Nuclear War Survival Skills is obviously written to address a nuclear event, but most of the material in there can be applied to any collapse-type situation. A significant bonus to this book is that it includes instructions on how to build a fallout meter using common household materials. And at the time the book was written in 1987, the meters built by regular people using the instructions in this book were comparable to models selling for $375-1000.
The author, Cresson Kearny, graduated summa cum laud with a degree in civil engineering from Yale University nearly one hundred years ago, and then later attended Oxford University and received two degrees in geology. He wrote Nuclear War Survival Skills while employed as a research engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
As Cresson Kearny states, the purpose and scope of this book is "for the majority of Americans who want to improve their chances of surviving a nuclear war. It brings together field-tested instructions that have enabled untrained Americans to make expedient fallout shelters, air pumps to ventilate and cool shelters, fallout meters, and other expedient life-support equipment. (Expedient in civil defense work refers to equipment that can be made by untrained citizens in 48 hours or less, while guided solely by field-tested, written instructions and using only widely available tools and materials.)" The author also outlines skills that individuals and groups can learn and apply to improve their chances for survival. Like many involved in preparedness, he believes that if one prepares for the worst, the worst is less likely to happen. Another interesting premise he shares is that if a nation is fully prepared to survive a nuclear attack, that nuclear attack is less likely to happen.
It's reasonably safe to suggest that this country is nowhere near prepared to withstand a nuclear attack.
Chapters in the book:
- Dangers from nuclear weapons, myths, and facts
- Psychological preparations
- Warnings and communications
- Evacuation
- Shelter--the greatest need
- Ventilation and cooling of shelters
- Protection against fires and carbon monoxide poisoning
- Water
- Food
- Fallout radiation meters
- Light
- Shelter sanitation
- Preventive medicine
- Surviving without doctors
- Expedient shelter furnishings
- Improvised clothing and protective items
- Minimum pre-crisis preparations
- Permanent family fallout shelters for dual use
- Trans-Pacific fallout
- Appendices with explicit directions for building six kinds of fallout shelters, a fallout meter, shelter-ventilating pump, and more
As this blog is focused pretty strictly on the food and medicine aspects of preparedness, I don't usually get into shelter and communications at all. I definitely don't touch on anything dealing with construction of any sort. I'm just not wired that way at all, whereas my husband and one son live for that kind of stuff. But what I find really interesting and relevant about this book is that the critical structures and devices are all designed to be built by regular people without any specialized training or skills. To be sure, I would not want to have to do any of these things, but if I had to, I could. And if I could do it, so could most everybody else.
Now there are a lot of preparedness books out there. They promise a lot. And a lot of them disappoint. But there's nothing to be disappointed about regarding Nuclear War Survival Skills because you know what? It's free! Yep, free download. Click here. Or you can order bound copies online at the same link.
Well, ok, you do have to print it yourself. But you can also just take a look at it online and then only print the pages you want.
Or you might look at it and think, "Hey, this is pretty good stuff. I can print it up and spiral-bind it for everyone in the family and have Christmas gifts all wrapped up in an hour!"
http://www.oism.org/nwss/s73p904.htm
© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com
