In descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills:
The Encyclopedia of Country Living [1] by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute “must” for every well-prepared family!)
The Foxfire Book [2] series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best)
Holy Bible [3]
Where There Is No Dentist [4]
“ [5]Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” [6]
Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook [7]
The “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course [8]
Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival [9]
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times [10] by Steve Solomon
Tappan on Survival [11]
Boston’s Gun Bible [12]
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners [13]
Survival Guns [14]
Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911 [15] (Most readers recommend getting pre-1970 editions.)
All New Square Foot Gardening [16]
When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency [17]
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition [18]
Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition) [19]
Putting Food By [20]
First Aid (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies [21]
Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook [7]
Nuclear War Survival Skills [22] by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)
Cookin’ with Home Storage [23]
SAS Survival Handbook [24]
Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables [25]
Outdoor Survival Skills [26]
Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America’s Classic Preserving Guide [27]
The American Boy’s Handybook of Camp Lore and Woodcraft [28]
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook [29] by Peggy Layton
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive [30]
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners [13]
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life [31] by Neil Strauss
Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management [32]
Essential Bushcraft [33]
The Survivor [34] book series by Kurt Saxon. Many are out of print in hard copy, but they are all available on DVD. Here, I must issue a caveat lector (“reader beware”): Mr. Saxon has some very controversial views that I do not agree with. Among other things he is a eugenicist.
How to Stay Alive in the Woods [35] by Bradford Angier
The New Organic Grower [36] by Eliot Coleman
Tom Brown Jr.’s series of books, especially:
Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival [37]
Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking [38]
Tom Brown’s Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (Field Guide) [39]
Total Resistance [40]
Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies [41]
Living Well on Practically Nothing [42]
The Secure Home [43]
Outdoor Survival Skills [26]
When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes [44]
The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare [45]
Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book [46] by Paul Tawrell
Engineer Field Data (US Army FM 5-34) —Available online free of charge, with registration [47], but I recommend getting a hard copy. preferably with the heavy-duty plastic binding.
Great Livin’ in Grubby Times [48]
Just in Case [49]
Nuclear War Survival Skills [22] by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)
How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment [50]
Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance [51]
Adventure Medical Kits A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine [52]
Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook [54] (superceded the very out-of-date ST 31-91B)
Wilderness Medicine, 5th Edition [55]
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long [56]
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition [18]
Government By Emergency [57]
The Weed Cookbook: Naturally Nutritious – Yours Free for the Taking! [58]
The Modern Survival Retreat [59]
Last of the Mountain Men [60]
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness [61]
LDS Preparedness Manual [62], edited by Christopher M. Parrett
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century [63]
Principles of Personal Defense – Revised Edition [64]
Survival Poaching [65]
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses [66]