Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
Preppers tend to be relatively old-fashioned, and one thing that most of us have in common is a yen to own physical copies of information that we find valuable.
There are tons of other great books out there, so if your favorite isn’t included on the list, that doesn’t mean that I found anything wrong with it. The following list is of the books that I personally own and have found to be valuable.
(Note: Due to shameless self-promotion, my own books are on the list and marked with a *.)
When I first started this list back in 2014, there were only 15 books on it. But, as I read new books, I thought it was time for an update. Here are the preparedness books that I recommend that you all have in your personal libraries.
General Preparedness
- Be Ready for Anything*
- Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide, 2nd Edition
- Urban Emergency Survival Plan
- SAS Survival Handbook (This is the perfect size to slip into a purse, backpack, or glovebox)
- Prepper’s Survival Hacks
- Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family
- Survival Theory
Food
BONUS: How to Feed Your Family No Matter What (an OP anthology)
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Water
Mindset
Health
- Prepper’s Natural Medicine
- The Survival Medicine Handbook
- When There Is No Doctor
- Where There Is No Dentist
- Prepping for a Pandemic
- Alton’s Antibiotic and Infectious Disease
Self-sufficiency
- The Encyclopedia of Country Living
- Tools for Survival
- The Backyard Homestead
- Bushcraft 101
- The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Home and Personal Defense
- Prepper’s Home Defense
- Contact: A Tactical Manual for Post-Collapse Survival
- Prepper’s Armed Defense
- Rapid Fire: Tactics for High Threat, Protection, and Combat Operations
BONUS: How to Survive During Dangerous Times (an OP anthology)
What’s in your library?
Do you have these books? Do you also recommend them? What books would you add to the list?
3 Responses
I love a book I can hold in my hands, thumb through it scanning for something specific, or just sit and read. I have books coving old fashioned poetry that my mother loved, scratch cooking, baking, cake decorating, gardening, medical books, books on the medicinal and edibles of my specific high desert region, and other areas as well. There are birding books from my childhood to more recent, gardening, regional-specific, and 2 canning books I bought for teaching my younger son to cover “by the book” and what the family has always done. I’ve always loved history and poitics but doing more genealogy to answer my childrens couriosity, I’ve become interested again in our founding fathers and their lives and writing, so I’ve sought out “too” many books on our ancestors. I also bought copies of our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights and framed them to have on display in the livingroom. Crafting books as I’ve added new crafts to old ones. I found a 3 1/2 inch thick 12×14 inch textbook on plants used by every tribe across the United States. Many tribes used the same plants but for different uses, with an amazing variety of preparation methods. Medical uses were the main thought, but edibles are listed as well. I’ve made a few notes on uses I’ve learned from local tribes in places where I lived. Also, some I heard mentioned but don’t know all the ingredients or methods involved. We have a new-to-us freeze dryer, so I joined a couple of pages about that and have purchased two books. I am slowly rebuilding a partial library on my areas of study and degrees. Much of that I can not replace. I rarely buy a newbook. Used books have been my friends since childhood. My kids have been begging me to write about my life. I think I’m more of a reader than a writer.
Hi, clergylady. Regarding American history, I quite enjoyed Chernow’s biographies of Washington, Hamilton, and Grant. One caveat: they’re looooooooooong.
I have had and referred to The Complete Tightwad Gazette, The Backyard Homestead, and The Encyclopedia of Country Living for many years. They can’t be beaten for financial and food preparedness.