A suburban homestead is the kind of place that goes hand-in-hand with prepping. Why else do you want your land to produce and become self-sufficient if not to be prepared to take care of yourself? But are you thinking about what would happen if we got into a long-term survival situation?
Enter Jim Cobb’s latest book Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide.
Book Set-Up
Jim has laid out the book in a very concise manner. Each chapter is very on-topic and begins with an interesting narrative that is a fictional journal entry related to that chapter’s central them. The chapters are as follows:
Chapter 1 – Long Term Events
Jim takes time to describe the different scenarios that may trigger a long-term survival situation. They include:
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- Pandemics
- Famine
- Economic Collapse
- Freak Occurrences
- New Madrid Earthquake
- Yellowstone Caldera
- EMP
He spends a little bit of time describing each and talking about the possibility of it occurring.
Chapter 2 – Water
Storage, purification and filtering of water are essential to long-term survival. Jim addresses all three topics in detail within this chapter.
Chapter 3 – Food
Jim talk about finding, generating and preserving food in this chapter.
Chapter 4 – Medicine
Everything from setting up a “Crash Bag” to dealing with medications and what happens when they run out in a long-term survival situation are talked about in this chapter.
Chapter 5 – Hygiene
Staying clean can keep you healthy. Jim talks about bathing, laundry, waste disposal and all the other “unsexy” parts of prepping in this chapter.
Chapter 6 – Stay Warm and Keeping Cool
Clothing is addressed here as well as keeping your shelter warm or cool, depending on the season.
Chapter 7 – Security
Gotta protect yourself and your gear, right? Jim talks about how to do that here.
Chapter 8 – Tools
Which do you need? Which are going to be useless for long-term survival? Jim will tell you.
Chapter 9 – Surviving Boredom
Keeping morale up in long-term survival is key to getting by. Jim has a few thoughts on how to keep the mood light and have fun.
Chapter 10 – Barter and Trade
In a long-term survival situation, money may end up being useless. Learning how to barter and trade will be a critical skill for survival.
Chapter 11 – Community Survival Planning
Lone wolves won’t last in a long-term survival situation. Community planning is crucial for extended success in a dire situation.
Chapter 12 – Final Thoughts
Jim summarizes the books and gives a few parting shots of wisdom.
Why I Liked Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide
If you’ve been around prepping for a while, you’ll notice that Jim doesn’t have any Earth-shattering information in his book. Everything he presents is rock solid advice that most anyone will provide. In my opinion, there are a few things in this book that make it a quality addition to your long-term survival library:
- Reference Material – Jim isn’t afraid to point you towards an expert. In fact, he provides a four page reference directory at the back of the book. This list alone is worth getting the book.
- Checklists – While there are not a ton of checklists, the ones that are there are VERY pertinent to a long-term survival situation. The Medicine and Tool chapters are especially heavy on this information.
- Bluntness – Jim doesn’t sugar-coat anything. A long-term survival situation is going to be tough. Getting your mind wrapped around that idea and accepting it is going to be half the battle.
What I Didn’t Like
As I mentioned, this book is very straight forward. Jim doesn’t sugar-coat how hard life will be when/if life gets turned upside down. Jim seems to have a general sense that most people will band together and that, while life will be tough, the community will make it work. Perhaps I’m too cynical or perhaps he’s too utopian, but I think some time spent talking about what happens when the ugliness in people shows up would be beneficial to a book on long-term survival.
Overall Thoughts on Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide
Overall, I think Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide by Jim Cobb is a solid addition to your long-term survival library. Jim’s no-nonsense, straightforward approach to the book gives you the information you need in case the world as you know it goes south. Read it, use the checklists and keep it in an easily accessible area. You’ll want to grab this book from time to time because it’s great reference material.
Disclaimer: Jim Cobb supplied a copy of Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide for me to review. I can assure my readers that I gave it a fair and honest review.
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