Category: Book, Movie, and Web Reviews

It is called Revolution. The pilot episode of the new post-power grid collapse television series is now available at the NBC web site, and on Hulu.com. The series will begin airing on September 17, 2012. It will air on Monday evenings at 10 PM in most time zones and 9 PM Central Time. Missing a huge opportunity to instruct preparedness, self-sufficiency, and survival skills, the show skips over the first 15 years of the blackout. And like a Kevin Costner flashback, they of course portray militias as bad guys… From the little that I’ve seen of it, I can predict …

We all benefit from the wisdom and experience of those around us. For someone with a beginning passion for a subject, a mentor is extremely valuable; and for those that have achieved a reasonable amount of competence, a respected peer can be a great sounding board for exploring issues and alternatives. For those with a general interest in self sufficiency or a specific interest in food independence, the new book from Jason Akers comes very close in replicating those relationships. His book, Hunt Gather Grow Eat: Your Guide to Food Independence, is a very readable and useful survey of self …

Castigo Cay, by Matt Bracken Copyright Date: 2011 Publisher: Steelcutter Publishing ISBN: 0-9728310-4-5 Kindle edition available. Suitable for children? No. Probably not for most of the ladies either. Castigo Cay is an intense novel, as evidenced by the fact that I managed to find the time to devour all 537 pages in only 36 hours, while also living the rest of my life. Once you get into this one there is no good time to put it down. At its core it is reminiscent of Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game and not just in the plot twist, but also …

Rohan Nation: Reinventing America after the 2020 Collapse. A Novel by Drew Miller; 583 pages. I read the book’s introduction and was immediately drawn to this story not unlike how Katniss drew me to The Hunger Games. “ACE continued her slow, careful sweep of the valley with the night vision scope of her rifle. The first rays were oozing over Cuchara Pass, starting to reach the western, upper mountains of Forbes Park. Dark or light, anyone foolish enough to walk out in the open meadow valley would be easily spotted…………..She lifted the assault rifle up to her left ear and …

The Book of Blacksmithing (Setting Up Shop, Essential Skills, and Easy Projects to Get You Started), by Michael Cardiff. ISBN-13: 978-1610045773 I’ve known Mike Cardiff for a couple of decades, and can vouch for his competencies as a smith.  He moves surely, wastes no effort, and turns out functional tools, blades and accoutrements in short order.  I helped him find a publisher for this work, and am very glad to see it in print.   I’m quite impressed by the outcome.  Mike’s writing style is simple, clear and straightforward, and the illustrations by his brother are likewise very easy to …

7 Deadly Scenarios: A Military Futurist Explores War in the 21st Century by Andres F. Krepinevich Bantam Dell, New York, 2009. 334 pages including a thorough index. ISBN 978-0-553-80539-0   The author of this book is the president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and a former US Army officer with a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In this book, he asks the hard questions most people choose to ignore. Being prepared is an ongoing task based on anticipation of something bad occurring. Planning for those occurrences is best done by utilizing scenarios to figure out your response, and …

Rhodes: The Race for Africa, by Anthony Thomas Copyright: 1996 St. Martin’s Press ISBN 0-312-16982-5 (This book was the basis for a Masterpiece Theater mini-series.) Cecil John Rhodes may be the most important man you never heard about if you were educated in the United States of America. His death in 1902 at the age of 48 was followed by the largest memorial every recorded on the continent of Africa. He expanded the British Empire more than any other man; adding almost 1 million square miles (2.6 million square kilometers). His achievement was so great a country larger than most …

Emergency Preparedness The Right Way, by Howard Godfrey ISBN:  1-4392-4478-2 When the author set out to write this book on emergency preparedness skills, he wanted it to be “not overly complicated”.  He has had many years experience in fire skills, law enforcement and the military, has taught preparedness skills and helped organize preparedness shows. With this background, he found that many of the books available were either incomplete, or attempted to be too comprehensive. He elected not to write about firearms, self-defense, nuclear, biological or chemical warfare, or medical care in detail—not because these were not valid and important subjects, …