If you had only one book

As far as a fiction I would want the first book in Angery American’s Survivalist series called “Going Home”. Awesome. The series is being tuointo a TV show that I can’t wait to see.

 

I am a book lover and have thought of this before. I would probably go with Robert Heinlein's "time Enough For Love" in fiction and Thomas Glover's Pocket Reference or his Handyman In-Your-Pocket Reference in nonfiction...

 

I have about 30,000 books in my home. I read every day and always have. If things ever do go down and stay down those books will be good trading material. Most are fiction but my reference library is huge nonetheless. I am the kind of person that can actually learn from books. All of my many skills and trades started out with books that gave me a vocabulary and general understanding that allowed me to pick up the new skill really fast. Each trade has a language that you have to learn in order to understand what you need to do.

The old ways, if they are going to survive at all, will be mostly carried forward in books. Even things as basic as math is being left behind. Kids are being taught how to punch buttons and let the calculator or computer do the thinking. What will be left when the power goes off and the last battery dies. I'm an old fart. My calculator is a pencil and paper and my brain...My K&E bamboo and ivory slide rule will work even without power too. The pocket reference that was my choice for non-fiction books has the math and trig tables that will let me still work if I need to design something the old way.

 

I'm acerbic.
And my shoes have arch supports.

It's what happens when you get old.

 

For survival learning i would choose either a guide to edible plants in my area, or an F-150 repair manual. Howev

For survival purposes i would choose either a guide to edible plants in my area, or an F-150 repair manual, however i would most likely end up snatching my favorite fiction book, Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, off the shelf, and hope i still have on me the two or three books im currenly reading at the time. Everywhere i go, i brin at least one book lol.

 

My wife has all the fun books: Jeavon's "How to grow more Vegetables" is her favorite; and "Farmyard in your Backyard" and about ten or twelve other homesteading-type books that she's dipping into all the time. Given that, I guess my gotta-have-'em books for serious rebuilding would be

• Marks: Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, 7th ed
• Parker: Simplified Mechanics and Strength of Materials 2nd ed
• Fritz: Small and Mini Hydropower Systems
• Cooper: Explosives Engineering

 

Excellent fiction choice, although I would probably wimp out and get a Shakespeare collection, since there's so much more to keep from avoiding an overabundance of Lazurus Long. However, TEFL would be one of my top ten fiction books, and "The Moon is s Harsh Mistress" would come pretty close.

 

I actually have a mini library of pocket sized books like the SAS survival guide and and edible plants book for my region along with assorted small reference books. All together they probably don't weigh much more than one good sized hard bound book.

In the book "Lucifer's Hammer" There is a guy like me that when faced with the end of the world packaged and buried his books in a septic tank for safe keeping. He felt that the survivors would need the knowledge in them since you can't depend on the people that know this stuff will survive.

To some extent I have an old hard bound book that would be priceless. It is called, "High-school Subjects Self Taught" It covers math through algebra and trig, history, geography, English grammar and structure and covers a little of everything else you might learn in high school. If you learned everything in it you would be reasonably educated.

 

deadfalls and snares by Arthur Robert Harding , sells for about 10 dollars on Amozon

 

Tom Brown's book the Tracker is a good book.

 

Bible, it answers all questions, and I put a small one in every BOB

 

Thanks to this thread, I realized that no ONE book will do…and because I am trying to lighten the weight of my INCH (“I’m never coming home”) bag, I am working on a new project. (Note: I am completely equipped to NOT bugout, but in the event of widespread fires, etc. I do have an INCH bag. And, dang, that thing needs wheels not straps. Ouch.)

I have before me several of my favorite publications and find it hard to choose just one (or even two). For decades, I have practiced primitive living skills, foraging, herbalism, etc. to the point they are second-nature to me. I already know quite a bit of what is in my favorite books by muscle-memory, but there are some parts that I’m sure I will need to refer to from time to time.

So, I am compiling my own field guide that covers essential-to-me references from several books and printing them onto special all-weather paper. I am folding the 8 ½ x 11-inch paper in half and sewing the spines of several batches (signatures) to make one volume, much like a “real” book. The end result will be an incredibly useful book that contains not only the best of all of my favorite publications but also the myriads of notes that I have scribbled into the margins over the years.


The paper:
https://www.rainwriter.com/product-p/ritr-8511-m.htm

“Copy or laser print your own all-weather forms, charts, maps, and worksheets on patented 8 1/2 in x 11 in Rite in the Rain All Weather Copier Paper. Now you can have the convenience of using your existing data sheets on a paper that can survive in any weather condition.”

The front and back covers will be made of all-weather cardstock which will easily slip into the inner pockets of the tactical binder, as pictured below.

Here are some of the books that I am condensing (some of it with a laser printer, along with hand-written notes):

The Herbal Medic, Volume 1 by Sam Coffman (“Practical, clinical herbalism and first aid for home, remote and post-disaster environments. Written by a former Green Beret medic with over 25 years of combined field and clinical experience, this useful guide is based on the presumption that the reader may be in a post-disaster situation where there is no definitive higher medical care...”)

The Gem Collins SAS Survival Handbook by John “Lofty” Wiseman

Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants by Steven Foster/James A. Duke (1977 edition is more detailed in ID; the 2014 edition is more detailed in medical info.)

Peterson Field Guide to Edible Plants by Steven Foster/James A. Duke

(latest 2012 edition) Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny

Medicine for the Outdoors: The Essential Guide to First Aid and Medical Emergencies by Paul S. Auerbach, MD (This book is one of my favorites and is extremely detailed and valuable for “when there is no doctor.”)

I will also handwrite favorite quotes plus scriptures from the Bible for encouragement and spiritual health.

There are other resources that I will include, but I think you get the idea…


Ta-da!! The whole thing will be encased in this all-weather binder (https://www.rainwriter.com/product-p/ritr-c9210.htm)



There is more than enough room in this binder to include packages of important medicinals, herbal powders, etc. in extra heavy duty Ziploc-style bags. I will also include seeds for wild edibles and medicinals for repopulating the area if needed.


.

 

One book? KJV Holy Bible. 2nd would be my SAS Survival Guide. Even 2 are not enough. I have a hand cranked radio that can charge a smartphone or tablet. I have 2 64 MG SD cards for an old smartphone that are in my inch bag inside of a small stainless steel box. It should work to protect the phone and cards from EMP. The box is lined with foam rubber and watertight. On the SD cards, I have an ever growing collection of useful books including the 1881 Encyclopedia, various survival and military training manuals, Special forces medical manual, when there is no dentist and many more. I also have a few selected fictional novels from some favorite authors.

 

I have given this a lot of thought. My one book would be the Bible.

 

Food for Free by Richard Mabey. It is the UK's foremost (and vest written) guide to foraging available and is a must for any UK forager, survivalist of bushcrafter.

 

I'd choose either the LDS Preparedness Manual Handbook 2: Provident Living or Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy's Survival Medicine.

 

I would want a journal, the skills should be owned beyond a book.

 

I have most of what I need to know in my head already so my choice would be a blank book and writing gear
to record the decent to hell and possibly if I am lucky the accent out of hell.

 

Is this the book you were talking about earlier, like 2 years ago, in this thread?
I'm sorry, I'm resurrecting some old threads here.
(What happened here? It looks like a whole lot of people had the same "last seen" day. No matter).
I've got a lot of books too. I don't read much fiction. Most of my books are for gardening, herbal medicine, i think I do have a survival book somewhere, fat lotta good it's doing me if i don't even know where it is...cookbooks.
https://www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival-Handbook-Third-Surviving/dp/0062378074
I think if there is only one book I could take with me it would have to be something about edible wild plants.
As the pioneers went across the U.S., they died along the way, when sometimes their cures were at their feet along the trail.

 

In reply to: "if only one book for your survival ... and why.";

For me, it's not "if". Always in my field jacket is a small size, soft cover, Penguin series (routinely available at Barnes and Nobel book store) book of writings by Edgar Allen Poe.

It takes thought - contemplation - more thought - to understand the survival aspects in his work.

His poem, considered so far advanced ... Dostoevsky relied on Poe for his own works ... THE RAVEN, gives insights into survival.

"Is there - - is there balm in Gilead?" allows for developing one's mind as to where the healing ointments for survival are located.

......

For those who, for a split second, would think that Lenore was on the same list with the contemporary trash called "women", you're not ready for Poe.

......

Survival is about survival. Poe's "Some Word With A Mummy" gives focus to what's important and what is not.

......

The latest scientific instruments for land navigation ? ... ... ... "The Pit And The Pendulum" can activate what you've harbored in the deep recesses of your mind.

 

If I could only have one book--a survival book, I'd choose "5 Acres and Independence" Plethora of wisdom and how-to in it. Most bang for my money in a one book option.

 

Who could possibly pick just one? For feed-yourself books, I'd probably go with either John Jeavons' How to Grow more Vegetables or Carleen Madigan's Backyard Homestead. For health-related concerns, an English-language version of Werner's Donde no hay doctor and all the companion volumes (dentist, peds, childbirth, etc.); and, of course, a fairly recent PDR (Physician's Desk Reference).

 

John Seymours Guide to Self Sufficiency.

 

My notebook

 

I'd never even heard of the Altons' site or their store. Dawn says it's exactly what she needs to update her knowledge and equipment. An excellent post!

 

Maybe Lost Ways I or II

 

No one book.

Even though I'm old and reaching the end, I guess I'll yet again lug my library to my next abode. I'd like to return to my home state to die. I'll have my library with me.

The libraries in the next world are infinite. It's yet another reason to long for death.

 

Ah, Old Geezer, I can understand your attachment to books; I have been lugging my library from Truk to Guam to Maryland to Arizona to Idaho since I was a teenager: sixty years now! But although I too am old (kind of) I hope I'm not reaching the end; I have too many books yet unread and too much life yet unlived.

But a good journey to you and yours! The canyons and mountains go on forever, and today is a good day to die.

 

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
So long as mists envelop you, be still;
be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
-- as it surely will.
Then act with courage.

Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800's to 1914)