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Purchase Your Copy of Emergency, by Neil Strauss by Clicking on This Link Today!

Reviewed by Allen Appel

Emergency
By Neil Strauss. Harper, $16.99

The cover line on Strauss’ book predicts, “This book will save your life.” It’s impossible to know if this will ever prove true for readers, but even if the book doesn’t actually save lives, it does have plenty of information that might prove useful if the disasters that the author predicts, man made and natural, should ever come to pass. Part memoir, part instruction manual, always entertaining, Strauss charts his transformation from pampered rock music critic for the New York Times and author of bestselling non-fiction (The Game, How to Make Love to a Porn Star) to successful survivalist with the skills to live and even thrive should America suddenly be plunged into the apocalypse.

Strauss begins his journey with Y2K’s turn-of-the-century fears, which blossom into something like full-blown paranoia after the election of George Bush to a second term and the realization that most of the rest of the world hated America and sooner or later someone was going to act on this hatred by launching a successful terrorist attack that could dwarf the 9-11 tragedy. So he begins the long and demanding project of turning himself from patsy into survivor. The message is clear: if he can do it, so can you.

A fascinating series of instructional, graphic novel-type illustrations runs throughout the book, teaching readers the following valuable lessons: How to Turn a Credit Card Into a Knife; How to Be Practically Invisible; How to Evade Pursuit Vehicles; How to Survive Cold Weather; How to Defeat Security Cameras and Barbed Wire; How to Escape a Mob; How to Create Fire From a Battery; How to Navigate Without a Compass; How to Make a Bow and Arrow; How to Defeat Attack Dogs; How to Unlock a Pad Lock with a Soda Can; How to Escape From Flexicuffs; and the always useful and all-encompassing, How to Live Longer.

Strauss explains the reasons for his Odyssey, among them: “Something changed in me, as it did for many people, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It felt like the day I first beat my father at arm wrestling. In that moment I realized that he could no longer protect me. I had to take care of myself… After reading reports of the chaos, violence and suffering in New Orleans, it became clear that when the system is smashed, some of us start smashing each other.”

He begins by searching for a country that he can escape to if the worst happens and the U.S. goes up in flames. He eventually settles on the Island of St. Kitts as the ideal getaway and begins the lengthy, expensive process of obtaining dual citizenship. On a more nuts-and-bolts level, he decides that the first order of business is learning how to shoot a gun.

Not content with a simple trip to the local shooting range, though he does that as well, Strauss enrolls in a week’s course at Gunsite, (http://www.gunsite.com/) a gun training facility in Arizona where he learns to shoot his Springfield XD nine-millimeter pistol without endangering the lives of others. Next, he buys and learns to ride a motorcycle, then enrolls in a public safety course to become a CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams ) member. Here he picks up many useful tips, among them: in the event of a nuclear attack if you have to remove contaminated clothing, don’t pull it over your head. Cut it off. If you notice an absence of birds and mosquitoes, or you see people with drool, tears and snot pouring out of their faces, it’s most likely a chemical attack. If you are caught in a public area and someone starts firing a gun in your direction, get down on your stomach with your feet pointed toward the shooter, your face positioned away, and your hands covering your head. (Less chance of bullets hitting vital organs.)

The author continues his quest by taking a weeklong wilderness survival course from the legendary tracker Tom Brown Jr. (http://www.trackerschool.com/) (Fact: When lost, individuals generally circle in the direction of their dominant hand. And although they may think they’re traveling in a straight line, they’re usually circling within the same one square-mile area.)

Steadily gaining confidence, Strauss moves on to another survival course with a master knife maker named Mad Dog, (Motto: Cogito ergo armatum sum - I think, therefore I am armed.) (http://www.maddogknives.net/) There he learns many useful skills involving knives, including how to kill, field dress and cook a tame goat.

Strauss continues adding to his resume of survival skills by becoming an emergency responder as part of FEMA’s National Incident Management System, a certified EMT, and eventually a member of the elite, California Emergency Mobile Patrol.

And along the way he became a far better human being than he was when he began.

“That’s why, when I’m not in St. Kitts, most days you’ll find me in Los Angeles, doing search and rescue as SR14 with C.E.M.P., training with the Disaster Communications Service as ham radio operator KI6SJC, working local medical events as EMT number BI892201, running mass casualty incident drills with CERT battalion 5 or milking goats in my backyard.”

“Those who run from death, like the survivalists in their bunkers and the permaculturists in the forest, also run from life. As an EMT, as a C.E.M.P. member, as a latecomer to the world of outdoor adventure, I’d discovered that the opposite is also true: those who run to death also run to life.”

“I now know that I can take care of myself and my loved ones. But until that day comes when I have to do that, I’m going to be taking care of everybody else.”

The Takeway: The conclusion that Strauss eventually arrives at is one that many of the members of the Homeland Security Outlook community are already living, but reading the story of his arrival at this destination is amusing and often instructive. Besides, someday you may need to know how to make yourself a nice goatskin rug.

Allen Appel is a book and media reviewer who lives and works in Washington, DC. He specializes in reviewing thriller fiction and homeland security and terrorism issues.

Purchase Your Copy of Emergency, by Neil Strauss by Clicking on This Link Today!

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One Response to “Book Review - Emergency: This book will save your life, by Neil Strauss”

1. Book Review - Emergency: This book will save your life, by Neil Strauss | News|Blog|Video Says:
   October 13th, 2009 at 1:33 am

   […] Purchase Your Copy of Emergency, by Neil Strauss by Clicking upon This Link Today! Reviewed by Allen Appel Emergency By Neil Strauss. Harper, $16.99 The cover line upon Strauss’ book predicts, “This book will save your life.” It’s unfit to know if this will ever infer loyal for readers, though even if … Blog Source […]

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