# New guy with some questions



## George Washington (3 mo ago)

Hello, and greetings from eastern Montana. New to the forum. I will start off with saying I am fairly well prepped for myself my family and from an agriculture background.

The biggest things I fear outside of all of the normal worries is our loss of information And our way to access it. Aka the internet. Basic things that we take for granted now as common technologies.. I own a couple of books, the back to basics, a set of 20yo encyclopedias, ect. looking for more basic knowledge guides on what people used to know 75 to 100 years ago as common sense. Looking for some good suggestions there?.

Thanks


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Find a copy of _1881 Household Cylopedia_.


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## Captjim_NM (Oct 31, 2020)

I have a Boy Scout handbook from the 1960's. I also have US Army Survival and Evade and Escape manual. Add to that a preppers medical first aid book. The next step is develop your plan. Are you going to bug-out or are you prepared to stay put when SHTF? That will make a difference on how you prep.


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## George Washington (3 mo ago)

Thanks for your reply. I will look into the material you suggested. 

For my family in a collapse scenario, we are staying put. Large amounts of livestock depend on us. As do a large amount of family/friends. We have great resources, and they will be difficult to keep.


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## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

George Washington said:


> Hello, and greetings from eastern Montana. New to the forum. I will start off with saying I am fairly well prepped for myself my family and from an agriculture background.
> 
> The biggest things I fear outside of all of the normal worries is our loss of information And our way to access it. Aka the internet. Basic things that we take for granted now as common technologies.. I own a couple of books, the back to basics, a set of 20yo encyclopedias, ect. looking for more basic knowledge guides on what people used to know 75 to 100 years ago as common sense. Looking for some good suggestions there?.
> 
> Thanks


Every time Amazon Web Services has an outage we see how dependent on the internet we've become for education and commerce. Despite some of the censorship issues YouTube has been a godsend for me on figuring out how to do and or fix things. What I've been doing and what I recommend you do is to build a personal library. You can do this with both physical media such as books and digital media in the form of PDF's on non volatile storage mediums such as Flash Drives, External Hard Drives, and Computer Hard Drives. Redundancy is recommended to avoid losing everything in case a drive goes down and I highly recommend having a computer with an SSD rather than a traditional disk hard drive. You could very easily charge a device with a small solar generator or any other non grid dependent power source.


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

I second the library. Knowledge is power. Give ya a tip. Look at the classifieds on the forum here.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

As someone who had already passed middle age before the internet became available, a lot of know how was already in my brain. 
Judging by your post, you have a farm with livestock? Do you have the necessary tools and equipment to keep things running?


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## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

Two books that I have purchased that I would absolutely recommend are: The SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman and The Survival Medicine Handbook by Joseph Alton/Amy Alton. They both remind me of the Cub Scout/Boy Scout books I had when I was a kid. They are pretty easy to read and comprehend and while they don't cover everything they do offer pretty sound advice especially to beginners. If anyone else has a recommendation to add I would love to know.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Thanks to a few members on this site, resources they've collected, and links they've provided, I've got a pretty good digital library to reference.
Assuming that won't be accessible, I've been putting together a small library of books similar to what you're looking for. Took a pic today which shows most of them...








That little black one to the right probably has more information than most of the rest combined.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

Kauboy said:


> Thanks to a few members on this site, resources they've collected, and links they've provided, I've got a pretty good digital library to reference.
> Assuming that won't be accessible, I've been putting together a small library of books similar to what you're looking for. Took a pic today which shows most of them...
> View attachment 114980
> 
> That little black one to the right probably has more information than most of the rest combined.


I see the Tech and General books. No book for Extra Class????


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## Spenser (5 mo ago)

George Washington said:


> The biggest things I fear outside of all of the normal worries is our loss of information And our way to access it. Aka the internet


George, I cannot tell a lie, I am a survivalist and not a prepper. My primary focus is on knowledge. You can download the entire Army military handbooks for free. 



NotTooProudToHide said:


> The SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman and The Survival Medicine Handbook by Joseph Alton/Amy Alton


The above two books are a heck of a good start, and better then the military handbooks IMO. Nevertheless, get the military handbooks too. The SaS survival handbook by John Wiseman also comes in a pocket size edition, literally fits in your pocket, a magnifying glass/ reading glasses for us older guys is a must to read it. I also have the Campers Bible by Bill Riveria, and my old Boy Scouts handbook.

The one book you all should have is the EMT course book, own 2 of them. Medical Pill book, edible plants, etc.

* (the below section, not one of the books or manuals did I have to pay for,)*​In this digital age, it is easy to download kindle books. I own about a 100 Kindle books: Medicinal plants, 1st Aid, homemade hand sanitizers, Bushcraft, canning & preserving foods, hydroponics, every High School & college course books I ever took( Chemistry, Calculus, Advanced Physics, auto mechanics, Trigonometry, Geometry, to name a few), wilderness survival, cooking books of all ethnic backgrounds( ok i love to cook for me this is a must have necessity), Trapping animals, Plumbing, Electrical household wiring, Construction...

I also downloaded all the Area codes list and Zip codes of USA, USA phonebook on DvDs, Police, Fire, Aircraft Scanner codes, & How to Repair every appliance and electronics that I own (not 1 book but many)



Kauboy said:


> Assuming that won't be accessible, I've been putting together a small library of books similar to what you're looking for. Took a pic today which shows most of them...


You are beginning to grow on me Kauboy, but dear G_d those books are older than I am. Think it is time to get newer editions of the Pill " Drug" books and Symptom books. The Mayo clinic book btw 2 thumbs up for having it mate.


Ok back to you George. The real question is what kind of SHTF occurs. Being a professional wilderness survival writer, I have written several articles on primitive weapons and tools. Honestly if it got that bad, a majority of preppers are gonna be in the crapper ie outhouse. Now if you are referring to the hand tools prior to electricity, well those are quite useful to own. I have used pretty much all of those type of tools in my life, and actually find them kind of nostalgic and fun to use, ( for small jobs).

But to be honest here, having books to build or fix things when one has zero talent in repairing to begin with, is kind of like me saying I bought a book on Music so now I will be able to play Gustav Mahler's symphony #1 perfectly. So point being, the best books to own are ones that would be useful to your skillset. Still get the EMT book, as skilled or not, that could one day save your life, or someone that you care for.


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