Letter: Book and Video Shelf

Hello HJL,

I just finished reading Lewis Dartnell’s most excellent book, The Change. It has been highlighted in the blog previously, Basically the book answers this question: After teotwawki, how would one, in his terms, reboot society, from a scientific and technological viewpoint. He does an excellent job at it. I thought you and JWR might want to add this one to the book and video shelf.

As a followup, I was wondering if Dartnell or anyone else already or will be putting out a “companion book” giving detailed plans by which a layman with basic skills could jury rig, scrounge, or repurpose what will be required to make the basic machines Dartnell refers to in his book. I know some of this can be found on the net as of now; I have found some designs by myself, but preppers as a whole I am certain would benefit from access to all of this knowledge in one format, especially on paper and bound for a rainy day. This endeavor would certainly be successful from an economic standpoint also. Wood gas generation for engines comes to mind as a really useful section, as there will be a need to go beyond the outdated FEMA design that is out there.

For the economic section I would also like to suggest Robert Prechter’s most excellent Conquer the Crash. You can find out more on the book and the author on his firm’s website.

Prechter is a died in the wool Austrian school type. He is a market technician and uses RN Elliott’s wave patterns to predict market behavior. Most of the theory is beyond my understanding. I majored in political science, but this theory portends market movements are fractal by nature, and that fibonacci ratios govern how the patterns develop. I first got interested in his work after the 2008 bust, when I remembered a book I had previously read by one of his followers which had forecasted the disaster. If anything I will always be grateful to him for opening my eyes to many mainstream economic myths commonly held and endlessly relayed by the media. Thanks to him I did NOT invest in real estate, and I did not invest in the stock market (directly or indirectly via our equivalent of 401Ks). I live in an undisclosed country north of the U.S. ;o)

Prechter suggests the markets are a leading indicator of social mood, a theory he has developed and calls “Socionomics”. According to this theory, mood drives events and not the other way around. According to this view one can so to speak predict social change by reading the leading indicators one of which is the stock market.

Best regards to JWR and may God bless you both – J.L.