Survival and Self-Reliance Books

Learn, Plan and Survive. Achieve new levels of preparedness and self-reliance with our extensive list of recommended books covering a broad spectrum related topics…

M.D.’s Most Recommended Titles

• The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiently… by John Seymour (covers a wide range of topics)
• The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour (the only gardening book you will ever need)
• Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook and Where There is No Dentist by Hesperian Foundation (medical and health under primitive conditions)
• Cookin’ with Home Storage by Vicki Tate (cooking and using basic storage foods)
• How to Live Without Electricity – And Like It by Anita Evangelista (name says it all)
• Barnyard in Your Backyard by Gail Damerow (a beginner’s guide to raising chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, and cows)
• Putting Food By by Janet Greene (freezing, canning, and preserving food)
• Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton (food storage and emergency preparedness)
• Boston’s Gun Bible by Boston T. Party (firearms and gear)
• Survival Poaching by Ragnar Benson (wild game procurement)
• Life After Doomsday by Bruce Clayton (surviving a nuclear nightmare)
• Eating Cheap by Ragnar Benson (as the title implies)

Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

• Making the Best of Basics – Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens (food storage and prep)
• When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein (self-reliance, sustainability, and surviving the long emergency)
• The NEW Passport To Survival by Rita Bingham (basic foods and cooking)
• When All Hell Breaks Loose by Cody Lundin (general survival info)
• 98.6 Degrees by Cody Lundin (general survival info)
• Long-Term Survival in the Coming Darkages by James Ballou (tools and improvised projects)
• Attack Proof – 2nd Edition by John Perkins (personal protection)
• Self Reliance During Natural Disasters and Civil Unrest by George R. Bradford (general emergency preparedness)
• The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why by Amanda Ripley (psychology of survival)
• The Urban Survival Handbook Harry Cook (general preparedness and planning)
• SAS Urban Survival Handbook by John “Lofty” Wiseman (survival in the urban jungle)
• Tom Brown’s Guide to City and Suburban Survival by Tom Brown (personal survival within the city)
• Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales (psychology of survival)
• Secrets Of Street Survival – Israeli Style Eugene Sockut (Staying Alive In A Civilian War Zone)
• PREPAREDNESS NOW! by Aton Edwards (emergency survival guide for civilians and their families)
• Ragnar’s Urban Survival by Ragnar Benson (A Hard-Times Guide to Staying Alive in the City)
• Crisis Preparedness Handbook by Jack A. Spigarelli (a comprehensive guide to home storage and physical survival)
• Just in Case by Kathy Harrison (general survival)
• The SAS Self-Defense Handbook by John “Lofty” Wiseman (A Complete Guide to Unarmed Combat Techniques)

Gardening, Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency

• The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (covers a wealth of information)
• Storey’s Basic Country Skills by John and Martha Storey (an assortment of self-reliance skills)
• Back to Basics by Reader’s Digest (shelter, alternative energy sources, growing and preserving food etc.)
• Live Off The Land In The City And Country by Ragnar Benson (great book – skills not covered in other books)
• The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour (covers a wide range of topics related to survival)
• Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon (gardening with basic tools after a collapse)
• One Acre and Security by Bradford Angier (How to Live Off the Earth Without Ruining It)
• All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew (growing food in small spaces – Grow More in Less Space!)
• The Self-Sufficiency Handbook by Alan Bridgewater (general info)
• The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen (self-sufficient living in the heart of the city)
• Rodale’s All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Fern Marshall Bradley (The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener)
• How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits by John Jeavons (great gardening info)
• The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith (high-yield system for all north American gardening regions)
• Micro Eco-Farming by Barbara Berst Adams (prospering from backyard to small acreage)

Seed Saving, Canning, and Drying

• Saving Seeds by Marc Rogers (Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds)
• Trail Food by Alan Kesselheim (drying and cooking food for backpacking)
• Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole B. Turner (collecting seed and growing more than 100 vegetables)
• Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth (seed saving and growing techniques for vegetable gardeners)
• The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader(freezing, canning, drying and pickling fruits and vegetables )
• Root Cellaring by Mike Bubel (cold storage of fruits & vegetables)
• The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food by Janet Chadwick (freezing, drying, and canning)
• Preserving Summer’s Bounty by Rodale Food Center (a quick and easy guide to freezing, canning, and preserving, and rrying what you grow)
• How to Dry Foods by Deanna Delong (revised and expanded)
• The Solar Food Dryer by Eben V. Fodor (how to make and use your own low-cost, high performance, sun-powered food dehydrator)
• Putting Food By by Janet Greene (freezing, canning, and preserving food)
• Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning by Deborah Madison(traditional techniques using salt, oil, sugar, alcohol, vinegar, drying, cold storage, and lactic fermentation for preserving)

Relocation, Home Security and Retreat Construction

• Country Property Dirt Cheap by Ralph C. Turner(finding inexpensive rural land)
• Rustic Retreats by David Stiles(a build-it-yourself guide)
• Getting Out by Mark Ehrman(your guide to leaving america)
• Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson(a total plan for retreat defense)
• Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson(a total plan for retreat defense)
• The Modern Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson(a new plan for retreat defense)
• Defending Your Retreat by Delta Press(a manual for combat after the collapse)
• Building a Log Cabin Retreat by Michael Mulligan(a do-it-yourself guide)
• The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book by Mike Oehler(build your own underground – on the cheap)
• Secret Rooms Secret Compartments by Jerry Dzindzeleta(hide your stuff – hide yourself)
• The Secure Home by Joel Skousen (home safety and security)
• Travel-Trailer Homesteading by Brian D. Kelling (setting up a cheap homestead with a used travel trailer)
• Rancho Costa Nada by Phil Garlington (the dirt cheap desert homestead )

Investing, Finance and The Economy

• Financial Shock by Mark Zandi (a look at the subprime mortgage implosion, and gow to avoid the next financial crisis)
• The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles R. Morris (easy money, high rollers, and the great credit crash)
• Empire of Debt by William Bonner (the rise of an epic financial crisis)
• Goodbye America! by Michael Rowbotham (globalization, debt and the dollar empire)
• Hubbert’s Peak by Kenneth S. Deffeyes (the impending world oil shortage)
• The Coming Economic Collapse by Stephen Leeb (how you can thrive when oil costs $200 a barrel)
• Game Over by Stephen Leeb (how you can prosper in a shattered economy)
• Investing in Renewable Energy by Jeff Siegel (making money on green chip stocks)
• Crash Proof by Peter D. Schiff (how to profit from the coming economic collapse)
• The Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit from It by James Turk (make a fortune by investing in gold and other hard assets)
• Manias, Panics, and Crashes by Charles P. Kindleberger (a history of financial crises)

Saving Money, Living Frugal

• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin (transforming your relationship with money and achieve financial independence)
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn (tips on saving money and making due)
• Living Well on Practically Nothing by Edward H. Romney (tips on saving money and living on the cheap)
• Eating Cheap by Ragnar Benson(easy ways to cut your food bill)
• The 99 Cent a Meal Cookbook by Ruth Kaysing (saving on food – cheap eating recipes)
• How to Survive Without a Salary by Charles Long (learning how to live the conserver lifestyle)