Already downloading! Looks pretty interesting as does the site.

I like the book. I need to download and print out some copies, and stash them.

I'm with the idea of learning how to make things, especially using the older methods of production. Soap and toothpaste would be nice things to be able to make, if we face TEOTWAKI. Armed with such knowledge, I could see one making such materials in bulk and trading them for other necessities and comforts.

I hope never to face such a situation that requires me to heat my home with wood, harvest my food and find a way to make my own clothes. However if TSHF, I think the first generation survivors will be in large part scavengers. No need to make a new knife by mining and smelting ore, when I can grab a piece of scrap and grind it into a serviceable blade. No need to learn how to weave when I can scavenge carpet from office buildings.

Rome was not built in a day, nor did it fall in a day. It did not suddenly change from a thriving civilization into a lost one with the sacking by the Vandals. No, it had a long slow decline. Same with the Maya. No reason to expect that our civilization will be any different. The knowledge you save will ultimately benefit the generatiosn that follow those who see TEOWAKI.

So that means things will be relatively unchanged for most people in the U.S., who seem to know nothing about these topics shortly after having finished hgih school?

My wife might cringe if she knew I read this suggestion, because the idea appeals to me. I collect books like CANOEDOGS collects cups, like Benjammin collects dutch ovens, like Blast collects cat scratches, etc. What's a few thousand more?

Maybe not a fair situational comparison, but this statement is not unlike the gear vs. skills philosophy most here subscribe to, namely the more skills/knowledge, the less gear required.

You stock up on books. I'll volunteer to make more babies so you can teach them math.

There going to have a long walk if they are coming to my school.

But, I'll also volunteer to try to assist you on making more babies. I'll do what I can.

True, and I did say that having laid aside provisions is rather important. In fact, to survive many situations, I'd say it's critical to have those supplies. But for the most part shelter, food, water, rudimentary sanitation and medical attention are what's neeeded in an immediate survival sitaution. As we move into LTS and "household supplies" dwindle, it's important. And like I said, in an EOTW situation even if you have a full lifetime family-sized supply with extra emergency stashes in various areas, you could use your knowledge and skill to produce yet MORE of those for consumption and trade. I'm thinking anyone with medical skills and access to medicine and anyone who has food and fuel surpluses will be the focus of those trades.

I think it's fair to say it's a sort of parallel to the gear vs. skill philosophy, but as I think many here would agree, the more gear you have the easier it is to make a go of things, but the more skill you have, the longer you can get along without that gear. :-)

In an EOTW situation having too much would make you a target for the have nots.

This isn't the place for a zombie reference but World War Z has several stories in it which makes one realize that not everybody is going to hold hands, fart campfire songs together, and wait for rainbows while the world falls apart...wow that's cynical even for me.

I'm not one of those people who thinks the end is nigh but if something like that happens, I'm expecting a lot of people to sink to an all time low in the wake...and I don't consider myself prepared for it either. There's so many moving parts and what-ifs. I like the gear vs knowledge parallel. If things get crazy and one of those million things that can happen, does, the only thing I can trust to always be with me is knowledge...and I don't even trust that because I carry a pocket version of the SAS survival handbook ALL THE TIME.

"we must not allow a mineshaft gap!"

Dr. Strangelove

I'm marginally prepared for a disaster, but not a prolonged one or a complete EOTW scenario. I'd love to tinker with some of this stuff as it's interesting to me and who knows, maybe I'll start selling EOTW Soap at the local craft fair.

If modern society breaks down these will become niceties as wars over water, food, and energy kill off a lot of the ones who survived the incident. Humans lived for years without much of this, but they also lived in what we would call comparable squalor.

Oh, and I have my zombie shotgun ready to roll! ;-)