How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
2010 August 6
Surviving The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, techniques & technologies in Uncertain Times
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Review by adp113 for How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
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I have followed Rawles blog and his writings. This book is pretty OK, and here is why. The book does provoke a lot of thought, but.. Here is where it misses. The situation that Rawles describes, he has not lived through. I still have a rather normal life I have to live and for most of us, ditching it all and moving to the mountains is not a feasible option. He often cites needing a years worth of anything on hand, but what happens after that year? Do you really want to live in a place of constant death and destruction. He lists a lot of doomsday scenarios by where the ones who survive will not be the lucky ones.
I think the much more likely future is similar to what happened in Argentina or what has been slowly happening in South Africa.
So while next spring I will be tilling up a good part of yard for a garden, harvesting rain water, and buying and stocking in bulk. I will not be buying a GOOD location or a buying an old diesel junker truck to get there.
There is a lot you can learn from this book, but don’t make it your sole reference. Where you live determines your survival strategy, there is no one size fits all approach.
Review by Alberto Vargas for How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
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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.
Review by Michael Z. Williamson for How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
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This book doesn’t cover every detail of every disaster, of course. No one book could. What it has is easily referenced, concise summaries of particular events–hurricanes, earthquakes, brush fires, economic collapses, grid failures–and summaries of preparations one can make. Then, those preparations are roughly described.
All this gives a person or family a handy guidebook to create a disaster plan from.
Obviously, not all disasters have equal probability, nor are relevant to all locations–brush fires and hurricanes don’t affect me in the Midwest. Tornadoes, flash floods and blizzards do, as might a New Madrid earthquake. Long term societal problems aren’t currently a problem in the US, but are in quite a few other western nations, such as Argentina and sometimes Chile. There’s even advice on a checklist to prioritize exactly those issues.
As usual, a lot of the negative reviews revolve around a provincial “it can’t happen here” mindset. A given disaster might not be likely in your current location at your current time, but places, people and societies change. Preparing ahead costs little, and can save your life. If you never need it, think of it as insurance.
Review by Rangegal for How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
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Rawles has been providing an important service to the readers of his books and of his survivalblog for years. Disasters happen regularly all over the world, and Rawles has the best and most relevant info on how to prepare and cope with these life-threatening problems and this book shows you how to do it. I recommend everyone read his books and blog and take steps to prepare for what will inevitably come, be it storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorism, economic breakdown, or civil unrest. Do a little bit of preparing every week and you’ll sleep better knowing you can keep your family fed and sheltered in case something bad happens. If it never comes, all the better! We all have home and car insurance, right? This is just another kind of insurance.
Review by W. Kasper for How to Survive The End Of The World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques And Technologies For Uncertain Times
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First, ignore that illiterate, lying fool who gave this compendium 1 star. He hasn’t read the book, and is condemning Mr. Rawles for something he didn’t do: Predict a collapse.
Mr. Rawles is a fountain of knowledge regarding basic and not-so-basic prepare-to-survive techniques. Additionally, he supplies excellent Do’s and Don’ts for just about every likely, and unlikely scenario you may enounter.
This book is far more likely to save your life than whoever is on the other end of a 911 call, if anyone.