Survival Books: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…

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

My Most Recommended Titles

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (covers a wealth of information)
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 Evangelist (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

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)