Yes, this is nearly the perfect emergency preparedness book. Yet it features only occasional "how-to" instruction. How is that possible? Yes, you will learn options for making heat, light, and shelter; critical tips on hygiene and sanitation; even his justly famous material about dealing with the dead but Cody Lundin writes primarily about your most valuable asset when your usual options to last through your day are missing: Your intelligent perspective. You will need to do unexpected things in an emergency and no step-by-step instructions or lists of gear will trump the value of your prepared and flexible head. His book is more about guidance than directions; almost an encouragement manual rather than an instruction manual. This is a book about independence of thought and how that's not just an abstract idea but a force creating every action one takes -- whether or not there's a disaster in the offing. I urge you to read this book and to share its lessons with those you care about. What it offers should be taught in kindergartens, even though this book describes basic knowledge almost nobody today has.To be sure, Lundin (he pronounces it lun-DEEN, by the way) has an almost absurd amount of hands-on expertise with survival tactics and tools -- but not because he spends time surviving hardship, as do some special forces folks. Instead, Lundin has spent his entire life living what he writes about. If the grid goes down, Lundin and his family would have the same needs as you or I. It's just that he and they are already settled into providing for themselves. His books make one wonder if he has ever lived in what most of of us would think of when we imagine a house. It's easy get the idea he's only heard tales of air-conditioning and shoes but never seen them. But the "disasterous" situation you might fear being plunged into? That's everyday, happy, healthy life in the Lundin home. And, because Cody Lundin lives this way, he *cares* deeply about the choices that allow his life to flourish. This book is his way of sharing that.I'm re-reading Lundin's book for maybe the fifth time (in in my Disaster Kindle, along with a zillion maps, personal data, star charts, medical information, copies of personal papers... Lord! How I love my Kindle!) and I just realized I'd never written a review about this favorite of mine. Time to fix that...WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS BOOKGreat emphasis on human psychology and physiology in emergencies. Concern that you be prepared in your head for things that would otherwise make you go right off your nut. Repeated emphasis on the priorities of keeping your body alive and doing the same for those you love. "The Rule of Threes (or Fours)": That you need air to live more than three minutes, body temperature control to live beyond three hours, water to survive beyond three days, and food to get past three weeks -- and everything else is optional. Painstaking guidance toward ensuring your loved ones don't fall to the food- and water-borne diseases that loom dangerous for those who can't get help.And no small amount of humor.WHAT YOU WILL *NOT* FIND IN THIS BOOKSupport for the gear-centric thinking in most other survival/disaster/grid-fleeing literature. This book is not about firearms, SUVs, radiological protection, post-apocalyptic finance -- or anything else "post-apocalyptic, really. Lundin understands that humans can expect times of difficulty. Such episodes are really easy to get into (Japan, Haiti, Katrina, 9/11). We always have and always will have such periods. But human motivations to gather together and create culture will not go away and a distracting focus on stockpiled guns or gold or gasoline will not address keeping any of one us alive unless we have air, bodily thermoregulation, water, sanitation, hygiene, and then, if more than a few days go by, food. Cody Lundin wants you alive and well. He's a big, tough guy. But he does not care if you have big, tough toys.WHAT'S LESS-THAN-GREAT ABOUT THIS BOOK?His writing style can be an acquired taste. Reading Lundin is like listening to someone get people's attention standing before a survival class in the field. His writing is full of eye-rolling, sometimes square, teacher-type quips and god-awful puns. This man loves his alliteration maybe a bit too much. That said, he's just being himself and he does get his point across, so I just roll my eyes and put up with his style. That style is echoed, as well, in Russell Miller's totally goofed-up illustrations. (The book's Kindle version doesn't have the size and clarity to do Miller justice.) Even Christopher Marchetti's photos are kind of twisted. You can almost see Lundin smiling through his words, clearly aware he's messing with you to generate groans in his audience. He takes a moment in defense of his goofiness as a teaching tool and he teaches much like some of my teachers in the military -- and they were some of the best I've known.SHOULD YOU READ IT?Well, certainly. Because, whatever the particular options in your emergency plan, most of what Lundin has to say is on the subject of clear, independent thinking and keeping your basics covered so you survive to *have* additional options.WHO'S IT INTENDED FOR?The target audience for this book is the suburb or town dweller who may find the grid off-line for several days. The target reader is going to weather the trouble in his home rather than bugging-out for the wilderness. Lundin emphasizes preparedness and pre-existing cooperation with neighbors.WHO'S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED BY THIS BOOK?If your situation predisposes you to difficulty in remaining in your home during an emergency, you will want to want to augment this book with other information about taking to the road. I live in very urban Brooklyn, New York. I have a peculiar background of some outdoors stuff with formal education and careers in military, techie, industrial, financial, engineering, and science pursuits. Along with the weird resume, I've a life-long passion for technological history and how things go wrong. I was at the World Trade Center during the first week after 9/11. In other words, I think about this stuff. I expect Brooklyn could keep me cared-for for about a week. If the mess could last longer than that, I'm picking up by bug-out bag and leaving town. This is where a portion of Lundin's specific advice would benefit from additional literature. Nevertheless, his book would remain highly valuable.If you anticipate fending off or partaking in violence, or otherwise severing your ties with social ethics and civilization, this is not the book for you. HOWEVER, it does have a good, no-BS chapter about self-defense and how learning to protect yourself means potentially confronting the need to destroy another person. The book offers information about all-out, kill-or-be-killed combat and specifically advises learning such tactics if survival is your aim, rather than your participating in sparring matches and taking lessons to build a lifestyle (as is the case with some martial arts disciplines).And if you have a stick up your butt and no sense of humor, you might not get what he's saying.Yet what he's saying is important. Please read this book, especially the hippie crap stuff at the beginning, what he calls "head candy". Be encouraged to think for yourself. Remember that, when an emergency comes, it's your own inability to keep your priorities straight that's most likely to kill you, not a lack of ammo.