Book that re-lit my prepping fire

[Helix]

I built up some SHTF supplies and then kind of took a break from it. I just finished the book One Second After, which is a fiction about a possible EMP attack, and it's kind of gotten me back into the prepping mindset. If you haven't read it, check it out, it's scary.

Anyone else have any good end of the world type books that they would recommend? I really like the genre.

 

[xtry51]

Check out the SHTF book thread we have going in the survival forum. There's a huge list of equally good books.

 

[Helix]

Will do. Thanks!

 

[Yippee-ki-yay]

Great book, highly recommend it

 

[LuvToGoFast]

Not exactly end of the world, but Cyber Storm is great. I got it as a Free Kindle Book and I really enjoyed it.

 

[RLBreton]

Check out the SHTF book thread we have going in the survival forum. There's a huge list of equally good books.

^^THIS^^

I'm on audiobook 10 of "299 Days" and re-listening to "Going Home" concurrently. I also just finished Forstchen's "Day of Wrath" and that was chilling. Helps to keep your eyes on the prize, as it were.

 

[clampett]

I read " The Road". I also saw the movie. It motivated me to purchase a lot of ammo and food.

 

[goodlife30]

Cody lundeen has a good book. Total hippie but good points .

 

[xtry51]

Cody is probably the most practical long term survivalist out there. Most other people focus on short term survival/rescue while he basically has lived a large portion of his life surviving.

If I had to pick a guy I'd want to take a course with it would be him.

 

[fubar]

One for the first was "Lucifers Hammer." .... A near miss from an asteroid still manages to drop a bunch of really big meteorites and bad stuff happens.

It's the opposite of modern prepping fiction that focuses on a few people and a big shopping list , it's more about a lot of people putting together society while surrounded with tons of broken stuff.

It is still an action packed story written by a good writer , not a prepper who wants to become a good writer.

 

[Varmint]

I built up some SHTF supplies and then kind of took a break from it. I just finished the book One Second After, which is a fiction about a possible EMP attack, and it's kind of gotten me back into the prepping mindset. If you haven't read it, check it out, it's scary.

Anyone else have any good end of the world type books that they would recommend? I really like the genre.

One Second After was my first book in the genre, now reading Day of Wrath, and read previews of Lights Out (very good) and Last Stand (meh).

Some books detail ordinary people (not preppers really) - One Second After, day of Wrath, and Lights Out. I think I prefer that to books like Last Stand, where the protagonist is a heavy prepper with a concrete bunker in his basement.

I highly recommend using Amazon to read the first chaper of books, cause a lot of these Prepper authors can't write for crap, and you'll see that by Chapter 1.

 

[Da_lucche]

I thought One Second After was a pretty shitty book TBH and same with "... Home" series.

299 Days series is pretty good.

The Road movie was better than the novel.

 

[Helix]

One Second After was my first book in the genre, now reading Day of Wrath, and read previews of Lights Out (very good) and Last Stand (meh).

Some books detail ordinary people (not preppers really) - One Second After, day of Wrath, and Lights Out. I think I prefer that to books like Last Stand, where the protagonist is a heavy prepper with a concrete bunker in his basement.

I highly recommend using Amazon to read the first chaper of books, cause a lot of these Prepper authors can't write for crap, and you'll see that by Chapter 1.

Finished day of wrath in a day. I liked it. Lights out is my next book purchase.

 

[cobalt]

I thought One Second After was a pretty shitty book TBH and same with "... Home" series.

One second after was good. What was really thought provoking is how fast things deteriorate - which means you don't need an EMP for things to go bad.

The Home series was good also ("Going home", "surviving home", etc.) were good stories with terrible writing. I don't like books that lean heavily on, and make much of, brands of things. I don't care what model number thingy you have... I also didn't like that in "Patriots" with the interminable lists.

 

[cobalt]

Check out also "Handbook for Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family" as a reasonable guide to your early prepping. He doesn't advocate for prepping for TEOTWAWKI, but rather managing relatively minor disasters with 1 month duration. Much more tractable than prepping for a "one second after" event and arguably more practical.

 

[knfmn]

One second after was good. What was really thought provoking is how fast things deteriorate - which means you don't need an EMP for things to go bad.

The Home series was good also ("Going home", "surviving home", etc.) were good stories with terrible writing. I don't like books that lean heavily on, and make much of, brands of things. I don't care what model number thingy you have... I also didn't like that in "Patriots" with the interminable lists.

I thought the writing was fair in the "home" series, but the last one the author released did me in. I couldn't finish it. Tried several times and lost all interest.

"One second after" has a huge fanbase, but is totally unrealistic IMO. I didn't like it at all.

Rawles books are fairly well written, but the religious freakery irritates me. It annoys the crap out of me that he seems to view anyone who isn't a born again Christian as being evil and that they're going to die if the SHTF.

Lights out was a really good book. I've read it a few times now and enjoyed it a lot.

"Without" by EE Borton is a really good post apocalyptic book. Not terribly realistic, but I love it a lot.

 

[xtry51]

Please post any suggestions in the SHTF book thread so we can all track them easily in one thread.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Great story and not to far from what could happen if the world does go offline.

 

[moose3580]

I built up some SHTF supplies and then kind of took a break from it. I just finished the book One Second After, which is a fiction about a possible EMP attack, and it's kind of gotten me back into the prepping mindset. If you haven't read it, check it out, it's scary.

Anyone else have any good end of the world type books that they would recommend? I really like the genre.

Check out Going Home by A. american the series has about 5 or 6 books I lost count but they are all great. Be warned you will not want to put them down.

 

[Wadcutter]

Alas Babylon gave me an appreciation for whiskey and M1 carbines (never at the same time).

 

[namedpipes]

One for the first was "Lucifers Hammer." .... A near miss from an asteroid still manages to drop a bunch of really big meteorites and bad stuff happens.

It's the opposite of modern prepping fiction that focuses on a few people and a big shopping list , it's more about a lot of people putting together society while surrounded with tons of broken stuff.

It is still an action packed story written by a good writer , not a prepper who wants to become a good writer.

Re read it, SLOW and with Google Earth handy. You can literally follow the groups of people and you will arrive at their destination.

 

[A1850]

In for an instant Karma if you want to lend it out.

 

[RickH]

+1 cyber storm
Far superior to one second after
Call me naive but I don't think things would be as bad especially in the suburban areas if God forbid we suffered and EMP attack
Book was constant death and murder

 

[JayMcB]

+1 cyber storm
Far superior to one second after
Call me naive but I don't think things would be as bad especially in the suburban areas if God forbid we suffered and EMP attack
Book was constant death and murder

I envy you your normalcy bias. GLWT.

Go knock on your neighbor's door and ask how much food they have stored. Couple of days? A week? A month? Now look at the FSA who live from EBT refresh to EBT refresh. How long before they decide they are as 'entitled' to your food/fuel/guns/life as they were to your tax dollars filling up their EBT card once a month. It's absurd to think that they would abandon their entitled attitudes. They'd only get worse. Look at the tweets/FB posts when the cards shut down briefly last year. It will make Lord of the Flies look like a tea party. Recent history has shown this to be true. Look at Argentina, Bosnia, etc.

Add in what happens with no gas, no electricity, no home heating oil or propane deliveries, and it will devolve very, very quickly.

What would you do if YOUR kids were starving/thirsty/sick/cold? Where would the needle on your moral compass be?

Would the elderly neighbor or single mother who had food/medicine/fuel/shelter keep it if you were starving?

All questions to ponder; each will have their own answer.

I for one have a lot of XM193 for even up-armored looters. There's surplus 30.06 with steel core for vehicles.

If/when the time comes there will be no warning shots - and no prisoners, as I do not want the responsibility of feeding or housing them. YMMV.

 

[Varmint]

I envy you your normalcy bias. GLWT.

Go knock on your neighbor's door and ask how much food they have stored. Couple of days? A week? A month? Now look at the FSA who live from EBT refresh to EBT refresh. How long before they decide they are as 'entitled' to your food/fuel/guns/life as they were to your tax dollars filling up their EBT card once a month. It's absurd to think that they would abandon their entitled attitudes. They'd only get worse. Look at the tweets/FB posts when the cards shut down briefly last year. It will make Lord of the Flies look like a tea party. Recent history has shown this to be true. Look at Argentina, Bosnia, etc.

Add in what happens with no gas, no electricity, no home heating oil or propane deliveries, and it will devolve very, very quickly.

What would you do if YOUR kids were starving/thirsty/sick/cold? Where would the needle on your moral compass be?

Would the elderly neighbor or single mother who had food/medicine/fuel/shelter keep it if you were starving?

All questions to ponder; each will have their own answer.

I for one have a lot of XM193 for even up-armored looters. There's surplus 30.06 with steel core for vehicles.

If/when the time comes there will be no warning shots - and no prisoners, as I do not want the responsibility of feeding or housing them. YMMV.

I also thought One Second After was realistic, except that I don't think an EMP would take out as much as the author said, but other than that.

However his next book, Day of Wrath, I'm not liking much, because it treats all Americans as incredibly stupid, and terrorists as incredibly smart AND lucky. Not one civilian or cop seems to be able to hit one terrorist with a single round. It's like a Bruce Willis movie in reverse. The whole scenario seems preposterous. I get you're trying to scare people out of complacency, but it's a novel, not a newspaper column, so I expect a little realism in a book about the harsh reality.

 

[Da_lucche]

One second after was good. What was really thought provoking is how fast things deteriorate - which means you don't need an EMP for things to go bad.

The Home series was good also ("Going home", "surviving home", etc.) were good stories with terrible writing. I don't like books that lean heavily on, and make much of, brands of things. I don't care what model number thingy you have... I also didn't like that in "Patriots" with the interminable lists.

One Second After is written as clichéd as you can get.

By the time the main character in Home pulled out his 1,500 conveniently carried piece of gear from his neverending bag of tricks, I had had enough.

 

[Varmint]

One Second After is written as clichéd as you can get.

By the time the main character in Home pulled out his 1,500 conveniently carried piece of gear from his neverending bag of tricks, I had had enough.

Can you recommend some better books? I don't like the uber-prepared characters either.

 

[Da_lucche]

Can you recommend some better books? I don't like the uber-prepared characters either.

TBH, I just went by other people's recommendations as well. Lights Out was a good read. 299 Days is a decent series too. Michael Bracken's novels, which are not your typical SHTF, prepper novels, are good reads.