Emergency by Neil Strauss

I really enjoyed this book.  It was a perfect blend of easy reading humor and useful information.  I will preface this review by saying I have a strong bias towards survival books of any kind since I am a bit of an appocolypse junkie.  I found some of the information in Emergency was common sense or things I have read before, but the author not only provides wilderness/urban survival and planning advice, but also very helpfull stay off the grid, offshore account, second passport kind of advice.  Neil Strauss covers a wide range of topics and scenarios, however, specifics for a global pandemic or threat from the American government towards it’s own citizens were lacking.  I also would have liked to have seen some more complete examples based on historical accounts of what happens when a civilization collapses.  The fall of certain Empires were mentioned, but that was about it.  I did love the quotes from the Epic of Gilgamesh at the the beginning of each chapter.  What this book did exceptionally well was inspire.  I found it really lit a spark in me to continue aquiring supplies and knowledge and made it fun again.  I love the way the author showed how he made a schedule for himself to practice and improve the skills he had acquired.  While most books tell you how, Emergency showed you why doing it now is important too.  I’m sure even knowledgeable appocolypse planners will have a steep learning curve when they need to translate what they know into doing.  Make your mistakes now, not when the world ends, ha ha. I would recommend this book to anyone just getting into the genre, as well as to those that have done their research.