Rawles is known for encouraging his blog readers to all buy the book on the same day to create a "bestseller" effect on Amazon, and this carries over to the reviews. So beware.- Book is way too tiny and short for much useful learning. In fact, each chapter is basically a thoughtful intro followed by a list of items to get, with some quick facts (e.g. how long honey or wheat can be stored, where to buy the containers, etc). There is barely any attempt to teach survival attitude and skills - those are farmed out to other books or training courses. To the author's credit, he has plenty of great pointers to other books and courses. However, you are much better off going there in the first place.- Rawles has a misanthropic, dog-eat-dog sense to his writing, both in this book and in Patriots. It is too much about hunkering down in your darkened bunker, eating MREs, and using plenty of ammo to keep the less fortunate souls away. While it is possible that a major event could end civilization as we know it, I do wish Rawles had a more positive tone and attitude, at least when trying to covert newcomers to his cause :)There is one really big issue with hard core survivalism in general. If a truly massive global or nationwide disaster comes to pass, the likelihood of surviving it is low, no matter how well you prepare. Surviving a nuclear war or a mass epidemic is unlikely, and more about random chance than preparation. The survivors are bound to come together in sizable groups for strength and protection. If a well armed gang or ex-military unit converges on one of the Rawles-style rural retreats, game is over. So at the end of the day, at least to me, hard-core survivalism comes across as a militaristic make-believe game, mostly indulged by paranoid guys. Last but not least, unlike "soft-core" temporary disaster survival, what Rawles recommends is expensive and requires major lifestyle changes, which limits its appeal tremendously.So, what's good about this book? The chapters on food storage and vehicles stand out. Also, if you are looking for a primer on surviving a major end-of-civilization disaster, this is a great starting point. To the author's credit, his survival blog has more readers than most daily newspapers, so he knows his stuff, whether you agree with him or not.

Very heavy on gun info. That information is useless to me living in a country where guns are basically illegal.The rest of the information was common sense and a good place to start.He did make me feel as if I was going to die because I can't afford a refuge in the wilderness. Then I looked at a satellite photo taken at night like he recommended and laughed. The suburban area where I live has the same or less night time lights as the 'rural' areas he recommended people redoubt to.

i do not reside in the states at the moment, for all the people around the globe who doesn`t neither, no, it is only in small portions usefull !and man, be prepared to spend all your money on TEOWAWKI preparations `cause thats what it will cost you if you follow his advise !i think, be prepared is fine but he takes it more than one step to far for me , sorry , too much , be not in the position to make changes like that !that doesn`t mean all is crap, some really usefull info you might be able to tailor to your needs but s.a. mainly the US of A can really do with this book !

First and foremost I should say that, if the end of the world comes, the author, and anyone who follows his guidance, will survive for a lot longer than the rest of us. He knows his stuff, that's clear, and the book seems fairly comprehensive. But...First, I live in the UK, and I'm just not sure how relevant much of this content would be for the UK, in particular in terms of (a) the availability / price of land to buy/build "a secure retreat", and (b) the emphasis on firearms as a means of protection and (c) the availability of the niche supplies/suppliers he references throughout. Second, the book isn't really about making some sensible preparations - it's really about fully reinventing your life to be focused on survival preparedness. For me, this goes to an extent that isn't realistic for most people, and I'll give 3 examples: (i) it talks about buying a defendable retreat, away from population centres / major roads, and either living in it or having a quick means to get there, (ii) it talks about spending a considerable amount of money on food stores, proper equipment, security, vehicles, training, etc, and (iii) it talks about maintaining/cycling through your stores regularly so that nothing goes out of date, etc. It also talks about teaming up with one or more other families in a shared effort at readiness (again very sensible, but hard to do in the UK). While I am sure he is right, and this is what is really required to be truly ready for the end of the world, the majority of people do not have the time or the money to follow this guidance. They would also come across as slightly unhinged to most people.So, I'm not saying don't buy the book. If you want to know what is really required to be ready, then this is probably it, but for me, all this did was make it feel slightly pointless because I don't have the money, the space or the time to follow this guidance. Oh, and my wife would divorce me for being a paranoid madman if I tried (and I might not blame her).While a lot of this appeals to me - I love "being prepared" - it's just not realistic, at least not her in the UK, for me, without turning my life upside down, and I'm not prepared to do that. So, I will probably try to do some of these things in a way which doesn't freak-out my wife, but it will be nowhere near what is recommended in this book.

A useful book on prepping for various scenarios, including a worldwide ‘flu pandemic like the one we’re experiencing right now.Not sure that the kind of prepping laid out is attainable for a great deal of the population (how many people are currently barely able to pay their rent, let alone purchase enough land to be able to live self-sufficiently?) but there is a great deal of common sense on these pages and if you take this as the “ideal” you could scale it back to suit your current circumstances and still be a lot better off in the event of a country/worldwide catastrophe than someone who had done no prep whatsoever.There is a large focus on guns and ammunition so it’s more useful if you live in a country such as the USA where legal gun carrying is more common rather than in the UK where amassing the sort of firepower suggested would be tricky, illegal in the case of the handguns and highly likely to put you on some kind of watchlist!All in, this is a good starting point for anyone who’s looking to be better prepared for the next potential society-stopping event

This book was released in 2009, so, for example, the car section lacks tips for modern electric vehicles and only recommends electric transportation options available at the time while lacking a section on wood-powered car conversions completely, also firearms and electronics section lacks recent boom in affordable portable communication, observation and computing equipment that happened in the last decade but despite this, you will struggle to find better read on long-term survival for given book form factor than this book provide, especially as you will be directed towards specialized books (homesteading, specialized gardening techniques, etc.) that complement this introductory book in detail not possible to pack in few hundred pages of a small book.Most of the included value is in fact that the writer doesn't just copy most interesting stuff from other books, military manuals, and the internet as is very common in books concentrating on preparedness and long-term self-reliance but there is a plethora of life experiences living the style of life he wants to introduce others into with various modern and pre-industrial age technologies required to sustain it and ways of doing things from his own experience and experience of his self-reliance oriented blog community that is among ways he managed to finance this style of life while society is still running and taxes needs to be paid. Thus even if you read plenty of preppers books you will still likely find a lot of new information on making the right choices and getting better deals that were not yet in any other book of similar orientation to be copied and included by another emerging prepper writer that likely did not have hands-on experience with a large portion of things various 200-page prepper bibles including which often shows. The only major gripe I found with this book was occasional tips written with white letters on a gray background that are unnecessarily strenuous on the eyes when reading at night before sleep. So, if you want to live Amish paradise life but also balancing modern and time-proven technologies of the past while still somewhat being part of the society in monetary and life standards terms, this book is still among the best introduction into the lifelong endeavor of hard-to-obtain high degree self-reliance in modern interconnected times, easy 9/10 or 5 stars in current Amazon rating system.