I was, and am, a big fan of Craig Caudill’s first book, Extreme Wilderness Survival. You can find my full review of that book here. When I learned Craig was working on a follow up book, it got my attention. I’ll admit, Ultimate Wilderness Gear wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. […]
Category: Library at the End of the World
Camp Zero by Sean Ellis
Like many of you, I spent many hours back in the day reading the various exploits of John Thomas Rourke and his family and friends. THE SURVIVALIST, created and written by Jerry and Sharon Ahern, inspired countless imitators as well as influenced many preppers and survivalists still at it today. Even now, some 35+ years […]
Extreme Wilderness Survival by Craig Caudill
I don’t review very many books these days. There are a few different reasons for that. Honestly, I don’t have much time lately to do read a whole lot, recreational or otherwise. On top of that, I’ve gotten to know so many authors and instructors in the last several years that I fear a good […]
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Reviewing novels is always kind of tricky. You want to fill the reader in on what the story is about but at the same time you don’t want to spoil any surprises, large or small. Let me start, though, by saying that I’m a huge fan of Joe Hill. He’s a tremendously talented writer, the […]
Pandemic – Interview and Giveaway
I reviewed Pandemic by Yvonne Ventresca back when it first came out in hardcover. The paperback edition just came out so I thought this was a great time to sit down and chat with the author about this amazing book. You can read my original review of the book here. Details on the giveaway follow […]
Goodbye, Harris Publications
I was a fan of Harris Publications long before I began writing for them. I’d been a subscriber to New Pioneer and also snatched up American Frontiersman whenever it hit the stands. My introduction to the staff, though, came through my involvement with Panteao Productions. I’m one of the instructors for their Make Ready to […]
Graphic Audio
I’m a huge fan of Graphic Audio. Looking back on the blog posts here from the last few years, I can’t believe I’ve not mentioned them before. I spend a fair amount of time in my car each week. My daily commute is about 35 minutes each way. Plus, my day job often has me […]
Review: Prepper’s Natural Medicine
As an author who has had a book or two negatively reviewed because it turned out not to be what the reader had expected, let me tell you a few things up front about Prepper’s Natural Medicine by Cat Ellis. 1) If you’re looking for a field identification guide that will help you locate and […]
Review: The Complete Survival Shelters Handbook
On the list of survival priorities, maintaining your core body temperature is number one. Hypothermia is a very real danger, even in relatively mild conditions. On top of that, working to make yourself at least somewhat comfortable has a tremendous impact on morale. You’ll feel better about your situation if you’re warm and dry, even […]
Review: Wild (book and movie)
Let me get this out of the way right up front. Neither the book nor the movie were at all what I was expecting. I’m reviewing them together as the movie very closely follows the book, unlike many movie adaptations today. I guess, with that in mind, I can’t say the movie was a total […]
Mad Max: Fury Road
Max Rockatansky and I met back in 1983 or thereabouts. We were introduced by my father, who brought home a VHS copy of The Road Warrior to watch on our fairly new VCR. My Dad had won the gadget at work a couple of months prior, as I recall, and picked up the movie at […]
Survival Fiction
My show last night on Around the Cabin was focused on survival fiction, both novels and movies. As promised during the show, I’ve compiled the following list of books and movies that I discussed during the show. All of these links lead to Amazon but I’d encourage you to seek out the titles at your […]
The Survival Library
My show last night on Around the Cabin was focused on putting together a survival library. As promised during the show, I’ve assembled a quick list of the books I recommended all preppers have on hand in their survival library. You’ll note that I refrained from listing any of my books below. I was going […]
Review: Be Ready! Magazine (May 2015)
I reviewed a previous issue of Be Ready! here. I certainly enjoyed it enough that I had to pick up the current issue when I came across it last week. This issue is even better than the last! I believe this is going to be a semi-annual publication going forward. The first thing I noticed […]
The Survival Savvy Family by Julie Sczerbinski
Do you have a friend or family member who you’d love to get interested in prepping? Perhaps they’ve always sort of looked down upon the subject of disaster readiness, offering the opinion that preppers are mostly whack jobs and gun nuts? The Survival Savvy Family by Julie Sczerbinski would be an excellent introduction to preparedness […]
Tools for Survival by James Wesley, Rawles
I will admit up front that I’ve never been much of a fan of James Wesley, Rawles, at least as far as his fiction writing is concerned. I know that puts me in the minority among the fans of “prepper fiction” but it is what it is. Different strokes for different folks and all that, […]
Favorite Survival Flicks
As the weather gets colder and the snow blows around, many of us like to huddle inside for an evening of popcorn and movies, preferably while a fire roars in the fireplace or wood stove. To that end, I’ve assembled here a short list of my own personal favorite survival/prepper themed movies. This list certainly […]
Alien Invasion: Owners’ Resistance Manual by Sean T. Page
I’m a big fan of author Sean T. Page. I’ve reviewed his previous books here, here, and here. All of his books are written with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Yet, at the same time, they do provide some degree of actual prepper/survival information, which is actually pretty darn cool. In Alien Invasion: Owners’ Resistance […]
Suggested Reading for Young Adults
In the last few years, the Young Adult market has exploded with books concerning disasters and end of the world type of plots. While these books are written for adolescents, I’m here to tell you they are great reading for adults as well. Many of them are rather sophisticated and have decidedly mature themes. I’ll […]
Make Ready to Survive DVD Series
I was honored to be asked to be an instructor for the upcoming Make Ready to Survive DVD series coming from Panteao Productions. These DVDs aren’t just full of footage copied from Youtube but high quality, professional productions. While there are about a dozen DVDs total in the series, they are being released in stages, […]