The reason I bought this book was because it was recommended reading in the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Actually, I think it may have been Tim’s website that recommended it. Regardless of where I found out about this particular piece I have to say I found this book to be extremely enthralling and also highly informative.
The combination of being both entertaining and informative is something that is difficult to accomplish. Clearly Neil Strauss is a well practiced writer that can make what would be a depressing and oppressive subject. The premise of the book is to prepare you for the worst case scenario in your life, if you are more prepared as a human being you will be more likely to survive.
Initially this book starts out with the journey Neil goes through to become more prepared. Eventually, though this book meanders into Neil becomes prepared to help others in a time of crisis. The fact that this actually occurs show’s how much heart he has for others. In case you didn’t already know Neil is also responsible for the book “The Game” or a book all about the underground of Pick Up Artists.
Clearly, those that judge this man negatively don’t know him very well. I can tell by his writing that he has a deep care of all people, so irregardless of how you feel about the whole Pick Up culture judging him for being a part of that is just wrong.
But what of the merits of the information contained in the book? I mean after all this is a book review and not an author review. The chapters are broken down into manageable chunks that make it easy to read. As well the chapter titles are such that you will want to read them, I would say each chapter would make for an excellent blog post but that is not the point.
Being prepared for what Neil calls “when the shit hits the fan” is something that a lot of others have taken to heart. Preppers have become an obsession for some, one option that is helping to fuel many companies throughout the United States. I have no problem with being prepared for what could come and as such that is why I bought the book, because I wanted a guide on how to do it.
Now the book is not a complete exhaustive “how to” manual of how to survive an upcoming zombie apocalypse or anything, rather it has helped me by pointing me to the right resources I need and basically pointed out the weaknesses in my own preparation for a catastrophe.
If you live in Florida, Minnesota, North Dakota, or even California then you know each one of us can face different threats. Being prepared for what could happen in your neck of the woods is what is important, the fact that Neil ends this book with becoming prepared to help others should also be a guide for us all. After all in times of crisis if we all just helped each other the world would be a better place.
Hands down I would recommend everyone read this book as use it as a starting point. Most importantly I would encourage meeting with your neighbors and figuring out a plan in case an emergency should happen in your area. Do you know of people in your neighborhood with medical training? If so having them at your disposal would be a extremely valuable resource.
Or alternatively you could learn the basics of emergency medicine by taking an EMT course at your local vocational school or community college. Again the point of this book is to teach you how to be prepared for disasters for helping yourself but also more importantly by helping others. When you have television series such as Revolution coming out as well as other movies such as World War Z then you may begin to see the potential problems we all could face in the near future.
Being prepared for what life may deal you in the future is as important to me as being physically fit, in fact I would say those two are directly related. If you are physically and mentally fit then you will be able to survive future disasters.
All in all I would highly recommend this book for just about everyone. Now there are some may say that they trust solely in God to save them, and they have a valid reason to believe that. However, I believe God would like us to be as prepared as possible and this book just illustrates a path along those lines. Regardless of your religious beliefs it is important to realize where you may be potentially weak or lacking, so that you can strengthen those areas in your life and help others.