I enjoyed this book but one thing that turned me off is that, if you read the author-bio, you'll see that he cast *himself* as the main character/ dad of the year/ natural leader/ brilliant strategist/ irresistible chick magnet. Came off as pretty egotistical. I also thought there was some right wing fantasizing going on with how he treated some of the survivors, especially the group of hippies he came across on the road. It sounded like he was crowing "this is what's gonna happen to you lefty goofballs!" Not that it necessarily wouldn't happen, but he seemed to be taking some smug pleasure in making it happen.
I read the Rawles website regularly but I haven't read his book for the same reservations you've mentioned. He's as far right as they come and very preachy, especially about religion. I have no doubt that his book includes at least one chapter in which the godless masses cannibalize each other while the pious family escapes to the safety and security of their village chapel through the power of prayer.
If you've taken any steps towards emergency preparedness you'll be miles ahead of most of your neighbors. I know first hand how difficult it is to get started; there are just so many aspects to be covered; food storage, water storage vs. filtration vs. treatment, waste disposal, making electricity vs. managing without, bug-in vs. bug-out, etc. One of the things that really got me started was going through my pantry and counting up calories, then dividing the total for 2,000 calories per day, and seeing how long I'd last just on what I had on hand. It was a good lesson for me!
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Date: 2013-12-07 05:10 pm (UTC)I enjoyed this book but one thing that turned me off is that, if you read the author-bio, you'll see that he cast *himself* as the main character/ dad of the year/ natural leader/ brilliant strategist/ irresistible chick magnet. Came off as pretty egotistical. I also thought there was some right wing fantasizing going on with how he treated some of the survivors, especially the group of hippies he came across on the road. It sounded like he was crowing "this is what's gonna happen to you lefty goofballs!" Not that it necessarily wouldn't happen, but he seemed to be taking some smug pleasure in making it happen.
I read the Rawles website regularly but I haven't read his book for the same reservations you've mentioned. He's as far right as they come and very preachy, especially about religion. I have no doubt that his book includes at least one chapter in which the godless masses cannibalize each other while the pious family escapes to the safety and security of their village chapel through the power of prayer.
If you've taken any steps towards emergency preparedness you'll be miles ahead of most of your neighbors. I know first hand how difficult it is to get started; there are just so many aspects to be covered; food storage, water storage vs. filtration vs. treatment, waste disposal, making electricity vs. managing without, bug-in vs. bug-out, etc. One of the things that really got me started was going through my pantry and counting up calories, then dividing the total for 2,000 calories per day, and seeing how long I'd last just on what I had on hand. It was a good lesson for me!