Urban Survival Planning - Can You Recomend the Two Best Survival Books?

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following question on a Private Message from Facebook: "Hey UrbanMan, I have been exposed to some type of Survival concepts or another for a few years now. I thought most of it was either people just wanting to live on their own or the gun nut type. Since looking at several Survival websites I have begin to think that there is something more mainstream about Survival than not. I have a family (wife, two daughters) and live in a townhouse. I'm in the insurance (underwriting) business, so I have a background in looking at and assessing risks. I'm looking at getting educated more on Survival and about all the possibilities you all are calling a potential collapse. Can you recommend one or two of the best books to read to get an idea of what Survival and Prepping are all about. I don't have much time to read, so maybe two books at the most? Oh, and thanks for your articles on Map Reading and Guns, as I find them very interesting. P.S. Actualy was drove me to start researching this was the movie, "The Road". Do you get many comments on this movie?"

Okay, fellow Urbanman. For the sake of giving some examples and entertaining you as you read through these survival books, I am going to assume that you would want to read some Survival stories based on potential scenarios as opposed to a "how to" type book.

I would have to recommend you read "Patriots", by James Wesley, Rawles,......comma before the last name? don't ask,.....and "One Second After" by William Forstchen.

Patriots is about a group of alike minded individuals and couples who envision a economic collapse and plan for it including a stocked and prepared retreat in Southern Idaho to rally at. Good lessons in this book,..good story,...and, well written.

One Second After is about a EMP attack on this country, which destroys the utilities infrastructure and plunges a small town in North Carolina into the dark ages. The benefit of this book is it is basically a "what not to do" story or otherwise a story about people who are totally unprepared. Good story though.

Read both and see which example best suits you. If you are in the insurance business, you can think of Survival Planning and Preparation, at whatever level, to be a family type insurance policy for uncertain times ahead, which we are surely looking at now.

I have short reviews on both books in my Book Review section of this page (see left hand side) as well as a book carousel at the bottom on this site with both these books as well as others.

Even small amount of Survival planning, Gear and Material acquisition and some knowledge and training would go along way in case something happened along the lines of a economic collapse, EMP attack, civil unrest leading to wide scale violence,...disease pandemic,....and other catastrophic events that would place you and your family in danger. Probably the four primary things you should think about are: Survival Firearms mainly for protection; stocking water; stocking food; and, a plan to go somewhere that is safe - perhaps you have family or friends in rural areas.

P.S. The movie, The Road, is fanciful and best serves to show people where you do not want to be, come the collapse. And don't get me wrong here. I hope that we never see a collapse, but I'm not willing to bet lives on it.