The Best Post Apocalyptic Survival Books

The world as we know it has come to a dramatic end and characters fight to survive in a world turned upside down. Thus begins the classic post apocalyptic survival book.

This familiar scenario has been a running theme in literature and movies for quite some time. We are naturally drawn to these dramatic stories because these post apocalyptic survival scenarios offer an opportunity to explore the best and worse characteristics of mankind.

Many of the post apocalyptic books are fictional, imagined stories of nuclear war, natural disaster and other scenarios where the world has been brought to a grinding halt. Some of these books are excellent and there are many great lists of these works of fiction to be found all over.

The purpose of this post however is different. I have decided to compile a list of the best post apocalyptic survival guides, the books you would want to have in your possession should you wake up in a world that has just entered the apocalypse. The following post apocalyptic survival books will give you many of the skills and techniques required to live off the grid, without power or government infrastructure to provide the comforts of modern industrialized society. Are you confident you could survive in this world? These books will guide you.

Keep in mind, books by themselves cannot save you. Post apocalyptic survival will require your greatest tool, your mind. Learn survival skills and practice them, they could save you and your family and at the very least make you more prepared than the other 99% of the population.

The Post-Apocalyptic Primer: This is a great book in the post apocalyptic genre that definitely gets you in the right mindset. It is not really designed to be a comprehensive guide to survival but rather a book that gets your mind into gear to enabling you to better plan for survival. It has a rich sense of humor in doing so, but is definitely a serious book. I would recommend this book to somebody who is new to post apocalyptic survival or as a companion to some of these other more comprehensive post apocalyptic survival guides.

How to Survive the End of the World as We Know it: This book is a true SHTF guide to surviving the collapse of everything. This book addresses mostly the bug out scenario where you are forced, or would rather, leave your home and literally head for the hills. I think that if you have the resources to do this it makes sense and it is a good plan but for the vast majority of people we would rather be “bugging in” at home in our houses than “bugging out” to the woods or mountains. This is due to the fact that leaving your home severely limits the amount of supplies and items you have access to, not to mention all of the items left behind in stores, homes and businesses that you may be able to gather. That being said, there are certain post apocalyptic scenarios that would require you to get the hell out of dodge and force you to live off the land. It is for that reason that I recommend this book for your post apocalyptic survival library. Can you be over prepared? I don’t know, can you be too rich?

SAS Survival Handbook: This is one of my all time favorite survival guides. I keep a copy of this in my truck because the information on various aspects of survival are invaluable. John “Lofty” Wiseman truly is a survival expert and this manual covers every different type of climate as well as providing you with plant and animal guides. I took this book camping and actually tried many of the methods of shelter building and trapping with excellent results. This books primary focus is on keeping you safe until you can figure out a way to be rescued. After the apocalypse that may be possible but this book could very well save your life.

Urban Survival Guide: This book is a must have for your collection if you live in or near an urban environment. It is very thought provoking and provides a wide range of thoughtful creative survival skills applicable to any major city. In a post apocalyptic world you may have to do a great deal of scavenging within a nearby city and this book will greatly increase your chances of survival along with telling you how and what to look for. For example did you know that satellite dishes primarily all point south? This can help you navigate. Many aspects of this book are useful in the suburbs as well.

Long Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age: This is another awesome post apocalyptic survival book. The scope of this book is very deep, even covering ways to craft and fashion tools at home. Do you know how to make steel? The knowledge contained in this book could dramatically increase your value to post apocalyptic society and is a great addition to your post apocalyptic book collection.

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why?: Unlike the aforementioned books, this book is more geared towards survival philosophy. The mind set that separates those of us who will make it from those of us who will simply give up. The strain on the average person who has lived their entire life in modern industrialized society will be so tremendous after an apocalypse it will likely break down the psyche of many of us. This book is informative, education and inspirational.

Just in Case: How to be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens: I really like this book because of its practicality. Unlike most of these books it was written by a woman and it is geared towards staying in your own home after an emergency. It focuses on inexpensive disaster planning especially for families. In any major catastrophe the same rules apply and after the apocalypse your initial setup can be the difference between life and death.

US Military Pocket Survival Guide: A compressive, pocket sized survival guide of all of the U.S. Military branches. This guide kicks ass and leaves no stone unturned. The small size, vast amount of content and easy to navigate layout make this book one of my personal favorites on survival in general. Add this to your library.

Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game: One of the major changes in a post apocalyptic world is that eventually you will have to kill your own food. The vast majority of people have never killed their own dinner and would be lost trying to field dress a rabbit even if they were lucky enough to kill one. This is a small, cheap book which will keep you from tainting meat and teach you how to turn animals into tasty meals.

Where There is No Doctor: Western medicine is so advanced that we have forgotten many of the ways of the old world in dealing with injuries and disease. People lived for thousands of years before modern medicine using the techniques in this book and it is a must have for post apocalyptic survival.

Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs: This book is an excellent addition to your post apocalyptic book collection if you live in suburban America. It is well written and offers a variety of useful ways to become self sufficient on your little quarter acre lot in your cookie cutter neighborhood. Many of the skills and ideas contained within this book will come in handy and the author practices what she preaches.

These are some of my favorite books offering post apocalyptic survival skills, do you have any suggestions for this list?

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