Category: Book, Movie, and Web Reviews

Hello, I’ve been reading and enjoying SurvivalBlog for about one month now. First of all, thank you for the time and effort you put into this great resource! I enjoy reading fiction and especially science-fiction, so a few of the references listed there were familiar. Many aren’t and have no chance of being available at the local library, here in France. However, most of those I did recognise were about dramatic SHTF scenarios, while you and many others have emphasised the likeliness of a “Slow Decline” situation. Two novels that I have read describe precisely this kind of lifestyle: they …

My Empire of Dirt: How One Man Turned His Big-City Backyard into a Farm by Manny Howard. This book relates the story of a journalist who recently attempted to garden and raise chickens, ducks, and rabbits in his very small Brooklyn backyard. The stated goal and his contract with New York magazine was to raise enough food to eat out of his backyard for one month. While the dysfunction of the marriage and lack of family support is disturbing, the book highlights the grave difficulty of trying to survive in an urban setting by raising livestock and gardening. The deeply …

James Wesley: I watched the [R-rated] 2006 movie Right at Your Door on a cable movie channel this weekend. [It is also available as a “Watch Instantly” streaming video from Netflix.] The scenario was that there were multiple dirty bombs in Los Angeles– initially thought to be chemical, later revealed to be viral agents. [The film follows the protagonists’s reactions to] real-time self-defense (duct tape and plastic), the chaos of getting to the “retreat” of one’s home, reveals some poor thinking and planning and its consequences, and shows the deadly nature of likely governmental “help” for some victims in such …

JWR: Thanks for your great work! The following video series is available through Netflix and with a membership can be viewed instantly on your computer. Very good stuff. Normal people in a wilderness survival situation. Shows how important mental attitude is in such a scenario. Here is a description from Netflix: Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment (2009 TV-PG 2 discs / 8 episodes) "Deserted in the harsh Alaskan interior, nine outdoor enthusiasts must rely on their resourcefulness to make it back to civilization alive, foraging for food, building makeshift shelters and battling plummeting temperatures along the way. Over …

JWR, I have recently been viewing a show on Netflix [via “Watch Instantly”, on-line] that I believe contains information your readers would be interested in. The show is called, “Special Ops Mission.” It is a war game show filmed part, “Survivorman,” style, and part film crew. A lone operator is given a couple objectives and a four man enemy team (and time limits) to compete against. The weapons are real, but firing simunitions. Both parties talk about the tactics they employ, tactics they wouldn’t use, and some of their thought processes in their decisions. There is much food for thought, …