In an emergency, it is too late for you to get in some light reading. However, if you have a library of knowledge in a safe place, then you have access to that knowledge. Our first world lifestyles has made it so that many of us have lost the knowledge behind basic survival skills.
We don’t think it is necessary to spend all your time and attention on becoming the next man vs wild level expert. However, it is important to have this knowledge accessible in case of a disaster or emergency situation. At the very least, we suggest getting some good reading material to help pass the time when and if you are stuck inside or hunkered down somewhere.
With that in mind, we thought it would be helpful to create a top ten list for books to have in your bunker. Again you don’t have to read all of them but you should at least have them on hand just in case.
Wilderness Survival
Get a few books that are just general wilderness survival books. These books will often cover a wide range of relevant information that can be super useful. There are several of these but we recommended the Bushcraft guides as they are part of a set.
First Aid and Medicine
An often overlooked area is first aid and field medicine. This is one you should get more books on because I would say it is the subject that people know the least amount about. If you have medical experience, maybe focus on books for medicinal herbs. This can be invaluable information that even Doctors might not know.
Trapping Guides
Trapping guides are super valuable because it can be an easy and effective way of getting food that is mostly passive. Once you set the traps, you can go about your day working on other things and come back and check on them later. The more traps you know and have at your disposal, the better chances of low effort food you can get.
Knot Tying Books
Knots are super useful and common when in a wilderness survival situation. The amount of times you could use a knot in the wild is only limited by the amount of knots you know. Shelter, Climbing, Sailing, Fishing, and more all require knowledge about knots so I would definitely get a good book to reference.
Homesteading
A homestead is a farmhouse or ranch, typically built when settling an area. This would be a valuable book because if everything goes bad, you may have to restart from scratch. Having an idea how to start a ranch or farm from scratch can give you the peace of mind of knowing how to start over from nothing. This is a worst case scenario, but it never hurts to be prepared.
Fishing
Give a man a fish, he eats for one night. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. Fishing is not that hard, but it can never hurt to have a little advice from some experts. Specifically, I would look for guides that have details on what kind of fish live in your local area, and which types of baits and lures are they the most interested in.
Maps and Atlas
If something happens to the GPS systems and service, it will be very important to know where you are going. Transportation is already going to be tough, but it becomes even more difficult if you don’t know where it is you are trying to get to. A simple map that you know how to read and use could be all you need to get your bearings.
Plant Identification
Also, these are just our recommendations as far as the specific book choice, but we do at least recommend getting a book from each type or category of knowledge.
If you have suggestions on any books that we missed or categories, feel free to let us know in the comments below.
