IF YOU’RE WAITING FOR DOOMSDAY, HERE’S SOME LIGHT READING

I think waiting for Doomsday is like Waiting for Godot; you can wait, if you want to, but there’s really no Godot.

On the other hand, if Doomsday does appear imminent, here are some books for suggested reading to get ready for the worst.

SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere. Written by John “Lofty” Wiseman, a 26-year veteran of the British Army’s elite (and scary) Special Air Service. The book covers all of the survival basics and takes into account surviving in the face of other disasters besides Doomsday such as “avalanches, tornados, earthquakes, even the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.” Some fun, eh?

US Army Field Survival. Not to be outdone, the US Army’s survival guide covers various situations and circumstances and “explains the psychology of survival and preparation procedures, in addition to maintaining hygiene, crafting a makeshift shelter, and making water potable. Like the SAS Handbook, this version is edited for civilian use.” If you want it, you can get a PDF download for free.

There are other general survival books available including Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills by Abigail R. Gehring, The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery, and Foxfire Books of collected articles from Foxfire Magazine (about which I know nothing).

How about books on survival medicine? Many of the prepper/survivalists recommend the Merck Manual and others suggest simply having a good, full-illustrated medical dictionary. These sorts of books have been around forever. I have my Grandmother’s copy of Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book and Household Physician, published in 1908. Most of it’s out of date, but it has color plates on bandaging wounds and recipes for making bread or baking a cake. Who doesn’t like cake?

Where There is No Doctor is a reference from the Hesperian Foundation that is distributed by the Peace Corps. It covers such necessary things as setting broken bones and delivering a baby. (And, yes, even after Armageddon, it’s a sure bet people will continue to have sex and, thus, have babies). Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures for Emergencies by Hugh L. Coffee is full of procedures for someone with EMT or basic nursing training. There is also A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs from the Peterson Field Guide people.

How about food? That’s a human’s number uno biological imperative – if I remember anything from Mr. Spencer’s science class, that it!

Again, look to Peterson for their Field Guides to Edible Wild Plants that come in various edition for various regions of North America. Tony Nester, Outside Magazine's survival expert recommends that you find guides that list edible plants that taste good. Sage advice. Then there are the old standbys from the late Euell Gibbons such as Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Stalking the Healthful Herbs and Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop. There are numerous other food books covering everything from being a self-sufficient gardener to trapping (which I do not recommend since it is inhumane and cruel) and guides to canning, freezing, curing and smoking meats, fish and, of course vegetables.

As I recall, Mr. Spencer said that the second human biological imperative was shelter (and the third is sex, which I believe I've already mentioned). You get your belly full and then you need a safe place to sleep. D.C Beard wrote Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: The Classic Guide to Building Wilderness Shelters. A co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America, the late Mr. Beard explains ways to build serviceable shelters with basic materials. Here’s one more specifically designed for End of Days, etc. The Building Blocks to Rebuild Civilization. Not only does this four-DVD package cover shelter, it also gets into water filtration, metal work, electrical, biodiesel and other areas. Just one cautionary note: If civilization goes KA-POW you may not have the electrical power to fire up the DVD player and then the DVDs will be worthless. Survivalists everywhere recommend hard copies.