Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.82 You Save: $8.17 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.83 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
Book Review: Gets you thinking about survival, not a Survival Manual though
Summary: 5 Stars
I give this book 5 stars as it will likely get many narcicissts who need a whack upside their heads to realize that the government is not the answer to everything, and it is likely that at some point we will need to fend for ourselves, if only for a while.
I really enjoyed Strauss's earlier book The Game and that's why I picked this up. It reads more as a travelog describing his journey from citified to self-reliant and I found it entertaining. The first half of the book was the least interesting part as he spent a ton of money on an off-shore retreat and second passport in St. Kitts.
Once he got into the second half, and started to prepare to survive any calamity in his home it became more relevant. There is very little directly actionable information in this book, but it should whet your appetite to study survival blogs and make real preparations. As far as a Survival Manual, I would give Emergency 1 star. (Patriots by Rawles is much better for that purpose)
Side note: Neil has a bad case of BDS: Bush Derangement Sydrome and his incessant Bush-bashing was the major negative of the book for this conservative.
Book Review: If you have an open mind, this book can change the way you look at life
Summary: 5 Stars
Strauss certainly has a selfish mentality with a near obsessive desire to be prepared for WSHTF (when _ hits the fan) and we suddenly find ourselves without our orderly governmental protection and become subject to the whims of unruly society around us. At times I thought he was completely crazy and that I was crazy for reading the book, but what kept me reading and intensely engaged was that his arguments are completely logical. Strauss certainly goes above and beyond normalcy in this book in his personal journey, but his chronicles can be considered near enlightening for many people to open up to their worst fears and paranoia and dissect the best and worst of our society.
Will this book save my life? Well, it certainly has made me more aware and eager to seek out community preparedness programs so that I will be that much more ready for WSHTF, as disaster can certainly hit anytime anywhere. At the least I can say that anyone who picks up this book will realize that there is a scale of those that are more prepared and those that aren't for the worst, and be forced to consider where they are on it.
Book Review: Interesting book full of ideas
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first came across this book, the premise seemed interesting, but didn't buy it. However, after giving it more thought, and having loved Neil Strauss' "The Game," I figured it would be good fun book to read, and boy was I right.
Although the title states "This Book Will Save Your Life," this book was more of a narrative of the author's experiences coming to terms with the crazy and dangerous world we live in than a how-to guide on doing these things. However, that was pretty much expected from my experience from "The Game," so that was no real big surprise.
The book is full of different ideas on how to become a more self-reliant person and does have lots of tidbits of wisdom in there mixed in with the experiences Strauss shares with us.
I really enjoyed the book, it presents lots of points that make you think about your place in the country and this world. The only thing I found kinda weird and out of place was the random pictures places throughout the book; pictures he took of certain items or events that seems kinda cheesy because of the size and quality.
Book Review: Game Changer
Summary: 5 Stars
"Emergency" is a great book on a number of different levels. First, and most importantly, it is really well written and entertaining. Strauss has an accessible style that makes this an easy book to get into, and difficult to put down.
In addition to being entertaining, the book is filled with useful information that may actually save your life. I don't know that I'm going to get as deeply involved as Strauss did, but I've already begun some of the programs he describes in the book.
It happens that I began reading "Emergency" the same week that I took the Urban Escape & Evasion course that is described within. I hope I never need most of those skills, but if/when TSHTF, I will be more prepared. I've also signed up for CERT training, at Strauss' recommendation. I may not go to an outdoor tracking school, but there are certainly ways in which we can all be more prepared for things to go sideways.
Whether you follow Strauss' path or not, this will certainly be an enjoyable read, and may just change the way you think about preparedness. Great stuff!
Book Review: Great read, great resource
Summary: 5 Stars
After learning about Peak Oil and reading Dimitry Orlov's blog and book about Collapse, I was looking very forward to this book, and I was not disappointed. It's a great read--I laughed out loud a number of times--as well as a great resource of information. I was also very interested because the excerpts on Tim Ferris' blog mentioned Kevin Reeve and Tom Brown, both of who I was aware of, having taken three of Tom's survival courses 25 years ago.
I liked the evolution Neil goes through and the various facets of emergency preparedness he experiences, from getting out of the country and offshore banking, to learning from gun-toting/hoarding survivalists and primitive technology live-off-the-land survivalists, to taking conventional emergency response training culminating in full EMT certification and being active in local community emergency response organizations. Quite impressive.
It definitely got me thinking. The average person likely doesn't have the time and money to do all the things he did. I know I don't. But this book will set you on the path.