Great starting guide for all areas of survival

books:

	• When Technology Fails (Revised & Expanded): A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the ... Matthew Stein Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008 - 493 pages average customer review:based on 61 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Interesting, good read, but not very practical

Let's start with the shortcomings, which become very obvious as soon as you pick up the book:

- Book is huge and heavy, it is the size of a laptop PC, sort of coffee table sized. It is highly impractical to take something this big with you and use it as a reference. It is even a little too large to read comfortably at home. So it fails at being a "Manual" as the long title implies.

- Inconsistent topical coverage: there are chapters and passages about high level geopolitics and analysis of oil deposits, etc. which are followed by minute details about building a fire or cleaning a wound. Basically, the books tries to be an A-Z encyclopedia of sustainability and survival, which proves hard to do.

- Not a particularly good *survival* guide. Kind of follows from the points above, too bulky and too much volume devoted to other stuff. However, also the typical survival topics are not covered with enough detail, and at times it felt like some content was lifted from other books (e.g. survival kits, animal snares), or at least overlapped enough to make it more worth your time to read more compact dedicated survival guides.

So what is good about this book?

- Comprehensive, covers a lot of topics, with good overview and pointers to further reading. Quotes and summarizes a lot of other writing on "long emergency" and survival, so you can spare yourself reading a ton of other books and get the gist of many topics. If you are interested in the details, however, you will have to read those other books.

- Discussion of "long emergency" and sustainable living topics is excellent. Basically, these are the non-how-to portions of the book. Things like analysis of global warming, oil deposits, alternative energy, energy efficient buildings, etc. More focused and more readable than many other books I have encountered on these topics.

- Extensive bibliography about all the topics discussed. Each chapter has a list of books, magazines, and retail outlets, with the author's summary of what they are about and recommendations. This is a great starting point for exploring any topic in depth.

- Intelligent, logical, calm writing style. Although the topic is emergency and survival, the author does not come across as paranoid or extreme in his opinions. It is clear that the author has done a lot of research and done a great job summarizing and presenting it. Overall, the book is a pleasure to read as a result of that.

This is a great book to introduce you to the overall survival and sustainable living topics, after which you are better off getting other resources as your go-to manuals and references.

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Good for the beginner

I am big into weapons and survival lore. I have many works on the subject and this is an all around good beginner guide. I still prefer the SAS handbook but I think the are both good to have in your collection. It writes of and demonstrates lots of good "what if" skills that may be lifesaving in dangerous situations. I think that it could have been a little better rounded about firearms but that is my specialty so I am biased. I think it is a definite buy.

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A "must have" for our times

This is a must have considering todays' uncertain times. An excellent reference book on everthing from growing food to delivering babies. Just hope it never comes to that.

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Great starting guide for all areas of survival

This book is interesting and full of very usful information. Weather you like hiking and backpacking or are looking to be more self sufficiant this book has something for you. Its a great guide for how to be prepaired in any circumstance.

great book

I am really enjoying this book. It has alot of really interesting things that could really help you out.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

There?s never been a better time to ?be prepared.? Matthew Stein?s comprehensive primer on sustainable living skills?from food and water to shelter and energy to first-aid and crisis-management skills?prepares you to embark on the path toward sustainability. But unlike any other book, Stein not only shows you how to live ?green? in seemingly stable times, but to live in the face of potential disasters, lasting days or years, coming in the form of social upheaval, economic meltdown, or environmental catastrophe.

When Technology Fails covers the gamut. You?ll learn how to start a fire and keep warm if you?ve been left temporarily homeless, as well as the basics of installing a renewable energy system for your home or business. You?ll learn how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing. You?ll learn alternative techniques for healing equally suited to an era of profit-driven malpractice as to situations of social calamity. Each chapter (a survey of the risks to the status quo; supplies and preparation for short- and long-term emergencies; emergency measures for survival; water; food; shelter; clothing; first aid, low-tech medicine, and healing; energy, heat, and power; metalworking; utensils and storage; low-tech chemistry; and engineering, machines, and materials) offers the same approach, describing skills for self-reliance in good times and bad.

Fully revised and expanded?the first edition was written pre-9/11 and pre-Katrina, when few Americans took the risk of social disruption seriously?When Technology Fails ends on a positive, proactive note with a new chapter on "Making the Shift to Sustainability," which offers practical suggestions for changing our world on personal, community and global levels.

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