The Briefing Room
General Category => Grassroots Activism and Living => TBR Kitchen => Topic started by: EC on August 07, 2013, 12:50:42 pm
-
Figure it might be worth a separate thread for this.
There is a treasure trove of free to read books out there. I tend to read and keep relevant books from the late 1800s to the 1930s, as in a moderately long term collapse that is the technology level you'll be most likely looking at. There will be exceptions, obviously.
-
First book: Three Acres and Liberty
Synopsis: It's a primer on farming for urban dwellers, published in 1918. The language is slightly dated, but it is a reasonably good introduction to basic farming and stock keeping, presented as one couples experience.
Take Away Points: One of the biggest points it drives home is the importance of community and good relations within the community.
Available: http://manybooks.net/titles/hallboltetext03trcrs10.html in all ebook formats.
-
Next book: Comprehensive Guide to Herbs
Synopsis: It isn't a wholly comprehensive guide to herbs, concentrating mainly on those which can be grown in the continental USA (Gee, thanks, what are we Europeans? Chopped liver?), but it is detailed on the majority, including the health benefits each herb provides. I include this in the Prepper's bookshelf because herbs are easy to grow, take minimal space and keep you fit and healthy while also making survival meals bearable, if not actually edible.
Available from: http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Comprehensive-Guide-to-Herbs as a free download.
-
The next book on the list is one many preppers already know, possibly by heart, but a copy to refresh your memory certainly doesn't hurt.
The Boy Scout's Handbook
Synopsis: It is the original 1911 version from the Boy Scouts of America. Partially to keep within the time frame I tend to keep, and partially because it is by far the best.
Available From: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29558/29558-h/29558-h.htm
Like all project Gutenberg texts, the formatting leaves something to be desired.
-
http://www.pssurvival.com/PS/index.htm (http://www.pssurvival.com/PS/index.htm)
Everyone has their pet disaster, and these folks think it will be a polar shift, but these folks have a pretty extensive list of articles and books which can be perused for free (4001 of them) and almost all survival oriented. (Broken down into categories).
-
Firearms manuals:
http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/FIREARMS/ (http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/FIREARMS/)
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/lorem-ipsum/original-manuals/ (http://www.forgottenweapons.com/lorem-ipsum/original-manuals/)
-
Military manuals (wide variety, commonly free downloads):
http://www.survivalschool.us/survival-info/military-manuals-pdf/ (http://www.survivalschool.us/survival-info/military-manuals-pdf/)
http://www.survivalebooks.com/usmilitarymanuals.html (http://www.survivalebooks.com/usmilitarymanuals.html)
https://archive.org/details/military-manuals (https://archive.org/details/military-manuals)
http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/ (http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/)
http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/books/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf (http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/books/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf)
http://www.surplusfirearm.com/surplus-firearm-manuals/ (http://www.surplusfirearm.com/surplus-firearm-manuals/)
https://www.buymilsurp.com/booklets-and-manuals-c-50.html (https://www.buymilsurp.com/booklets-and-manuals-c-50.html)
-
All excellent resources, thank you Joe!
Going to add one that makes you say what?
A vegetarian cookbook.
Now, I'm not a diet crank - meat, fat, fish, eggs and milk are all important parts of the diet (absolutely vital for children and high activity adults). But, if you are serious about prepping, you have a survival garden, or plans for one. It is common sense. So, it's common sense to also make the results of your garden interesting.
I have chosen the Low Budget Vegetarian Cookbook for this list. First, because it's a free download! But it also, by concentrating on the low budget aspect of things, tries to get the most bang per buck from the ingredients, and the section on converting meat based recipes is well done indeed. The author gave much thought to taste, texture and general "mouth-feel" when devising these. Available to download here. (http://www.lbveg.com/freebook.php)
-
WOW she sez, luxuriating in the growing list of prepper info.
I'll be looking through my lists and will share also - but it certainly will take me a while to go through the HUGE list!
Thinking about the potential 'energy' problem we may be experiencing when we actually need to use these things, I tend to go through and pick out certain articles and print them up - just in case :shrug:
-
Spare kindle or tablet, hand cranked USB charger/battery bank. A metal cabinet (grab one for free where any office or warehouse is being torn down) to convert to a Faraday cage, and you've covered most eventualities. Though I must admit to printing out and laminating the absolutely vital stuff! :beer:
-
Whoa! The pssurvival link is worth the price of admission alone! What a great resource.
Some useful advice: As you scan through these voluminous links, it might be advisable to download files to a thumbdrive or some other device and shield it for storage. Better yet, down load and print hard copies of really useful stuff.
Thanks again!
-
It is your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.
The world is dry tinder just awaiting the right spark.
So listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3
Selco covers this in this article many times people just can not except that a breakdown is occurring even as they watch it happening before their eyes. Why don’t they realize it? It’s caused by a condition called ‘Normalcy Bias’ a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.
It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.
A good article on ‘Normalcy Bias’ is on the Blog The Survival Mom:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/normalcy-bias/
You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become their ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.
Just getting started or an old hand you might find my Preparedness Manual helpful. You can download the manual at:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6fwwhd7fd3szm57/Preparedness+1j.pdf NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, cash (I myself have been putting up change for the past few years both for the metal content and the fact that using change places to make what purchases you can will move you down the the list of possible marks during shtf), tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
The Survival Mom is a good place where you can get lots of useful information like:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/
And More
Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/
And there is Selco’s Blog a Bosnian War survivor at:
http://shtfschool.com/
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger. Underestimation can be fatal.”
-
Thank you, kart! I refrained from posting your book because I do figure it's author's right to do so. :beer:
Survivalmom is a great resource, but I'm biased - she ran a couple of my pieces. :tongue2:
-
This was one of mine she posted:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
I inherited the Prepper Ping List on TOS from her as well. :patriot:
-
Just getting started or an old hand you might find my Preparedness Manual helpful. You can download the manual at:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6fwwhd7fd3szm57/Preparedness+1j.pdf NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
THANKS! Just downloaded it - just a glance tells me its full of great info.
At first I thought the "Rule of Three' was the instruction I got from my son: 'Two is one and one is none'....so we need THREE - one to barter or replace what breaks.
I'm always looking for another addition to our preps.
I am blessed that we can afford to put up food for an emergency - I know people who are having a hard time putting food on the table just to survive.
Whether you like him or not (I stopped listening to him last year) I bought my FIRST 20lb bag of rice because of Glen Beck. Back when he had his blackboard and connect the dots, and preparedness speeches, he was quite interesting. Not so much now - but I felt so much safer once I had that staple in the house. Of course, we've done much better since then, but I do owe him some thanks.
-
bookmark, thx for starting this EC.
-
This was one of mine she posted:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
I inherited the Prepper Ping List on TOS from her as well. :patriot:
The two of mine:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/gardening-in-a-drought/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/the-one-long-term-survival-tool-everyone-forgets/
I'm actually stirring myself to write another small book - there is nothing really good available on survival brewing and still work, despite the importance of ethanol as a medicine, fuel, cleaning agent, water purifier, trade good and morale booster. The brewing and still parts are not a huge problem - I've built and run stills in most shitholes on this planet, as well as home-brewed wine and beer - but I'm debating expanding the remit slightly to include biogas generators (and possibly a small section on biodiesel, though access to the raw materials is going to be slightly problematic in a true SHTF situation) and the conversions needed to run small gas engines on ethanol.
-
Here are five hardcopy books that I think are indispensible:
1. Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon. The author knows his subject. Having founded Pine Tree Seeds and sold it years later, he has a unusual perspective on the seed industry and its impact on the home garden. Bluntly put, he advocates a return to the time-tested row method of raising food - when it really matters.
2. The New Seed Starters Book by Nancy Bubel. You'll wish Nancy was your neighbor because of the loads of clear info she provides on the full range of garden related activity from priming seed to cold storage of crops. A true food-raising veteran and a clear author.
3. The Hive and the Honey Bee by Dadant & Sons, Inc. Got bees? Get the book that is the essential Bible of the field. I have owned several editions over the nearly 40 years I have had bees and still find useful management tips and scientific rationales.
4. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth. The best layman's treatment of the topic hands-down to my thinking. Delves into advanced processes for some vegetables to preserve genetic continuity and still makes it simple to do. You need this book if for no other reason that there are so many poor treatments of this topic. Get smart and get educated.
5. Passport to Survival by Esther Dickey. The LDS queen of preps before there was such term. She probably started during the Cuban Missle crisis. Everything - and I do mean everything - that can be done with the basic four: Wheat, Milk Powder, Salt and Honey. Get down amazing.
I don't use them all all the time but they sure would go with me wherever I went. Sound advice for living now and when times are tough.
-
New Seed Starters Handbook and Seed to Seed mentioned above are excellent resources. Dadant & Sons is about 20 miles down the road from me, they are one of the most experienced in the business.
Some of my favorites:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NnBhytX5L._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (this one is pretty much the bible on homesteading)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/616O5738ciL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51+fBFAKmIL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar by The Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante and Deborah Madison
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LIJSksWyL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzberg and Janet Greene
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kduM1HEzL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle Featuring Bone Broths, Fermented by Jennifer McGruther
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51as0iCEGSL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook, Revised Edition by David Werner and Carol Thuman
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61emvBmNwYL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WlBuAPoJL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Small-Scale Grain Raising: An Organic Guide to Growing, Processing, and Using Nutritious Whole Grains for Home by Gene Logsdon and Jerry O'Brien
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61z7bRuKkkL._AC_US240_QL65_.jpg) Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long, 2nd Edition by Eliot Coleman and Kathy Bray (has a couple of others that are quite excellent too with more info)
-
Aside from tech manuals and trade books, here are a few more that directly impinge on prepping (or homesteading, in my case):
1. Feeds And Feeding, Frank B. Morrison, 1948. This book is a treasure trove of info on feeding any farm animal with whatever is available and keeping them healthy. Balanced rations for kept critters is quite important if you want meat, milk or eggs. Totally low-tech and old school. Look for it in used books and antiquarian lists.
New Stuff for Herbal Medicine Prepping
2. Making Plant Medicine, Richo Cech. 2000, Horizon Herb Company. This is quite a good book for demystifying formulations and preparing a wide range of herbal medicines.
3. Prepper's Natural Medicine, Cat Ellis, 2015, Ulysses Press. Like Cech's book, this tome also gives insight and practical methods for producing a wide range of home produced herbal compounds.
4. Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria.; Stephen Harrod Buhner.; 2012.; Storey Publishing. Buhner has written a textbook on the topic. When your antibiotics run out, what will you do? This book fills that gap and is a heck of an entertaining and informative book, besides.
-
Hands down, the best primer on poultry is Storey's guide to raising Chickens, by Gail Damerow now in it's 3rd Edition. It covers every aspect of raising hens and is an invaluable resource for the small flock. I keep mine handy and refer to it all the time.
https://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-3rd/dp/1603424695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466208030&sr=8-1&keywords=Storey%27s+guide+to+raising+chickens
:beer:
-
As I said in the opening post, I'm an optimist. Unless the world actually ends, the worst we'll get knocked back to is the 1890s in terms of tech.
With that in mind, I'm going to recommend, not a specific book, but an editor.
Paul Nooncree Hasluck. He edited a series of books which are basically the Encyclopedia Britannica of hands on stuff, with clear, readily understood instructions. I have most of his books in actual print, but electronic copies are freely available right here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Hasluck They are worth a download and a read.
Edit to add: Chief - all the Storey's guides are must haves! The Homesteading one and the putting food by one are particularly good.
-
Hasluck is good - real good. I have several of his books and at least two were offered in the day by the Sears-Roebuck Co. One is particularly interesting as it covers angular cuts for all of the cool roofs that used to be cut by hand. Cantilevered octogons and the like. Straightforward formulas for calculations will not daunt those with a firm grasp of basic math but would likely confound most modern public school grads. Not sure if I'll be getting around to building a Victorian gingerbread castle soon but nice to know the information is there. Handtool freaks will really groove on this guy because that is what he's all about. He published on multiple trade lines, too. The thing about trades is that until WWII, there wasn't a whole lot in print to transmit that knowledge. The trades relied on apprentices and secured the next generation that way. In addition, they kept their trade protected from DIY'ers and other competition. Hasluck seems to have been the 'Time-Life' version of his day - except that he really knew his stuff and unloads a tremendous amount of material.
-
As I said in the opening post, I'm an optimist. Unless the world actually ends, the worst we'll get knocked back to is the 1890s in terms of tech.
With that in mind, I'm going to recommend, not a specific book, but an editor.
Paul Nooncree Hasluck. He edited a series of books which are basically the Encyclopedia Britannica of hands on stuff, with clear, readily understood instructions. I have most of his books in actual print, but electronic copies are freely available right here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Hasluck They are worth a download and a read.
Edit to add: Chief - all the Storey's guides are must haves! The Homesteading one and the putting food by one are particularly good.
Good stuff, thanks!
-
Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/
Ferfal is the real deal when many prepper "gurus" are B.S. artists. Had dinner with him a few years ago when he was visiting the United States and before he emigrated from Argentina to Ireland (and subsequently to Spain).
Also, I highly recommend "Practical Self-Reliance" https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Self-Reliance-Reducing-Dependency-Others/dp/0990500608/ (https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Self-Reliance-Reducing-Dependency-Others/dp/0990500608/) by John D. McCann.
-
As I said in the opening post, I'm an optimist. Unless the world actually ends, the worst we'll get knocked back to is the 1890s in terms of tech.
With that in mind, I'm going to recommend, not a specific book, but an editor.
Paul Nooncree Hasluck. He edited a series of books which are basically the Encyclopedia Britannica of hands on stuff, with clear, readily understood instructions. I have most of his books in actual print, but electronic copies are freely available right here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Hasluck They are worth a download and a read.
Edit to add: Chief - all the Storey's guides are must haves! The Homesteading one and the putting food by one are particularly good.
Nice! Bookmarking and downloading.
No I think you're right, we may not go full Mad Max, but even another Great Depression like 1930's America will make it necessary to have a knowledge of old time skills to survive.
-
Since the prevailing opinion is that we are headed back at least three generations in time and it is a good idea to seek out technology fromt hat era, may I suggest that blacksmithing is an important subject of research. I currently have about a dozen books on this subject and a moderate forge besides. Even so, it takes a long time to master even the basic skills needed to transform scrap into useful tooling. The reason that this field is so important is precisely because the blacksmith was THE place to get an item made or repaired if it was made of metal. Furthermore, it was the smith that produced the tooling needed to sustain the small scale agriculture and industry that existed at that time.
I could list many books, but I will offer one individual as a go-to source. His books are still available in used markets and they are worth every penny spent to obtain them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Weygers
Alexander Weygers was a European trained machinist and an artist that turned to the anvil to supply the tools he needed for sculpture and other avocations. His drawings are clear and exact and they litter each page of clear and exact how-to. From scrap yard to final tempering, Weygers pretty much covers it. Any backyard smith with a homemade forge and a piece of railroad rail for an anvil will be able to pretty much produce whatever tool is needed within basic trade limits.
Become a toolmaker and you will rule the post-apocalyptic world.
-
Some of you may have been familiar with Lindsay books, which carried alot of publications on old time skills. They are now retired, but they have passed their catalog onto the Old Time Bookstore:
http://www.youroldtimebookstore.com/
Couple of other great ones are:
Gingery Books: http://www.gingerybookstore.com/
Artisan Ideas: http://www.artisanideas.com/home.jhtm
There are quite a few out there, and of course Amazon.
-
Here are a couple sources for free downloads of blacksmithing books and other tech stuff from the past.
http://www.hlcollege.ac.uk/Downloads/craftpublications.html
http://www.craftsmanspace.com/free-books/blacksmithing-books.html
Get 'em while you can!
-
Here's another excellent book on medical self-help when no other option is available:
https://www.amazon.com/Survival-Medicine-Handbook-Guide-When/dp/0988872536
Dr. Joe Alton and has wife, Amy (RNP + CNM) do a great job on subjects up to basic surgery.
-
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61wpDTR8uWL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 days
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wDC7fYRnL._SX380_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) Microgreen Garden: Indoor Grower's Guide to Gourmet Greens
A couple of great books I picked up from Amazon that instruct on producing 'soil sprouts' - sprouts that are done with soil and come out more as 'microgreens' than the traditional jar sprouts, but take about a third less time to produce, are far easier, cheap, and less loss to mold and rot.
-
Bought another great book from Amazon:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514EGyn3gEL._AC_US218_.jpg)
The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Herbal-Dispensatory-Medicine-Making-Guide/dp/1623170796/
Tells you about how to use a slew of different herbs for medecine with tinctures, extracts, teas, ointments, etc. Nice little reference book for those that grow medicinal herbs but want info on how to use them.
-
Just dound 679 military manuals going back to the 50's:
https://archive.org/details/military-manuals?&sort=-downloads&page=1