I had a chance to review a new book this weekend titled Getting Home: Making It Back to Your Family After Disaster Strikes (links to Kindle book). I first want to mention that EVERY book I’ve ever owned has been a hard-copy, this is the first book that I’ve read completely online via Amazon’s Kindle store and I must say that I’m quite impressed with the entire setup.
If you’re unaware (like I was) you don’t actually need a Kindle to read such books. You can read them entirely online via the Kindle Cloud Reader or even various tablet apps, I got one for the iPad and it works great. What’s even better is that you download (they call it “pinning”) a Kindle book to your computer so that you can read it offline (only works with Chrome and Firefox browsers, not Internet Explorer). Anyway, the point is that you might be able to use this feature to prep books digitally, just like using Real Player to download YouTube videos! And the best part is that you can do so a lot less expensively than buying hard-copy books (the Kindle price for this book is currently under $4 whereas the hard copy price is about $12). Think about it as a new strategy.
Now, what about the book?
First, it’s 130+ pages, all about what you should know about getting home in the face of disaster, discussing seven major topics: EDC, daypacks, the office, vehicles, get home bags, caches, and about actually getting home.
I was surprised a bit when the book started out talking about physical fitness but it immediately made sense as you’re not going to get very far if you’re drastically out of shape. After all, most of us work quite a ways away from home when you actually think about having to walk back. 🙂
In addition, the first chapter provides a lengthy discussion of the main EDC items to consider, including firearms (as well as concealment issues), knives, flashlights, multitools, and more. The discussion was quite a bit more in-depth than I had originally anticipated, which was nice.
The next chapter discusses what the author titles a “daypack” as being that which is carried with you as much as possible (a lady’s purse is a good example or man’s briefcase). Alex discusses types of potential packs as well as what goes in them. He did have one or two items included that I wouldn’t have thought of and basically sees this as a means of getting back to your vehicle and/or supplementing your primary bag. The office chapter is tackled in a similar fashion.
The vehicle chapter is a bit more extensive, talking about vehicle-specific preps as well as additional supplies that should be kept in your vehicle’s kit. This chapter also discusses a bit about using your vehicle to get back home.
In similar fashion to the first chapter on EDC, the get home bag chapter discusses types of bags to choose and certainly what goes in them. I didn’t have any complaints whatsoever and even got a few ideas. 🙂 The chapter on caches was relatively short but explains what you should know.
The last chapter on getting home discusses a variety of situations, including urban situations, a bit about wilderness survival, and even a short bit on nuclear survival. In my opinion, I would have preferred this be more geared toward urban survival situations as I would suspect that most people who would be interested in this information are going to be urban commuters.
Last, the book ends my dispelling several interesting myths.
My overall conclusion is that I enjoyed the book. More importantly, I feel it is generally good information for those who want to better prepare themselves for a “get home” scenario.
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