One thing likeable about this very thorough and well-organized survival book is its reasonable price. Another
is its appearance (businesslike) and its size-to-information ratio: this is a book you can carry with you through the storms of life without being weighed down.
Author Jim Cobb is no stranger to danger.
He is the owner of Disaster Prep Consultants and has previously written Prepper’s Home Defense. He claims to live in a bunker. His first lesson in preparedness came when his wife had her first baby--what he did and did not take to the hospital for that event prompted him to develop what he calls a Get-Home Bag. In the GHB, you should carry water, food, fire and shelter. Really, these are the basics of survival anywhere and anytime, and having them
(or the wherewithal for them) in your car in a portable sack is a great idea.
The author builds several scenarios that will make any of us think--hard--about how prepared we are for disaster: flu outbreak, civil unrest, power outage, nuclear or other massive attack. He recommends the formula Deter, Delay, Defend: make your fortress (or simply your home, in case of disaster, if you don’t want to adapt bunker mentality just yet) look too secure for a looter to bother with. That’s Deter. Warning systems and planning from within can produce the Delay, and Defense is what happens when the first two systems break down. Cobb recommends doing what you do about home protection without talking about it. That way fewer people will know about it and be able to take advantage by cracking or hacking the codes.
Apart from disaster preparedness, being ready for a serious meltdown can be as simple as keeping a first-aid kit near to hand.
How many of us think about that but have never done it? This book will get you off the couch and inspecting your personal space for readiness. Stockpiling certain foods, understanding medicines and how to use them in emergencies, knowing how to build fires or signal for help--all of these could save a life or a limb, or just give peace of mind when, for example, a large power outage hits your neighborhood. Why not just STOP right now? That’s another easy to remember acronym: Sit down, think, observe and plan.
Practical information, delivered in a practical way, for possible future use. Cobb showed me you don’t have to go to extremes to be a prepper. This is reality, not reality TV. It goes back to the good old Boy Scout maxim:
Be prepared. Highly recommended.