Category: Book, Movie, and Web Reviews

The Wit and Wisdom of Ol’ Remus

The legendary blogger and social commentator “Ol’ Remus” of the Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report passed away in July, 2020.  His wife had passed away just a few weeks earlier. Now that nearly five years have elapsed, I think that it is high time to post a proper acknowledgment and requiem. This is especially for the benefit of SurvivalBlog’s newcomers, who may not have heard of him. “Ol’ Remus” was of course a nom de plume.  Among other things, he was preparedness-minded.  On that topic, he had these terse and oft-quoted words: “Stay away from crowds.”  With operational security (OPSEC) in …


A Book Review for the Children in Your Lives — A New Prepper Pete Series

Dear Readers, I want to bring to your attention an illustrated survival book series for your children.  These would make great Christmas/Hannukkah/Birthday presents. The series is called Prepper Pete and Friends and is written by Kermit Jones, Jr.  Ten years ago he started the series and published four books.  After a long hiatus Mr. Jones is adding more books to the series. The first four original books in the series were: “Prepper Pete Prepares, An Introduction to Prepping For Kids” “Prepper Pete’s Twelve Days of Prepper Christmas” “Survivalist Sam Stocks Up, The Four B’s of Prepping”, “Prepper Pete’s A Gun …


Thoughts on Camp of the Saints, by SaraSue

The following are my thoughts on the novel Camp of the Saints. It was written by Jean Raspail, and published in 1973: I recently read the English translation of Camp of the Saints. It was horrifying, but a good study in how people act and respond in terrifying situations. I wonder if this book is banned for being “racist” in a lot of places or in people’s minds. It addresses that concept. Its main theme, in my mind, is the hypocrisy of the church, of those who want to “save humanity”, of the do-gooders, etc., and then, how they react …


Storing Valuable “How to” Digital Data, by Slate Creek

I am constantly collecting data from the web and I save it to several USB memory sticks that I carry with me daily. If I’m in the office and happen to run across something of value I often pull the USB stick out of my pocket and save a copy. I have sub-directories organized on my stick such as “Food Storage”, “Water Supply”, “Topo Maps” or “Ham radio related” and then sub-category that into say “Antenna Builds”, “Local Repeaters” or “Radio Manuals”. I’m not advocating saving everything on a USB stick because nothing beats having the piece of paper in …


Book Review: The Area Intelligence Handbook

There are just a few times in the past decade that I’ve opened a book and felt an immediate connection with its author. That is what happened when I began reading The Area Intelligence Handbook, by Mike Shelby. I suppose that a better title for the book would be: The Area Intelligence Handbook For Survivalists, because that is how the book is geared. This 249-page trade paperback is not just a generic manual on Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) for folks in the Military Intelligence (MI) arena. Rather, it is truly tailored for preparedness-minded private citizens, in anticipation of …


Bardin & Marsee Waterproof Bible, by Thomas Christianson

Field gear is often subject to a wide variety of weather conditions. Like the Persian mounted couriers made famous by Herodotus, field gear may face snow, rain, heat, and gloom of night among other challenges. Wildly varying weather conditions can be a special challenge to books in general, and Bibles in particular. That is what makes the Bardin & Marsee Waterproof Bible so interesting for outdoors-folk who carry a Bible as a part of their gear. The Waterproof Bible is printed on a synthetic paper made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers. You can read it in a rainstorm or …


Comfort for the Burned and Wounded, by C.J.

Editor’s Introductory Note: The following is a eview and summary of a book by John W. Keim. This article is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be considered medical advice. Get any patient with severe burns to a hospital emergency room, immediately. If you have an interest in herbal medicine or just want to be prepared if modern medical care is not available in the future, I recommend reading this wonderfully informative book that I discovered a few years ago. The book is titled “Comfort for the Burned and Wounded”, by John W. Keim. Mr. Keim is not …


Books, Reviews, and Censorship, by M.M.

As a historian and self-confessed bibliophile, I despise censorship of any kind by anyone at any time. If you disagree with an author, the simple course of action is to not purchase their work(s). With the Internet, books are easier to come by today than in any other time in human history. You can shop in thousands of bookstores and never leave home. Click some buttons and the book is en route to your mailbox and will arrive in a few days. An easy way to access the internet is via your so-called smartphone. What a wonderful tool. You can …


Review of Joe Dolio’s Tactical Wisdom, by Jack Lawson

Editor’s Introductory Note: This review was authored by Jack Lawson, author of the two-volume The Civil Defense Manual. Rarely does a book or series of books catch my attention like the Tactical Wisdom series. It could have been authored by my alter ego. The author, Joe Dolio, has created what I consider a must-read companion to my  Civil Defense Manual. His book “Tactical Wisdom TW-01 Baseline Training Manual” has almost every procedure in it that my book has… presented in a concise and superb manner. He also has a great writing style. The man clearly must be a genius, if …


Survival Retreats & Relocation: A Book Review by John Brew

My #1 Son recived permission to republish the following review of a book that we co-authored: Survival Retreats & Relocation. John Brew (brewbooks) is a SurvivalBlog reader, and left this review on Amazon: “Survival Retreats & Relocation” [by Jonathan E. Rawles and James Wesley, Rawles] uses a systems engineering approach to provide the reader a process and framework for acquiring and thriving a survival retreat. Let me start this review by stating the authors view survival through a politically and religiously conservative American lens. If that causes you offense, no need to read further, this book isn’t for you. That …


Durable Trades: A Book Review by T.M. in Arkansas

If you are looking for a change of career you will find this book of interest, especially if you are migrating from a city. There are plenty of good ways to support you, your family, and fulfill you personal work satisfaction. Durable Trades: Family-Centered Economies That Have Stood the Test of Time by Rory Groves is published by Front Porch Republic Books in Eugene, Oregon. The book is copyrighted 2020 by the author with 293 pages and is available at your favorite book dealer. The author, a computer scientist now living with his family on a farm in Minnesota is …


Review: Cambridge University Press KJV Large Print Bible, by The Novice

I have heard it said that preppers should stockpile beans, bullets, band-aids, and Bibles. Beans, bullets and band-aids are easy to understand: in a disaster, we may need something to eat, something to defend ourselves with, and something to provide for our own medical care. But why Bibles? In Mark 8:36, Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The best stockpile of tools and supplies, even when well utilized in the most effective possible manner, cannot prevent someone from being eternally lost. In 2 Timothy 3:15, …


Movie Reviews: Two for the Price of One, by Large Marge

I visit elderly shut-ins around Eugene, Oregon. Yesterday, one of our regulars got on her trailer-court facebook dealy-bobber to invite a bunch of geezers to her trailer for spectating at televisionprogramming on her new big-screen television set. We watched a couple ‘presentations’: a) RICHARD JEWELL directed by Mister Clint Eastwood hisownself, and b) SEASPIRACY financed by hollywood darling Leonardo DiCaprio. This semi-review is in two parts: a) is for the flicks, and b) is for the audience ‘participation’. And here we go… a) Anybody over the age of twenty-five probably remembers the terrorist attack at the 1996 Olympic Games in …


Movie Review: Mr. Jones, by Large Marge

I visit elderly shut-ins.  Yesterday, instead of us puttering in her garden, one old gal that I visit insisted we spectate at television programming. She wanted to watch a 2019 movie from Poland called Mr. Jones. Although filmed in Poland and crewed by Poles, this award-winning movie is in English. Sub-titles are available for hard-of-hearing folks. The script, acting, costumes, sets, and production values are equal or better than anything from ‘major Hollywood* studios’. Based on historical events, I strongly recommend it, and yet… I hesitate to recommend it. Although well-made, several minutes of this were very difficult for me …


Book Bomb Day For The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide!

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[UPDATED] Hooray! Today is the much-awaited Book Bomb Day for my latest nonfiction book, The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide. My sincere thanks for waiting until today to place your order. Hopefully, with this big one-day surge of orders, it will push it into Amazon’s Top 100 (overall, in books) by this afternoon. We’re also hoping to make it onto the New York Times Bestsellers list, this weekend. Amazon Sales Rank Updates: Sunday, October 18th, 5 PM, Pacific Time:  #13,007 in Books Monday, October 19th, 8 PM, Pacific Time:  #7,685 in Books Tuesday, October 20th, 4:30 AM, Pacific Time: #6,058 in Books …