Survival Monkey Book Club

Returning to Starship Troopers for a mo (and passing entirely on the movie), ST was crafted as a Young Adult book, I think, and used space war & bug-eyed monsters as a medium to offer good advice and teach social values to fledgling adults.

Frankly, in the early to late teens, there is just about isn't anyone out there that can't use a little good advice.

The choices a person makes in the course of their life are choices of the available options, and ignorance is the surest way to minimize the available options.

A ghetto kid (of any color) that sees only gangs, and sees the only option as which gang to join, will wind up in a gang.

Move the same kid to Tahiti for a year, and he'll not only learn how to fish (Yep--That's a reference.), but he'll also learn a lot more about peace, harmony, beautiful sunsets, and living a successful life: that is, one that doesn't end on the floor of a liquor store.

And he'll probably never go back to the ghetto.

One of the worst things about modern society is that it forces immaturity on children right up to the day they are suddenly redefined as adults.

Robert Heinlein understood that, and often wrote about "kids" measuring up to the responsibilities of adults because they weren't helpless, regardless of their calendar age.

I can vividly remember being in the age cage, and what a breath of freedom it was 'way back then to read books like ST or Red Planet or Podkayne of Mars.

Robert Heinlein did some of my best thinking for me.

 

I'm a fan of Dean Ing.
His book, Pulling Through, is both short (142 pages in trade paperback pages) and fairly recent - published in 1983. It looks at post-atomic attack survival in a realist manner - something rare in this genre.
It also happens to be a cracking good read, with little in the way of dead spots.

(redacted) The book is still under copyright protection, there is no free version. I've gone back and checked the publisher - Dean put out several books via Baen Books, I thought it was on there free listing - it is not.

My source, The Internet Archive, is a 503(c) non-profit out of San Franciso noted for its "Wayback Machine" that crawls and archives web content.

The book in question is sold in (trade) paperback format only. The product on the IA is a scanned copy in multiple formats. I've sent a note to the author that his work is sitting on the web as a free download.

This book was pinged here on the board in the past
Pulling Through, by Dean Ing - Survivalist Forum

 

It is a manual. It is labeled and sold as a manual. I don't think it would make a good discussion piece.
I've read some of the early extracts MV posted on-line on other boards.
I took a pass, while the info is valid, the underlying assumptions are flawed - IMO.

 

Something here... is where do folks WANT this discussion to go... ST was not really a survivalist story... but was, or seemed, good for discussion

many that have been mentioned are also not really survivalist type stories...

I have noticed several of the writings mentioned tend to lean toward liberty, freedom and the Constitutional form of Gov... is that the direction?

although some seam to lean more toward gov or psych stuff...

even so... some good authors... with good stories... have been mentioned...

 

I think, that like any neighborhood book club, the topics will run a gamut of things. We have 10's of thousands of threads on survival and specific topics therein.

Politics or political, survival, prepping, pop culture novels, classics, biographies and autobiographies, romance, military history...the list can go on and on. Yeah, we're a site about being prepared and becoming self sufficient but there has to be more to life to be well rounded. Or at least how I figured it would go. Just my $0.02.

 

One can never tell what will provide the inspiration that will solve a problem or bring some reality to ones prep's..

Personally, I have been given some suggestions on reading material that has been very much appreciated. And made me laugh my "A" off..

 

OK - I'll poke that dog.

Any consensuses on a book for discussion?

My offer still stands.

 

Okay, my life has settled and I am ready to start reading. My CERT class is coming up so lets choose a book and start reading.
To all interested in the book club. Two of our monkeys have offered to have their books discussed. Also there has been a suggestion of selecting a book from the Resources area. Plus ferFAL's story on Argentina was suggested.

Suggestions or we will put names in a hat and choose.

 

I'll pony up the Tales of the Chernyi as it is a series of short stories. Might be easier to do in small bites - or pick one or two stories out of the lot.

 

Time to look st FERFAL's story? While much of his experience is in a country/urban area/big city with a culture that only remotely matches the dominant culture of North America, some stuff would transfer, I would think....

 

FerFal's story would be good to discuss then DL's. FerFal's book is here on the monkey so people can easily access. Sounds good to me.

ferFAL Some first hand experience A brief story of Argentina | Survival Monkey Forums

 

The book club doesn't have to be all fiction. Living in actual reality, practicing survival skills and getting prepping done must be balanced with some enjoyable reading of fiction.

I'm a lamp loon, and alternative fuel guy. I heat and cook with anything that'll make heat, and non-electric lighting is my primary reading light through the winter. Usually kerosene pressure lamps and lanterns, but white gas as well. I recently discovered a series of books by Ron Brown called The Non-electric Lighting Series. I've been using lanterns daily for a long time, and could teach him a few tips, but I still found some interesting tidbits. He did scientific testing of oxygen depletion and carbon monoxide production with lanterns inside a bath tub in a tiny bathroom. I've done unscientific testing by running lamps all night with the windows cracked and not waking up with a headache...or not waking up at all.

Books 4, 5 & 6 were my primary interest. He has an interesting writing style, and stresses reasonable safety.

https://www.amazon.com/non-electric...rh=n:283155,k:non electric lighting ron brown

 

Posted a new thread on Fer Fal
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre and his story on Argentina | Survival Monkey Forums

 

I am reading the "Apocalypse Law", 5 book series by John Grit. It is a compelling read (IMO) with a good story line and character development. The series is about a 40ish year old man and his 13 year old son surviving on a farm after a plague kills almost everyone, including his wife and daughter. He's ex-Army Ranger so there is a lot of gun battles. Takes place in northern Florida. "If people have to die then let it be the scum, so the good people will have a better chance (to survive)."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TBDFIA/?tag=survivalmonke-20

 

I just read that and I know @Mountain mama just purchased the book. I started a thread here- Apocalypse Law by John Grit | Survival Monkey Forums I maybe some others have read and want to discuss the book.