library

LIBRARY
I tried to pick a bland and inoffensive topic that would appease the Yuppie Survivalists who insist on spending $200 for Mylar bag sealers or grain grinders when $20 items do almost as good of a job, who can't dream of doing without cars ( even though the fuel for them is rapidly running out, such as with Mexico-one of our main suppliers-most likely ceasing imports next year ) and so stockpile huge fuel reserves in a vain attempt at postponing having to actually get off their fat asses and walking, owning weapons requiring tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to be stockpiled, and in general thinking money means survival. Alas, I'm sure that the newest troll who I swear is the same one that promised to buy me a camera and process its film so I could prove I'm living off-grid and hasn't yet paid me my $20, he won't be content with the topic. Hopefully the rest of you who realize they are getting free reading material will get something out of it. You know, I might bitch about Time or Newsweek being an establishment rag not fit to wrap fish in ( that is why they use the slick paper ), but I certainly don't read them. If you think it is crap, why read it? Even if I go to the magazine room in the library and read the mags for free, I still don't touch the ones I don't like. I can't help myself, I keep feeding the trolls.
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My loyal minions do their best to keep me in research material by buying through my Amazon links pages. All commissions go to a credit I buy more books with. www.bisonpress.com if you get the urge. Yet, I still spend far and away more than I should in additional funds expanding my library. Honestly, do you really need a book on Peak Oil after the collapse of civilization? Of course not. Other than as a curiosity to your grandchildren to explain why they are wearing animal skins and tire sandals. If they even learned to read. Fiction books are another long term strategic waste of money. They are neat now, giving you ideas on how things might happen. And look at "Lucifer's Hammer". How many folks made concrete plans following that book? It has got to be one of the most influential survival books out there. But after the collapse they will have little value. Conspiracy books, such as the government blowing up the Trade Center and Pentagon ( if you don't think it was a conspiracy, explain how a jetliner body going through the Pentagon leaves a much smaller hole than it's width or even the width of one of its engines and instead leaves a hole the size of a bunker buster missile ) or how little green men taught us to build computer chips are all great fun. You can take them seriously or just have a blast with them. But regardless, they offer no value after the collapse.
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My point here, which I make a point of pride to never arrive at too soon, is that a lot of what goes on in collecting a preparedness library has no bearing in post-collapse living. The average prepper with no specialized skills could get by with little more than the first six books of the Foxfire series ( avoid the last six as if it were plague infested, they provide no primitive living skills ) and some "country living" type books. Now, we can all list dozens of great books beyond that, but mostly you are then tending towards more specialized books. It is all well and good to have more details, be it for distilling alcohol or for companion planting or gunsmithing or whatever. But here we are just talking about your urban dwelling cubical worker that is just laying in some supplies and trying to have some reference for old fashion skills. We are talking about roughly a hundred dollar investment here, and that is if you buy full retail without finding used books. But you don't need to spend even that. Library loans will get you the books that you need ( even if you must get on a waiting list from another branch ) and you can xerox the illustrations and take notes on the pertinent instructions. Let's face it, most books are bloated and puffed up for increased profits. You can easily Readers Digest any book way down in size.
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E-books are great and there must be literally thousands out there that are relevant to primitive living/old time skills and the like. Many times you could never hope to find or afford the paper version. Get as many as you can. However, even with solar panels and batteries and removable media and multiple copies, I would never count on an electric book two seconds after a disaster. We don't know about EMP, be it from solar flares or atmospheric nukes. We don't know about viruses. Granted, with books there can be fire to destroy them. No method is foolproof. By all means have the e-books, but be certain to have your Cliff Notes of them also, on paper. Nothing new here. "Survival Notebooks", material gleamed from the Internet in a indexed folder, are old news and certainly not my idea. But you do need a layered approach. Books, notes, e-books. It might not be feasible to have duplicates. A hundred year old book is too expensive in paper, free from the Internet. But have notes of the highlights from it on paper. You can have hundreds of e-books, but realize the risks of losing that information. But don't rush out and buy any books if you can't afford to. Library loans and some time spent highlighting its ideas will work just fine.
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