Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 4, by Marica Bernstein

31

(Continued from Part 3. This part concludes the series.)

Now What?

Old BooksRefer to the photo at the right side of this paragraph. First, step back and take in a whole section to spot collections such as the nine-volume The Scribner Radio Music Libraryxiii (1946) collection of sheet music. Look for extremely thick old books. These are single volume encyclopedias of facts, histories, “what everyone should know” books published until they became obsolete thanks to the Internet. The large, thick book at the far left is Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature Ninth Editionxiv (1891, the last edition Bartlett himself edited).

Then begin scanning each row. Draw your attention to barely readable, or unreadable spine titles. The small set is an extreme example, but it contains The World’s Famous Orationsxv (1906) from the Greeks to Americans. The unreadablexvi volume at the far right is The Book of Life Volume Five: Bible Poetry (1934).xvii Note how many have gold lettering, and in the case of the wrong-facing book on the top of the pile, The Poems of Goethe (1882), gilded pages all around.

Leary’s Ready Reckonerxviii (1909, various arithmetic tables), measuring about 3”x5”– perfect pocket size. Timeless classics such as Piers Plowman: The Vision of a People’s Christxix (1912, orig. ca. 1370-90) were often published as small, 4”x6” books.Continue reading“Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 4, by Marica Bernstein”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

18

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in the corn market and stocking up on phyisical corn, for preparedness. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start out with this piece by Gary Christenson: Silver Prices – The Next 5 Years

o  o  o

Avi Gilburt (at Seeking Alpha): Sentiment Speaks: My Biggest ‘Fear’ For Silver

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: Insanity: Now even JUNK bonds have NEGATIVE yields

o  o  o

Wolf Street reports: Another UK Fund Just Slammed its Doors Shut on Investors

o  o  o

Citing higher minimum wages in Seattle, Portland, and SF, West Coast restaurant chain files for bankruptcy

o  o  o

Another at Wolf Street: Everything’s Fine Until Suddenly it Isn’t: How a “Leveraged Loan” Blows Up

o  o  o

London Housing Bust: Prices Fall, Sales Plunge to 2009 Level

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Every citizen will see, and I hope be deeply impressed with a sense of it, how exceedingly important it is to himself, and how intimately the welfare of his children is connected with it, that those who are to have a share in making as well as in judging and executing the laws should be men of singular wisdom and integrity.”  – Samuel Adams, Boston Gazette, April 2, 1781

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — July 25, 2019

3

I just heard about the passing of actor Rutger Hauer, at age 75. You will probably remember him for his roles in films such as Blade Runner, Ladyhawke, and Batman Begins.

—

On this day in 1897, Jack London sailed for the Klondike. While in the Klondike, London began submitting stories to magazines. In 1900, his first collection of stories, The Son of the Wolf, was published. Three years later, his story The Call of the Wild made him famous around the country. London continued to write stories of adventure amid the harsh natural elements. During his 17-year career, he wrote 50 fiction and nonfiction books. He settled in northern California about 1911, having already written most of his best work. London, a heavy drinker, died in 1916.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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 $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 3, by Marica Bernstein

14

(Continued from Part 2.)

Now, I’d like to address the who, what, when, where, why, and how of building a prepper library of old books. First…

WHO?

You. A prepper or survivalist who is convinced that your shelter-in-place needs a library of old books preserving Western Culture, but who don’t know how to begin.

What?

Books serving as ornaments, tools, and friends now, and especially when the lights go out, my term for everything from short- and long-term power outages, to TEOTWAWKI; “hard times” as JWR calls them.

What is an “old” book? In this context, old does not necessarily mean the book’s literal age, or its first edition date. Lonesome Dove (1985) and Southern Fried Football (2008) are “old” because the characters and stories in each are representative of Western Culture. Caveat: You will come across old books guilty of every ‘-ism’ imaginable. The Science of Eugenics(1930) comes to mind. It’s your library, it’s your call whether to include “objectionable” books. My take is that they were written, published, sold, and read in a particular place and time. I may not like it today, but that’s the truth. They are reminders of every successive generation’s hubris. See also, 120 Banned Books: Censorship History of World Literature (2005).Continue reading“Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 3, by Marica Bernstein”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

49

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we’ll focus on a gator break-in. But first:

South African Army is Tapped Out

Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson forwarded this: South Africa’s army has run out of money – here’s how bad things have got. Mike’s Comment: “Revolution is near in South Africa, and there’s no longer enough military force to stop it.” The article begins:

“The Department of Defence and Military Veterans has warned that a severe lack of funding could impact its ability to protect South Africa.

In a media briefing on Wednesday (17 July), Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that her department has been forced to continuously adjust its plans downwards in response to the declining budget in recent years.

“The Defence Force is becoming progressively more unsustainable in terms of declining defence allocations,” she said.

“We have now reached the point where the Republic must decide on the kind of Defence Force it wants and what it can afford. We need a frank discussion very soon as we risk the irreversible damage to the defence force as a whole.”

In a portfolio committee meeting held earlier this month, the department said that the continued lack of funding may impact negatively on the ability of the SANDF to fulfill its constitutional mandate.

It added that over the past three financial years insufficient funds were available to cover expenditure related to compensation of employees.

This had led to the Department of Defence exploring additional sources of revenue, such as the sale of assets (including land), to cover the shortfall.”

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.” – Benjamin Franklin

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 24, 2019

1

The late Jerry Ahern passed away on this day, July 24th, in 2012. His survival-themed novels created an entire genre.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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 $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 2, by Marica Bernstein

41

(Continued from Part 1.)

As I mentioned, there are other categories of books-as-tools. Reference books– dictionaries, encyclopedias, foreign language dictionaries, books of mathematical tables– are among them (and are some of my favorites). With respect to dictionaries and encyclopedias, I recommend ones from various points in time. Word meanings change. For example, in Webster’s Elementary-School Dictionaryiv (1925) the first definition of ‘mend’ is “to free from flaws or defects—as in to mend one’s manners or ways; to correct; as to mend a fault; also, to repair; to put in shape again; as, to mend clothes, shoes.” Note that the emphasis of four of the seven clauses relates to behavior, not darning stockings. Contrast that with the definition at Dictionary.comxiv

As testimony to the worth I place in encyclopedias, I have 16 sets ranging from 1903 to 2010. I could write 3,000 words on the value of old encyclopedias, but I’ll leave this topic for another day. Here I strongly encourage you to include a set of children’s encyclopedias arranged topically, not alphabetically, in your library of old books. The Book of Knowledge: The Children’s Encyclopedia (many editions),xv is very good, though my very favorite is Our Wonder World: A Library of Knowledge in Ten Volumes (many editions).xvi When the lights go out and the kids get bored, these are fun, educational, and potentially life-saving!

My love of old books, especially old children’s books, compels me to call to your attention something quite disconcerting. Archive dot org is (was?) a treasure. When I blog about an old book, Archive is my go-to source for screenshot images of the book’s illustrations. The other day I was writing about a 12-volume collection of tales, fables, and poetry for kids, titled, for example, Through the Gate of My Book House Vol. 4 (1937).xvii That volume at Archive has a “limited preview.” Nothing beyond the table of contents is available. All of the volumes are limited; Volume 10 of Our Wonder World as well. This was new to me. I honestly suspect, given that I’ve looked through the actual books and know what’s in them, that they are being censored. Through the Gate has a poem about a white girl’s evening with “colored” folks, and the language to today’s ear is downright comical. It’s ridiculous to think of this as objectionable. In discussions of vocations and life’s work in Our Wonder World, boys’ jobs are treated separately from girls’. The section titled, “Home vocations for girls,” includes dress-making, learning to type, and the home tea room. It was 1923. Nevertheless, deciding what content children can or cannot be exposed to is a parent’s job, not Archives. This alone should make you want to preserve old books.

Old books filled with (often hand-calculated) values for, e.g., the sine of a 50° angle, come in handy. How else are you going to calculate how long ‘side c’ needs to be to hold your portable solar panel at optimal angle of incidence of 50° when the lights go out?Continue reading“Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 2, by Marica Bernstein”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

18

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies that have any tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food as and food storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. This week the focus is on Raspberry Pi hobby microcomputers. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz

o  o  o

Here is a great book that I’ve mentioned once before: The Dangerous Book for Boys

o  o  o

Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition

o  o  o

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Intellectual freedom is essential — freedom to obtain and distribute information, freedom for open-minded and unfearing debate and freedom from pressure by officialdom and prejudices. Such freedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of people by mass myths, which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into bloody dictatorship.” – Andrei Sakharov

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — July 23, 2019

2

On July 23rd, 1982, outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow (of Combat! fame) and two children were killed when a helicopter crashed onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present first part of a four-part article. This is another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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 $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 1, by Marica Bernstein

51

My aim in this essay is to convince you of the worth of building a home library consisting mainly of old books. I will not suggest that you pack a set of Encyclopǣdia Britannicas in your bug-out-bag. I’m addressing those of you who are, or hope to be, hunkered down in your homes when the lights go out. Throughout, I’ll be making the same assumption that JWR makes: “Survival is not just about guns, groceries and gadgets.” To my mind is it also very much about preserving Western Culture– the values, traditions, mores, histories, and even anecdotes and funny pages that shaped our lives and the lives of our ancestors. Western Culture– American Culture– is preserved in old books. These old books should be on your shelves.

Preserving Western Culture is a good and lofty goal. It is jokingly what I said I was up to years ago when I began collecting old books in earnest. A dollar at the junk store here, $40 at the library sale there, and my collection has grown to over 3,300 books. So be forewarned! Western Culture and Civilization are rich. Building a library can become an obsession.

A subset of my library contains 300+ old cookbooks belonging to my husband who truly believes America’s cooking heritage is the only thing worth saving. A fair number of his cookbooks are spiral bound and come from Ladies’ Auxiliaries. But that’s another story.

“There are three services books may render in the home: they may be ornaments, tools, or friends.”  – Lyman Abbott, “Books for Study and Reading,” in The Guide to Reading (1925, p.1)

A good and lofty goal is a good and lofty goal, and worth pursuit in and of itself. But its grandness can overshadow other, more practical reasons for a prepper to build a library of old books. So let’s turn to Abbott’s “three services books may render in the home: ornaments, tools, and friends” and examine each from a prepper’s perspective.Continue reading“Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 1, by Marica Bernstein”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

22

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the demise of the Federal Solar Tax Credit.

Hydro-Powered Idaho Retreat – Reduced

I just heard that there was a recent $60,000 price reduction on the home on 13 acres with hydro power near Clark Fork, Idaho that I first mentioned this property last week.) It is an amazing, affordable property.

How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything

I noticed this linked over at Claire Wolfe’s great Living Freedom blog: How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything From Dishwashers To Gas Cans To Cars.

All Hangs on the 2nd Amendment

A “must watch” video from John Lovell of Warrior Poet Society: All Hangs on the 2nd Amendment.

Staying Safe When a Flash Mob Descends

Frequent content contributor DSV sent this: How To Handle Yourself In A Flash Mob Looting
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”