This thread is just for books which meet the following criteria:
· Fiction
· Intended for adults (not YA)
· Have preparedness / survival content/theme, or have lessons in that area that can be applied
o Additional option: books that show how NOT to do things
There are lessons to be learned all over the place, you just need to be open to them. This thread is to talk about books that are about preparedness or survival in some way (it doesn't have to be the central theme, but could just be a portion of the book). It could be that part of the story is about dealing with a natural disaster, handling some type of medical emergency, or escaping from a horde of undead.
This can also include books that show how NOT to do things, or where people fail because of a lack of preparedness. This is often at least part of what leads to problems for the main character in a horror story or novel. You know, those things that make you smack your head and have to put the book down for a while!
I'll start separate threads to talk about non-fiction, YA/children's, and just general preparedness reference books, so please leave those out of this one. And I recognize that there may be some that cross over or that are hard to pigeonhole, I just wanted to sort of focus the topic a bit. Also for a later topic will be movies and TV shows.
I have a rather extensive library at my house and while I've been working to reorganize it, there is still a long way to go. As a result, I just went from bookcase to bookcase, scanning the contents and taking pictures of various books that fit this topic, which was easier than writing them all down. There are certainly many more, and likely even some in my own library that I missed. But here is the list from what I was able to find among my own books. Please feel free to comment on these, or to add your own. I'm sure that this just scratches the surface!
The Zombie Survival Guide – Max Brooks- Survival manual about zombies, containing information about zombie physiology and behavior, defense strategies and tactics, and includes case studies of possible zombie outbreaks throughout history. Despite its fictional subject matter, the book also includes practical information on general disaster preparedness.
- This is basically our forum in book format!
World War Z – Max Brooks (also a movie)- First person, interview-style accounts from survivors of a zombie plague and how they survived.
War Day – Whitley Strieber & James Kunetka (sometimes spelled as one word 'Warday')- A fictional account of the authors travelling across the U.S. five years after a limited nuclear attack in order to assess how the nation has changed after the war. The novel takes the form of a first-person narrative research article and includes government documents, interviews with survivors and aid workers, and present-tense narration.
- Equal parts fascinating and terrifying. They did an excellent job of creating a variety of people to "interview" in the book, and then created "documentation" that went along with it. The beginning even includes a group of survivors building their own Kearny fallout meter to measure radiation.
Alas, Babylon – Pat Frank (there was a Playhouse 90 TV movie of it back in 1960)- After a limited nuclear exchange, a small town in Florida tries to survive
- This was my first exposure to anything more than the typical YA individual survivor books and probably has had the greatest impact on my prepping. Yes, it's overly optimistic, and obviously the racial issues are problematic, but that's because it was written in 1960. At the very least, it is a classic of post-nuclear war fiction and can provide some thought-starters for things that you may need to consider with your own preps.
Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy / Larry Brown- It's mainly a WW3 book, but the sub-plot around the soldiers in Iceland is an interesting view of Escape and Evasion, as the group works to avoid the Russians, gather intel, and communicate it back to command without getting caught
Lucifer's Hammer – Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle- Classic novel about Earth being hit by a comet, what people do to get ready for it and how they survive afterwards.
- I was fairly late to this one. I do find it somewhat depressing to read, as is the case with many of the "Armageddon" style books where the whole of the human race is barely hanging on. It does present a variety of different scenarios for things that might occur in such an event though.
The Great Snow – Henry Morton Robinson- Set in the 1940s (written in 1946) about a huge blizzard that buries the east coast. The main character is a wealthy attorney who lives up state and who heads home just as the storm arrives. He gets home, the power fails, the food is running low, and there are all manner of upper-class, visitors there to have esoteric conversations with over expensive highballs, while they try to intellectualize man's survival (some of them do not make it).
- This is a relatively unknown book, although used copies are readily available (I picked one up at a book sale). It is another example of characters whom you'd like to shake, just to get them to actually DO things instead of just talking about what to do / why they can't. Toss in a few affairs, wildly improbable travels via boats and planes in the midst of the storm, and the rehabilitation of a falcon, plus a bunch of dated references to the arts and such that we don't get, and you still have a fairly mediocre book.
All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot (several different TV shows)- A fictionalized look at being a veterinarian, starting in the late 1930s and continuing into the 1980s. There are some plot lines that extend through the books, but mainly the five books of the series consist of each chapter being a sort of short story about various animals, the people, and his life. All of it is based on real cases, real people, and the real area where he lived.
- Obviously, given that even the newest cases described in the books are now from almost 40 years ago, the treatments, methods, and medications have all changed. However, there is still good information in the books about caring for animals. Not to mention, the books are just delightful – they're some of my go-to books when I'd just like some light-hearted stories.
The Bears of Blue River – Charles Major- A series of stories about a boy growing up in rural Indiana in the 1830s, centered around his experiences with bears. The main characters are his family and a few neighboring families and describes some of what frontier life was like at the time.
- This is another childhood favorite and was actually published in 1905! The stories are all fictional, of course, but there are aspects to them that are interesting, like collecting nuts in the forest, trapping, bee keeping, and such. An easy read.
The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean M. Auel (Earth's Children series) (there is a movie made based on the first book)- In prehistoric times, a young human girl is adopted by neanderthals and grows up learning about their medicine. She ends up being forced out and eventually meets other humans. There are six books in the series and you'd better be prepared for a lot of sex scenes!
- The interesting survival aspect of these is with the detail that Auel included. She spent decades doing research and has descriptions of medicinal plants and how they are used, how shelters are constructed, flint knapping, domesticating animals, curing skins and making clothing. I've often thought that it would be interesting to put together a companion book that would separate all of this sort of stuff out of the series.
The Last Policeman / Countdown City / World of Trouble – Ben H. Winters- A huge asteroid is headed for Earth and everyone knows it. Society is breaking down, but the main character tries to continue to do his job as a policeman. The first book is him investigating a murder. The second is him being hired to search for a woman's missing husband. The third is him searching for his own sister who has gone missing. At the end of the 3rd book, the asteroid is about to hit and it leaves off before that occurs, so you don't know if anyone ends up surviving
- Very bleak and shows the sort of miasma that might permeate society in a situation like this (where everyone knows that they're almost certain to die within the year). Some people try to plan out how to survive, hoping that the strike will be far enough away that they can escape some of the effects, but mostly society is just coming apart at the seams. Not a well-known series of books, but I applaud the author for the atmospheric nature of these books.
And now for a few books that annoyed me or that are examples of how NOT to survive.
Devolution – Max Brooks- A small, isolated community of technologically-dependent city dwellers who suddenly are cut off from the rest of the world after a volcanic eruption. In addition to lacking outdoor survival skills and resources, they find themselves under siege by a clan of Bigfoot.
- A story about a group of completely unprepared people. If you read it, try not to knock yourself out from smacking your forehead in frustration...
Almost Adam – Petru Popescu- Basic plot: A paleoanthropologist finds a protohuman boy from a breed thought to be extinct and then goes in search of the rest of his tribe.
- This book irritated me so much that I actually got rid of it (I usually hang onto books once I've purchased them), so I'm not recommending it here, but wanted to touch on it.
- Where it failed me: the scientist dude literally goes into the middle of a war zone in Africa without any supplies or weapons, while racing a bunch of other interested parties to find this tribe. Yeah, things go wrong.... *sigh*
Zoo – James Patterson (was made into TV series)- Probably my least favorite book by Patterson. To me, this is reminiscent of the movie The Happening by M. Night Shyamalan (aka the Farting-Trees-Kill-All-Humans). In this case it's the animals reacting to people using electricity. Eventually, what's left of humanity end up retreating to the polar areas where there are few enough animals that they can survive and plot how to return to normal.
I have more books to add to the list, but I haven't written out my notes on them yet. And yes, I have some fairly well-known ones that I just haven't written up yet.
There are others that I have which I haven't gotten around to reading yet. If you've read any of these, maybe you could provide a quick overview and commentary:
- Going Home – A. American
- A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr
- Earth Abides – George R. Stewart
- The Last Ship – William Brinkley
- The Destiny Makers / Down There in Darkness (sequel) – George Turner
- Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy – Jeff VanderMeer
- Farnham's Freehold – Robert A. Heinlein
- On the Beach - Nevil Shute
In the meantime, add your own. What books have you read that have themes or content that relates to preparedness.
Anything by JL Bourne in the "Day by Day Armageddon" series and "Tomorrow War" series. "Trilobyte" series is good as well and the most terrifying he writes when considering modern AI initiatives. He used to have a forum called "Hotel 23" back in the day that was "rival" to ZS.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002BLQ6G8?ccs_id=c3d928f2-7bf3-4f30-b5f5-7221d3e0de15
I'd like to add William R. Forstchen to the list.
Beginning with One Second After, his series deals with survivors after an EMP is detonated over the U.S. You need to stretch your imagination, but only a little, to work through the series.
Highly readable, and a great way to broach the subject of prepping without the stereotypes.