Has anyone considered an eReader (Kindle, Nook etc.) as part of their survival kit? It would be a very light and compact way to carry all of your survival books, maps, first aid guides etc. all in one place. Since you can store PDF's on them, you could even store documents that you've created yourself, such as escape routes, checklist etc. Of course, any book that you'd like to include would have to be available in an ebook file format. The battery lasts for months on a single charge, so that shouldn't really be an issue.

Yeah, the reader is lightweight, but the generator and gasoline you would need to keep it charged over the long term are a bear to lug around.

Not a survival tool in the least bit IMHO. But a neat thing to have for reading books when you're not busy trying to stay alive in survival mode. I really like my Nook (which I just bought last week, BTW), and would recommend it to anyone. But not as a survival tool.

I dunno. The battery lasts for weeks and can be charged with solar power. Certainly I wouldn't want to rely on an unhardened, non-waterproof electronic device for my critical info, but that should be in your head anyways!

Only if you bought one of the "just a book reader" B&W E-Ink models (e.g., the Nook Simple Toch). The battery life of something like a Kindle Fire or one of the Barnes&Noble color models is measured in hours.

The Fire sucks batteries pretty fast. But the Kindle Touch only needs to be charged every couple of weeks. I know nothing about the Nook or i-thingies.

My husband is an avid reader, so an ereader would be a light way for him to carry lots of books. Likewise, DH and DS love their video games. We're not going to purchase one to dedicate for that purpose though. I have a tablet that includes an ereader and some games, but I suspect we'd dedicate that to information gathering in an emergency.

We have a little 1W Solar Planel that would probably work well to charge the tablet. Haven't tried it but we did use it to power the truck radio during an all-day picnic last year and it worked great.

Keeping my iPhone charged is an important goal in my planning. It makes a reasonable ebook reader and it's relatively easy to keep charged with AAs, hand-crank power, and other means. It's easy to keep a bunch of entertainment and reference reading available.

The counter-argument is that paper books are more resilient to rough handling and don't need charging. I stuck the pocket version of the SAS Survival Guide in both my wife's and my BOB with that in mind, along with means for charging our iPhones.

I'm referring to eReaders (e-ink), such as the Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch etc. I'm not referring to tablets, such as the Kindle Fire, Nook Color, ipad etc., which do use batteries fairly quickly. The eReaders with the e-ink display could last for months on a singe charge if used very infrequently, which would most likely be the case in a survival situation if it's only being used for reference guides (edible plants, first aid etc.).

I wouldn't want to rely solely on an e-reader for survival information. Even though the e-ink versions are very energy efficient they are still relatively fragile. I guess it falls under the "carry a GPS but have a map too" theory.

I heartily endorse placing survival information on them as an adjunct though. Cody Lundin's 98.6 Degrees was on sale at Amazon for $1.99 recently for the Kindle edition. Even though I had the print copy, I bought the Kindle version because I could download it to any linked Kindle device - my iPhone, Kindle Fire, iPad, even my PC. If the best knife is the on you have with you then I suppose the best survival info is too.

If you want something concise and easily portable, Doug's RSK guide is great. No batteries required.

+ 1 on that

Nothing like a stash of books in your bugin/bugout location , and most important : in your head.