A few days ago I was asked to review this book titled The Simple Survival Smart Book by Patrick Shrier. As I’m always happy to try and learn more, especially from people usually smarter than I am, I obliged. And, amazingly enough I read the whole darn thing (most of it, anyway) the first two days I received it… finished the last of it this morning.
According the Amazon description: “When the SHTF you are going to want to have this book in your rucksack. What is inside is the basic knowledge you will need to ensure that you are not a victim when the State of Nature returns. Combining the knowledge of a lifetime of woodsmanship and 23 years of Combat Arms experience in the US Army I have broken all the most critical tasks and requirements down into a simple reference Guide to help the average person get a grasp on what they need to be able to do and have to survive if society were to collapse tomorrow.”
Amazingly, that sounds exactly like what I need! In fact, two of the main areas I am woefully deficient in are my outdoors-man skills and combat skills (you can probably add most medical skills in there too) and so I was glad to have the opportunity to learn more about them.
As you might suspect, the author comes at the following topics from a military perspective which isn’t necessarily bad… just not something I can relate to. Regardless, he’s actually quite straightforward and I often find his writing a bit humorous at times, after all, there’s no need to take this prepping stuff too seriously. 😉
That said, there’s quite a bit of information in the book, including (topics as chapters):
- Survival Planning
- Preparedness Kits
- Outdoor Survival
- Map Reading and Navigation
- Acquiring Food and Water
- Combat
- Basics Field First Aid
- Useful and Helpful Knots
- Tips, Tricks, and Hints (appendix a)
- Minefield Record Card (appendix b)
- Foodborne Illnesses (appendix c)
And so I sat down one evening and began reading. At over 250+ pages I figured I wouldn’t get very far but, surprisingly, the book read easily and it didn’t hurt that there were quite a few illustrations and plenty of checklists in there too.
As you can see from the bullet points above, the books starts off with planning and goes over how–from a military perspective–to do so properly. I like the analogy of crossing a river and thought it was a good way to explain the planning process. IMO, far too many people fail to plan adequately! This will help you get it right.
The book then delves into two types of survival kits, a “Go to Hell” kit (of which I’ve never heard of before) and the oft-mentioned “Bug Out Bag” (of which we’re all familiar). Detailed checklists are included with all the good stuff covered.
After the above are taken care of the book jumps right into outdoor skills for a few chapters. He immediately begins discussing the important of field sanitation, hygiene, food preparation, and water disposal which may sound like an odd lot to talk about first, but makes perfect sense when your life literally depends on YOU being as healthy as possible. It was a good place to start and nice to read.
I won’t bore you with the play-by-play of each chapter. Suffice it to say that he covers a lot! More than I expected as a matter of fact. And, yes, he covers the important stuff like shelter, fire, and food too. 😉 Though not as detailed as I would have liked he does cover topics like foraging, trapping, skinning, preservation, fishing, and more.
I shouldn’t suggest the book is lacking. Not at all. I’ve actually learned quite a few interesting things that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. For example, in the chapter on first aid he discusses how to immobilize a person’s head with boots, after all, the victim probably won’t be needing them for a while! That has to be an old Armed Forces trick but was certainly something I’d never considered.
There are plenty of other interesting “tricks” I didn’t know about strewn throughout the book. The “Tips and Tricks” appendix does leave a bit to be desired, however, as there are some tricks I can’t see the average person ever using, such as the use of C-4 to cook food… I don’t have any of that, do you?
Anyway, as you would suspect there are whole chapters on combat, movement, weapons, booby traps, and more… he is ex-military, after all. And the last major topic is a good discussion on first aid followed by a short chapter detailing several of his most favorite/useful knots.
Most of the book was well worth the read and I’m now glad I have it. Will it take place of the SAS Survival Handbook in my bug out bag? Probably not quite yet. Is The Simple Survival Smart Book still a good addition to my prepper library? Absolutely. You can never have too much information, especially regarding topics that you’re deficient in. 🙂
The best bet is to purchase a paperback book (though you can buy the Kindle version for a few dollars less if you prefer). Here’s a link to the paperback:
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