Basic Electricity

Basic Electricity
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One thing the military does better than anyone is technical training.  In the military they take a raw 17 year old and in the course of a few months teach them highly technical skills that the young soldier or sailor must do under times of great stress.

This military based training manual on basic electricity is something every farm, homestead, or prepper library should have on the shelf.

This is an expanded and revised U.S. Navy training course text provides thorough coverage of the basic theory of electricity and its applications. It is unquestionably the best book of its kind for either broad or more limited studies of electrical fundamentals.

This book is divided into 21 chapters and an extensive section of appendixes. Chapters cover safety, fundamental concepts of electricity, batteries, series direct-current circuits, network analysis of direct-current circuits, electrical conductors and wiring techniques, electromagnetism and magnetic circuits, introduction to alternating-current electricity, inductance, capacitance, inductive and capacitive reactance, fundamental alternating-current circuit theory, direct-current generators, direct current motor magnetic amplifiers, and synchros and servomechanisms. Appendixes acquaint lay readers with common terms, abbreviations, component color-code, full load currents of motors, and cable types; they also supply trig functions, square and square roots, basic formulas, and laws of exponents.

This book supplies the reader with a complete basic coverage of all important aspects of electricity. And, drawing on its ample funds, the Navy was able to fill this text with dozens of illustrations so that the book becomes almost a multimedia teaching process.

This is an excellent text for classroom use or for home study. Students will also find it a valuable supplement to courses in which theory is emphasized while little attention is paid to application; it will also supplement a course in which this situation is reversed. In addition, Basic Electricity serves the lay reader who simply wants a knowledge of fundamental concepts of electricity or wishes to study more advanced concepts and applications. 1969 edition.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Island of the Blue Dolphins
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Island of the Blue Dolphins is a book I read over and over as a child.  In the beginning it was because I would have loved to live on a deserted island.  Later it may have been because I wanted to know where I could find my version of the stories heroine.Here is an excerpt from the text:

Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicholas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kelp beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches.

Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply.

More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana’s quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.

I am looking forward to sharing Island of the Blue Dolphins with my son.

Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods

Tactics of the Crescent Moon
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The tactics in this book deserve a lot of thought.  It is my opinion that war will eventually come to America, and those that fight against our citizens will either fight in the manner described in this book, or will be defeated by the tactics described within.Tactics of the Crescent Moon is required reading at Forts Benning and Leavenworth (and some Marine commands), because it fully details the Islamists’ yet-to-be-defeated 4GW method.

That method is best countered by “light” infantry tactics, but America has had only “line” infantry since 1943.

Its modern sequel travels mostly by truck and fights mostly with supporting arms. That’s because the Pentagon still practices a “higher-tech” version of 2GW (killing as many enemy as possible).

How to operate the latest equipment takes up so much of the young infantryman’s day that he never learns how to sneak up on an expert defender.

He and his buddies don’t become any less visible by donning advanced electronics, so their traditional small-unit maneuvers remain just as predictable. Instead of historical artifacts, all Posterity Press books should be viewed as vehicles of long-overdue change.

I don’t know if that description is interesting to you, but I think it makes this book required reading for those concerned about Islamism.

Cookin’ with Potatoes

Cookin' with Potatoes
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I have (and enjoy) several of Peggy Layton’s books.  Cookin’ with Potatoes is especially useful because potatoes are so cheap and filling of a food.

Potatoes can be the building block of an entire survival food plan.  Or you can just use them to eat cheaply and heartily.Potatoes form the basis of many cheap meals.  Cooking with Clara’s famous Depression cooking videos showed several potato recipes.

We cook with potatoes as lot at our house because they are so cheap, easy, and filling.  I especially love to make potato fans as a great dinner to make with the boy.

Cookin’ with Potatoes is a rare book that has both prepper and everyday uses.  You can make dinner or make do with the recipes you can find inside this book.  As my son gets older I anticipate making many more cooking videos as he learns to cook with potatoes and other basic foods.

Luckily I have better luck getting him to eat potatoes than I do with other common foods.

Besides this book, Peggy Layton is a favorite prepper author of mine.  I own (and recommend) several of her other titles as well.  Cooking with Rice and Beans comes to mind.

Operating Techniques for the Tractor Loader Backhoe

Operating Techniques for the Tractor Loader Backhoe
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In trying to develop my homestead, I have had problem after problem with my backhoe.  Granted most of it is because it is a 50 year old machine, but a good deal comes from me not having  clue how to operate it.

That’s where Operating Techniques for the Tractor Loader Backhoe come in.  The book teaches essential pre-operation checks, vital services, and the basics of how to actually dig and trench with a backhoe.

This book was actually designed to be a textbook so each chapter has tests.  It also spends time talking about the one-call system so you won’t disrupt utility lines.

I find this book to be helpful.  While not essential, it will save the new backhoe operator a lot of headaches and time wasted with inefficient movements.

It took me a while to get the movements down to use both hands at the same time to dig a flat and smooth trench.  If I had this book at the time I would have saved hours in learning a relatively simple, yet unobvious technique.

A backhoe is a very useful tool for those wanting to develop land.  It doesn’t move as much land as a bulldozer, but it is more versatile.