Book Review: The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse

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Title: The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse
Author: Fernando “Ferfal” Aguirre
Publisher: Fernando Aguirre
Pub. Date: 2009
Softcover, 252 pp.

This book is a first-hand account of how one family is surviving since the 2001 Argentinian socio-economic collapse. I decided to read this book not because of the shortage of preparedness book that I own but because of the eerie similarities between what happened in Argentina in the early 2000s and what’s happening now in the USA. A lot of preparedness/survival books are written by authors who never actually had to do the things they write about; this was the precise reason why this author wrote this book: to counter the misinformation and to address the economic collapse scenario from a first-hand account from some one who has ‘been there and done that’ – and is still there and doing that. Now almost 30, “Ferfal” (as he’s known online) and his family have learned a lot since the crisis and his blunt, no-holes-barred book is as much a compendium of learning as it is another way for him to earn some much-needed income.

There are the usual preparedness topics that those of us familiar with the subject matter already know about: the importance of water, food, preparedness supplies, finances, etc. The author – having lived and still living through the economic collapse in Argentina (with 25% unemployment) – devotes a significant portion (~ 1/3) of the book to self-defense including the use of knifes and firearms.

Being self-published, the book could have benefited from a professional editor as there are several grammatical/typo mistakes (as English is not the author’s native language) but if you can get over that you will most certainly benefit from the book’s content.

Some key quotes from the book:

* Surviving anything, living through an economic collapse or just living life to its fullest is mostly about learning to cope with the problems life throws your way
* People learn from their own mistakes but smarter people learn from others mistakes
* Everything is harder, more difficult and more complicated after a crisis
* One is none; two is one; three is two (the importance of having backups)
* Awareness is the most important thing you have to learn about self-defense
* If you do not make firearms an important part of your plan you are in fact an idiot
* Private security will be the greatest gig once crime goes up

A lot of the information contained in Ferfal’s book actually comes from his blog which he still maintains to this day with a new blog entry posted nearly daily. If you find his blog useful you should consider purchasing his book so you have all of the information in one place.

Other key learnings:

* The importance of being aware and avoiding confrontations/crime
* I was surprised to learn how quickly – and how often – retail prices would fluctuate/increase (often times several times a day)
* Water: 2 gal/person/day
* Paper money still holds value for a long time as the crisis develops
* Prices (especially food) increased 200 – 600% after the crisis
* Gold buying and selling increased over 500% since the crisis
* Empty houses attract thieves, looters and squatters
* Entrepreneurship increased post crisis
* One-on-one bartering was more difficult than assumed; “black markets” were more common and practical
* Only 1% of your friends will be there for you after the crisis hits
 
FerFal's blog is very interesting- the whole collapse they experienced in Argentina is an almost worst case scenario here...
 
I just read this book. I thought it was pretty good. Much better (about 100 times better) than the rawles book. He does a good job of explaining that SHTF does NOT mean everyone moving into the wilderness or nuclear fall out. It means more crime, more unemployment and financial instability. It does not make sense to prepare for society to fall apart and living with three other families on the ranch while you barter weapons and ammo. That's not how it works....things will just get...."more complicated".
 
+1. Great book. Not a lot of Rambo crap. This book is based on his personal experiences and observations of what worked and didn't.
 
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