In The Gravest Extreme

Book Review: In The Gravest Extreme
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Some of the information in the book In The Gravest Extreme is outdated – some laws have changed, and when this book was written Glocks were not around.

That being said, combat mindset does not change over time – If you took a medieval knight and transported him to this era, he would simply begin training in firearms and trade in his plate for Kevlar.

Ayoob uses common sense scenarios to explain concepts- he clearly articulates why avoidance is better than confrontation, and shows why just having a gun is not enough – you must know how (and WHEN) to use it.

This is a good book, Ayoob is a talented and practiced author – you will learn something from this title.

I use information from this book as well as the Ayoob Files when discussing combatives and proper mindset in the various firearm classes I teach.  I believe that to be a good instructor of any discipline, but especially a self defense related field you need to constantly learn, read, and practice.

You cannot learn a combat mindset in a vacuum, it is not natural to run toward gunfire, you need exposure to the concept from people who have done it.

How to Convert Wood into Charcoal and Electricity

Book Review: How to Convert Wood into Charcoal and Electricity
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How to Convert Wood into Charcoal and Electricity is a step by step (with detailed illustrations) guide to building a masonry furnace to convert wood into charcoal.

Just his alone is worth the price of the book, however, Mr. Buxton then shows how to extract, filter, and condense the woodgas byproduct and use it to run an internal combustion engine to produce electricity.

This is a very well written and easy to understand manual. Do not let the small size fool you, this is great material and well worth the read.

This book is something that I have read and reread dozens of times.  I plan on making a decent sized set up to make charcoal in the future.  Charcoal is needed for my foundry so I can melt aluminum, and it will also be needed when I finally build my blacksmith shop area at the land.

Besides that, I can have some bragging rights (not that most people would brag on this), but I would love to be able to say I am eatting BBQ from a pig I raised and butchered, on a grill I built, using charcoal I made.

This is one particular project that is very high on my list of projects.

Foxfire 9

Book Review: Foxfire 9
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I am a big fan of the Foxfire books, this volume, Foxfire 9, Includes discussions on general stores, the Jud Nelson wagon, a praying rock, a Catawban Indian potter, haint tales, quilting, home cures, and the log cabin revisited.

While some of this may not directly relate to disaster preparedness, any information on how our ancestors ran general stores may come in handy in a barter economy, wagon building is a lost art, so is quilting, but the ability to transport goods and keep warm are both essential skills.
I used to experiment with the home remedies when I was a teenager, and while some of the cures listed are not effective, some seem to have worked.

Personally, I feel any information I can gather on how my ancestors functioned in rural America before electrification could be useful in the event we ever had a long term catastrophic disaster that ended our industrial infrastructure. How likely that is, I will leave to you, but even above that, I think this book is worth owning for the historical value alone.

This was one of my first “Prepper” books and I spent many hours reading Foxfire 9and dreaming of a time I could build my own log cabin.

Do It Yourself Medicine

Book Review: Do It Yourself Medicine
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For my money, I really did not get much out of Do It Yourself Medicine – it could have been much shorter – basically – Do-It Yourself Medicine – go to the co-op and buy animal antibiotics…

There is a little more to this book than just that, it has a little bit of dosing instructions, and some information on why its “safe” to use vet meds – but I am afraid that this book will soon be horribly out of date, as the FDA and other Alpha Agencies are talking about requiring prescriptions to buy veterinary medications.

What would have made Do it yourself medicine more useful as a reference would be a chart on animal body-weight to human body-weight – especially as it says that determining proper dosage of the medicine is hard.

Is the same dose you give a 200 pound pig the same dose you would give a 200 pound human?  I do not know, and before I jab a needle full of veterinary grade antibiotics in my hindquarters I would like to know.

It may be a moot point, as I have heard rumblings of requiring prescriptions for vet medicine which would close this “loop hole”

*Update – They did

A Patriot’s History of the United States

Book Review: A Patriot's History of the United States
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For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.”

As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin.

A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.

A Patriot’s History of the United States is a pretty interesting book, I enjoyed looking at history from a conservative eye. It made some things stand out in a way school never did. I have long thought that we have stopped examining the reasons our country went from colony to superpower overnight. I don’t think we need to be ashamed of our Country, but rather, acknowledge the world we came from, learn from it, and keep celebrating the best parts of our culture.