Book Review: Survivalist Family by Joe Fox

Joe Fox from Viking Preparedness recently contacted me about a book he had written called Survivalist Family: Prepared Americans for a Strong America. I'm sure he's glad to see that I'm finally getting the review up.  Life has been nuts lately, but I've finished the book and have to say I really enjoyed it.

This book covers preparedness with a family in mind.  It is not doom and gloom, but does point out some very real possibilities for situations a family might need to prepare for.  Then it systematically walks you through the steps to take to get your family prepared.

Here are a few of the things I really liked about it:

I tend toward a bit of ADD, so the length of 195 pages and the fact that it wasn't written in super fine print and it included pictures were all a bonus.  But don't let the relative shortness of it fool you--there is a ton of good information in it.  In fact, it cuts through all the fluff and gets down to the nuts and bolts of getting prepared so that there's real action information all through the book.  You'll probably want to keep a pen and paper handy so you can jot down the ideas that you get while you're reading.

The tone of the book was very personable.  It was more like having a conversation with a friend than reading an instruction manual.  A conversation about getting prepared with a very knowledgeable friend.

He discusses practical ways of getting your spouse and family involved, an area often overlooked in the preparedness book genre.

He covers the basics in an organized manner, but as someone who has been prepping for a while, I didn't get bored silly reading about the basics.  I'd say this book is perfect for the serious beginner, but there is enough beyond the basics information in the book that anyone can get something out of reading it.  He covers making a plan, camping, evacuating, water, food, medicine, firearms, tools, and communications all with the family unit in mind.

He does not advocate spending tons of money on preparedness gear.  His emphasis is on doing something, and he offers some cheap alternatives to standard preparedness gear.  See why I like this book?  Totally up my alley.

Now, if you are one who will let formatting or a handful of typos deter you from gleaning valuable information from a book, you might have a hard time with this one.  I'm huge on spelling and grammar in my own work, but am willing to let it slide when I'm reading another person's work.  I really just want to know what they have to say that I can learn from and after reading Joe's book, I've already got some areas I plan to work on more with his advice in mind.

So definitely a keeper, and it's not so expensive that you can't get one for yourself and give one to a friend who is interested in preparing their family as well.

Survivalist Family: Prepared Americans for a Strong America is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  If you want a signed copy, you can get it from Joe at www.survivalistfamily.com.  Enjoy!