Archive for Book Reviews
Oct
08
James Wesley, Rawles 2nd book – Book Review
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James Wesley, Rawles New Book
Well, here it is… The first non-fiction work from James Wesley Rawles, the author of the cult-classic “Patriots”. If you have spent much time involved with the prepping movement as a whole than you most certainly have either read or heard about this interesting work of fiction. I say interesting rather than great only as there has been many discussions on the forums in regard to the quality of JWR’s writing. I personally enjoyed the book very much and have been able to put into practice a number of things that were suggested in its contents. However, like most things in life there are always different opinions to be had… I will readily give my personal recommendation for anyone looking for a good read, in the theme of preparedness, to pick up a copy.
Today, I want to bring you a review of his latest work. Like I said and I’m sure many of you know already, this is a non-fiction book. On its face its not all that different than so many survival related handbooks that we have all seen and read over the years.
It has all of the traditional food, water and shelter or the more recently popular “Beans, Bullets and Bandaids” suggestions. In addition it takes a more decidedly thorough approach to the subject of preparedness, not really a survival handbook so much as a preparedness one, right up my alley! Now, like I have mentioned here in the past, I’m at a stage of my life that the “Batman in the Boondocks” or wilderness survival strategy isn’t on the top of my list. I appreciate the scope of JWR’s work as it pertains more to retreat based preparedness, whether that means bugging in or bugging out, in your particular case its all covered here.
In addition to the old standbys of have so much of this and add a couple of these, James goes into things that are less common… Communications, Investing and Bartering among others. I am always looking for ways to improve my situation both now and in the future. His thoughts on this type of subject matter are his opinions and we are all free to agree or disagree with him but he has gained quite a bit of credibility inside our special interest group with these opinions.
The book is written in an old familiar style to me or at least reminds me of another author that I used to read at every opportunity - Ragnar Benson or “Uncle Ragnar” as I often referred to him. He’s another author sure to turn up in future book reviews! If anyone else enjoyed that writing style than you should appreciate this book as well. The style I’m referring to probably has an official name but as I’m not a trained writer, I wouldn’t know what its called - I know, I know, you can’t believe that but its true, I’m 100% self taught! The way the book is written is with a topic heading and than a short paragraph or two on that topic… Also, there are anecdotes sprinkled through out the entire work, my favorite part… Some personal from JWR and others that are just anecdotal situations, either way I find this writing style to be extremely easy to read and much more light hearted and fun!
As with everything that James writes, typically on his blogsite at www.survivalblog.com, it has his personal beliefs all over it. Now I’m not saying this in any derogatory way as I share many of those beliefs as well. It is just a classic slant that anyone familiar with James will recognize, such as his belief in charity! He is a HUGE advocate of “Give until it hurts” and makes that suggestion in this book as well.
I ordered the book on the official “Book Bomb” day of September 30th. Apparently this is a technique that authors will use to show their publishers that they have incredibly strong support right out of the gate! I guess it worked and James’ publisher had to double the initial printing run already! Congratulations to James on his success. On this note, I was a little disappointed to open the box from Amazon to find a standard size paperback book inside… I’m not sure why but I was expecting a larger book, not necessarily in number of pages but in actual size! I guess that when I ordered it the picture was misleading? It makes no difference but that was just my initial thought. I sat down to read through it as soon as I could. I had planned to finish reading it and publish this review sooner but life’s busy. It never stops getting in the way of what’s truly important, like reading books about the DOOM to come…
James Wesley, Rawles new non fiction book
The book is well worth the purchase price, under $10 bucks last time I looked on Amazon, if you can believe it? It is more than 300 pages with an index and glossary too. The print isn’t large by an means but they have stretched the layout just a little bit, for page count I’m sure. Like I said, its easy reading but thoroughly enjoyable! I don’t think I saw any completely new content that I haven’t contemplated in the past but it does bring new context to some of our classic scenarios. I offer my full support to anyone thats been waiting to purchase the book, I know you won’t be disappointed. The purchase price is low enough that it should make everyone’s reading list. I’m sure that many Christmas stockings will be graced with this book as well! I encourage all of you to consider this book for any of your unconverted family members too. Thats it, now go out and get a copy of the book!
Prepper
Oct
01
Book Review
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Travel - Trailer Homesteading under $5000
I have another book review for you today. This is a book that I found at a gun show back in the mid 1990′s. It had a profound impact on me as I saw at an early age, I was in my early 20′s, an example of the freedom a person can achieve if they put their mind to it.
TRAVEL-TRAILER HOMESTEADING UNDER $5000 by Brian Kelling
I want to share with you 2 short excerpts from the book. These will give you a very good idea of the content and intent of this concise but highly thought provoking book. The first excerpt is from the introduction by “Bill Kaysing” and the second is from the authors “Preface”. Read the following and allow your mind to see what your possibilities for independence actually are…
Introduction:
Books don’t need to be long and wordy to provide a vital by-product… additional creative ideas of your own! This brief but comprehensive guide to self sufficiency and economic independence generates spin-off ideas on virtually every page. It’s a book with a built-in bonus comprised of solid facts inspiring your own imagination. So, as you read it, encourage yourself to visualize all the wonderful variations on the basic theme.
First of all, imagine owning a cozy, compact home of your own paid-for, countryside land for less than a few mortgage payments on a ticky tacky plaster box in some smoggy city. Now that’s a back-to-the-land dream for almost anyone from a young honeymoon couple to a pair of seniors looking for a way to stretch that modest Social Security check. There’s no hype in what you are about to read. Everything presented in this real-life narrative is practical, sensible and within the physical capability and financial power of just about anyone of average health and means. The proof is manifest; it’s all been done and the photos prove it!
Preface:
The object of this book is to show you how to purchase and setup a complete RV homestead for under $5,000, land and trailer included.You’ll have all the comforts of home: power, heat, pressurized water, refrigeration and a septic system.
Sound too good to be true? Its not-I did it, and I’ll show you how. I live in a 21 foot travel trailer on 5 acres in southern Colorado. Everything is paid for, and I have all I need in creature comforts. There are only four prerequisites: the money, a pickup truck, tools and the willingness. But before you sell everything and start off, I suggest you read this entire manual thoroughly.
Sounds interesting doesn’t it? Now imagine you’re a young man with the whole world ahead of him… I read everything I could get my hands on about this type of lifestyle. I would be at the local gun show every month and on the look out for not only the guns but self-sufficiency books as well! Sadly, I have retained very few of the books I purchased back in that time period.
This particular book may seem dated and $5,000 would be no more than an impossible dream at this time in the world. You might be right, it sounded optimistic even in the 90′s. The price tag is an attraction but the information and ideas are where the true value of this book come through.
The author shares step by step instructions on what he did and how he did it! The photos included make it nearly impossible for the reader to misunderstand exactly what is happening. There is little fluff in the text but it is highly readable… If you have the faintest interest in living on the cheap than you will have this book read in an hour or so. The down side is that after the book is completed you aren’t able to immediately get started on your own project.
What I took away from reading this book, at least a dozen times over the years, was priceless. I could go find a property and install the systems that I felt necessary, and do it on my own. There wouldn’t have to be sacrifices in comfort even if you had as little space as a travel trailer. There were creative ways to “have it all”!
I would recommend this book to anyone that has a spirit of independence! While the more advanced preppers among us will probably have already grown past the basic ideas shown here. Even they would still enjoy reading this book for the entertainment value in seeing someone else’s success story. We all read the forum posts of what others have accomplished with great interest. It seems that even a small detail of somebodies project may provide just what we were looking for to move forward with one of our own!
This book was published by an old classic – Loompanics Unlimited. This publisher went out of business a few years back. I also believe this book has been out of print since around 1999. However, I did check Amazon and found they have a number of both new and used copies. They seem to be on the steep side but if this book has caught your attention sufficiently, I would probably spring for it even if it is priced significantly higher now than the $9.00 bucks or so that I paid back in the 90′s.
I hope that even seeing the book’s title or maybe the cover photo would inspire one of you to kick start your own dream machine. There is just no limit to the amount of freedom we can all enjoy if we will just do some research. It takes some money, maybe not that much, and a healthy supply of ambition. The rewards will be a lifestyle built on our own terms, not those spoon fed to us by a society that is not interested in whats best for us!
If you haven’t noticed a trend in what I’m posting here, you will! I have a deep interest in alternative living arrangements as well as a lifestyle that requires no debt. If these subjects are of interest to you as well, stay tuned! I will try to not be to singly focused and have something for every one. If there are things that you would like to see that I haven’t begun to bring to the site, please email me your suggestions!
Prepper
Sep
04
**Update** – Book Review
Posted by: | CommentsAlright, there were some comments and speculation about the yields I quoted in the book review from yesterday. I agree they do seem pretty optimistic. I’m still very much a beginner and am VERY happy when I can provide my family actual food from my garden, at any level. So, I thought I would at least show you all the illustrations of what the book showed for a proposed layout of the land. There are three, 1/10, 1/4 and 1/2 acre layouts. Even if these yields are grossly over estimated, I feel encouraged by what they show here and the accompanying information. Money well spent whenever I purchase or read books published by “Storey Publishing”.
Prepper
Excerpt from "The Backyard Homestead" by Storey Publishing
Excerpt from "The Backyard Homestead" by Storey Publishing
Excerpt from "The Backyard Homestead" by Storey Publishing
Sep
03
Book Review
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- The Backyard Homestead
“The Backyard Homestead”, “Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre”, edited by Carleen Madigan
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Eat from the garden year-round with fresh veggies and homemade preserves.
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Make Omelets from eggs laid by your own chickens
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Pick fruits and vegetables from your back door
Today I wanted to start the Book review category off. Since we were beginning the “Permaculture” discussions yesterday, I thought this book I recently read through would be right in the same vein. I have always been a fan of this publisher, Storey Publishing. They have many books on Homestead related topics and as far as I’m concerned the more of these books I read the better view of my future I seem to get.
This particular book caught my eye as it is advertising that you can achieve a significant level of independence on just a quarter acre. This is something that should catch anyone’s eye that realizes that we are a vulnerable society. Any level of independence we can each achieve should be sought after with a vengeance. If as this book alludes to, one could possibly even gain a portion of their sustenance from such a relatively small area as their own backyard, I wanted to know how.
Now, as you have probably already picked up on, I’m a sceptic. So I look through these books on Homesteading more for ideas, tips and overall inspiration. Not really expecting to be converted over to whatever the authors personal pet technique might be. So I took this same approach as I was purusing this book.
“Backyard Homestead” is actually a compilation book, containing information from over 30 different books all published by Storey. It covers a vast array of topics. All the usual plus a couple that I don’t usually see, “Foods From the wild” and “Home Grown Grains”. Its full of illustrations, both the actual drawn pictures as well as illustrations of what kinds of results you might expect to get from your homestead. That topic was what really caught my eye, its nice to theorise on what we might be capable of but actual rough numbers are much more interesting, at least to me.
They have layout drawings for homesteads ranging in size from a tenth of an acre up to a half an acre. Let me give you the list of typical harvest production possibilities for the stated quarter acre.
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50 pounds of wheat
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280 pounds of pork
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120 cartons of eggs
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100 pounds of honey
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25-75 pounds of nuts
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600 pounds of fruits
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2000+ pounds of vegetables
