I’m a bit of a suburban prepper, and also a writer. I grew up around guns, am a member of my local CERT team and also an ARES volunteer ham radio responder (that’s backup-radio for the police-fire-rescue during a disaster), and am also a blackbelt in karate, so I’m familiar with Jerry Ahern (the person who wrote the foreword) and also the fact you need to get your survival information from a reliable source. So before I wrote a story that involves a post-apocalyptic scenario, I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight as the survival scenario in my silly fictional story may be the only information one of my readers may have rattling around in the back of their heads if T.S.H.T.F.

Everything in this book jived with what I already know from rubbing elbows with our local Emergency Response personnel. Jim Cobb clearly spelled out which home defense tactics you should already have in place in the ‘normal world,’ versus which ones you might have to beef up quickly (but might cause an otherwise unacceptable safety risk or be illegal) should certain kinds of prolonged disaster occur. Most of his focus is on the latter, how to come together and take those extra steps in a hurry.

For many people, having to think about these kind of things may seem disturbing. We all want to believe nothing bad will happen, the police will always be there, our country has the best military in the world and they will always keep us safe. But I learned from the Emergency Responders and FEMA, and also the MARS people we drill with that it won’t take a zombie-virus like happened in The Walking Dead to cause a major interruption which might put your family at risk. Most Emergency Management personnel are obsessed about how badly stretched our public resources are, and that we have certain horrific vulnerabilities, such as our lingering dependence on imported oil, or our lengthy supply chain which stretches all the way into Asia. As we saw for a few weeks after 9-1-1, when the federal government clamped down on flights and also interstate truck traffic on the highways; or after Hurricane Katrina which not only took out New Orleans, but also one of our major imported oil refineries, it doesn’t take a massive country-wide emergency to cause major interruptions in our lifestyle. Why not be prepared and at least ‘know what you don’t know.’

Lots of good stuff here for my post-apocalyptic novel! Be sure to read Jim Cobb’s write-up on how you teach your kids to respond to bullying in the ‘normal’ world can make the difference in how well they survive in an emergency! It jives with my kid’s karate training. It’s a nice touch you don’t usually see in these kinds of books, how to teach the survival instinct to your kids without going overboard.

P.S. – Suburban Prepper = an ordinary suburban-type family who takes extra steps to secure their family’s safety, such as visiting the F.E.M.A. website to create their recommended ’72-hour-kit,’ makes sure they have a written Family Emergency Plan for a variety of probable emergency scenarios in their area, drills that plan once in a while with the kids to make sure everybody remembers what to do/who to call/where to meet, and makes sure to keep a 6-week buffer of extra food, cash and supplies on hand, knows how to grow a garden, and has a Plan B for when the power goes out for an extended period of time. Suburban Preppers don’t drill with militias in the mountains, but they comprehend other people don’t act very nice when an emergency happens and the police/emergency personnel get overwhelmed.

This has got to be the most sensible, practical, and comprehensive but concise coverage of the subject from a prepper’s point of view.

No extra words, no stories really, no “fluff” or padding, which allows this book to have a LOT of info w/o being too big to deal with.

There’s a chart with police radio codes, there a section on code words and mutual assistance agreements, there’s a section on communication devices, a section on weapons including knives and pepperspray, not just guns, a section on dogs, caches.. just a well-rounded, well-thought out series of issues to deal with.

Really impressed with this book and it’ll be a definite keeper.

In this book Mr. Cobb gives a plethora of ways to prepare your home and yourself for a period of lawlessness. His advice is timely and timeless. He busts myths and doesn’t venture into fantasy. He makes you consider things that may not have not have even crossed your mind. This one goes to the reference collection without a doubt. I’m impressed. If you are responsible for the safety of anyone, including yourself, it would behoove you to read this.