Category: Book, Movie, and Web Reviews

Little TEOTWAWKI – A Children’s Book, by Benny in Florida

This may sound like a children’s book that the tells the story a young native American girl, but don’t be fooled. TEOTWAWKI is very scary for mature adults, but is terrifying to children. When we TEOTWAWKI discuss related issues at our house, my wife and I always make sure that we have a private conversation between just the two of us. After we have sorted things out we will discuss it with our children in an appropriate tone and with as little alarmism as possible. Last week one of our conversations started out with my wife asking “What will the …


Letter Re: Lessons About Survival From Fiction

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 …


Letter Re: Archiving Downloaded Instructional Videos

Jim, With all of the talk about the so-called Internet Kill Switch, and more and more people referencing online instructional videos, it might be time for people to start downloading these videos to their local computers. An easy way to do this is with the Firefox Fast Video Download plug-in. While watching an unlicensed video on YouTube and other sites, select the Tools menu, Fast video download, and then select the video you want to save. The videos may have the name of the video or a generic name like youtube_video. The extension may be .flv or .mp4, or there …


Book Review: My Empire of Dirt

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 …


Letter Re: A Brief Review of the Movie “Right at Your Door”

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 …


Letter Re: Free Online Vehicle Repair Guides

JWR, Autozone.com (the auto parts franchise) has a free feature that allows you to create a profile (make up an alias and use good OPSEC), enter your vehicle(s) information and then access repair guides for various subjects. You can, of course, also purchase parts and have them shipped to your anonymous mail drop location. They keep you updated on recalls, service reminders, etc. You can even download a free app for your iPhone, which includes access to the repair guides, which comes in very handy if you’re on the road and have a breakdown. Of course, post-TEOTWAWKI, the service probably …


Letter Re: Self-Sufficiency E-Books Available at Project Gutenberg

Here are some fascinating country-living related books from Project Gutenberg. Some may be a little dated, given recent technological developments though… Livestock feeder’s manual The Making of a Country Parish A Woman’s Wartime Journal (circa U.S. Civil War) Home pork-making Dry-Farming Electricity for the Farm Everyday foods in wartime (WWI) On Horsemanship (Xenophon!) Regards, – Jonathan W.


Follow-Up on a New Preparedness Documentary Television Series

As I mentioned in SurvivalBlog once before, I’m involved with development of a preparedness television show for a major cable television network. I’ll be doing voice-overs for the show, critiquing the participants. For fear of having the show’s concept get hijacked by competitors, I can’t mention many details. Suffice it to say that this is a legitimate project. I personally know two of the principals in the production company. I can assure you that they are sincere, and not out to do a “hatchet job.” Rather, they are serious about preparedness, and want to show some “best practices” in the …


Announcing a New Preparedness Television Show in Development — Seeking Prepper Families

I have been asked to be the primary on-air subject matter expert for a new reality/documentary television series that is now in development. This should be an awesome show! It will be a great way to get people not just thinking about family preparedness, but going that crucial step further and actually training and preparing. My involvement in the show will be as its narrator/commentator, critiquing and making suggestions on how the families can improve their preparedness, in voice-overs. Here is their preliminary “Casting Call” announcement: Are you a self-sustainer, survivalist or a squared away preparedness family? Do you have …


Letter Re: Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment Documentary Series

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 …


Studying TEOTWAWKI: Why the “Smartest Men in the Room” are Worried, by F.S.

The purpose of this article is to lay out the intellectual underpinnings of what I will call the neosurvivalist movement. The target audience is those individuals either beginning, or considering to start, preparations for broad societal emergencies. The intended result is to demonstrate that far from being a fringe or extremist movement, neosurvivalism is rational and has emerged as a natural result of broader social, cultural, and technological circumstances grounded in specific historical and contemporary thinking. This movement goes by many names, including survivalism, prepping, emergency preparedness, and so-called “offgrid” or “resilient communities.” Businesses and governments are likewise investing in …


How to Get Your Spouse to Become Preparedness Minded, by Keith I.

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The most difficult situation to encounter when preparing for survival is getting your spouse on board with you. By using some of my techniques hopefully you will get your spouse to understand that you are truly in touch with reality. Until your spouse is 100% percent committed to survival you will always feel an anchor weighing you down psychologically and financially. The psychological toll is simple- Every time you do something out of the norm, that spouse will sometimes question your sanity and if you are not a psychologically stable person, you may begin to question your own sanity. The …


SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Winners — Round 28

We’ve completed the judging! And the winners are… First Prize goes to C.F., for A Southwesterner’s Experience in Family Preparedness, posted on April 2nd. He will receive: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com. (A $275 value.), and D.) …


Letter Re: “Special Operations Mission” Television Series

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, …


Letter Re: “One Second After” — A Book Review with Some Advice

I have been reading the novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen. I just finished it. Whew, what a heavy book. I decided to write it up as a “lessons learned” book review. A couple of you may be wondering why I sent this to you. Well, I just thought of you and know you to be like-minded … I think. That is, concerned about what the future holds for us as a nation, as crazy and uncertain as things are getting in the world. I’ve been following the elctromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat for a couple of years now …