CEDAR FORT PRESS RELEASE
SPRINGVILLE, Utah--July 8, 2014--Authors, educators and preparedness experts Kylene and Jonathan Jones have created a comprehensive, common-sense guide addressing a myriad emergency scenarios with a wide range of sensible, no-fuss solutions. There's no need to flip out and panic when you have "The Practical Prepper: A Common Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies" as your go-to reference for facing any emergency situation. Simple, step-by-step, illustrated instructions are included in chapters covering communication, water storage, water disinfection and purification, sanitation, designer food storage plans, emergency lighting, heating, and coordinating preparedness efforts in our communities--and that's just a sample. "The Practical Prepper" covers every emergency situation imaginable.
The refreshing "keep calm" approach to emergency preparedness conveyed in "The Practical Prepper" is a far cry from the fear-inducing tone of many other preparedness books. Kylene Jones explains, "We wrote this common-sense guide to help real people prepare for challenging times and events. As champions of self-reliance, provident living, and preparedness, we approach prepping in a unique way. There is no feeling of gloom and doom, but rather a sense of confidence and empowerment. Readers learn how to take care of their own needs during a crisis, which enables them to be in a better position to reach out and help others."
MY REVIEW
Title: The Practical Prepper
Author: Kylene & Jonathan Jones
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Release Date: 8th July 2014
BLURB from Goodreads
Earthquakes, hurricanes, civil unrest, economic challenges - no one knows when disaster may strike. Will you be ready? The Practical Prepper is a common-sense guide to emergency preparedness and survival written for real people with real lives. This must-have reference book walks the reader through each step of emergency preparedness covering everything from cooking in a crisis, to home security and protection, to emergency water disinfection. You can be prepared for the challenges the future holds. The Practical Prepper will show you how.
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I totally admit to being really curious about this book. Will it read like a dystopic/apocalyptic fictional story, or will it have real survival techniques? I also remember reading an Interview with author Mike Mullin of the Ashfall Series who states he actually used this type of book to make his post-apocalyptic series more realistic and accurate. The tragedy that triggers off the post apocalyptic scenario in his book was the Yellowstone Volcano erupting.
MY REVIEW
I received an e-copy of this book directly from the publishers Cedar Fort in exchange for my Promotional Spotlight and Review.
The cover image depicts a small house being "protected" by a strong looking pair of hands.
Three "incidents" are represented on the top right side of the cover in small circles, they are Hurricane, Fire and Flooding. There is also a sub title of "A Common Sense Guide To Prepardeness".
I totally admit to being fascinated in the dystopian and post apocalyptic genres in fiction as many people seem to be these days. There is also the constant threats of terror attacks and such that people worry about too. So I think it's inevitable that you would raise questions such as What if something awful happened that stopped transport & communication etc. I think this way of preparedness is all the more prevalent in America than here in the UK. In the UK we all seem to wander around with a "it'll never happen over here" attitude.
The book is one that I'd say should be on everyone's book shelf as a reference book, along with a medical reference book too.
As I have said this book is probably deemed to be more relevant to the US and the natural disasters that occur there but who knows what could happen? In the UK we seem to be having more and more crazy weather conditions.
The book suggests many scenarios and provides actions to the scenarios as well as things you can do in "preparedness" to prevent such a scenarios from impacting you and your family so much.
Some of the idea's can be implemented into your regular way if life, such as growing your own fruit and vegetable's. Hey! we could all save money by growing our own. It's just finding the time and space to do so.
The book also suggests keeping animals, such as chicken for their eggs and meet and maybe pigs and goats. Of course that only works if you have space and you're allowed to keep animals at your property.
Another use of the things you grown mentioned in the book is a bartering system. If money becomes a useless item than things you don't have and need could be bartered for with your own home grown food items.
The laws would most likely change to what is called "Marshall Law" where the "Army" could take the pace of the police. If items become scarce there could be looting and violence. The book suggests arming yourself (a gun or bow and arrows) or and learning to shoot to both kill animals for food (using bow and arrow) and using a bow and arrow or gun for self defense.
The book covers how to find drinkable water or how to purify the water you can find to be able to drink it.
There's sections on medicines, both keeping a supply of those you need and or substituting with naturally grown items that can be used for common ailments.
There are also lists of things you perhaps would think of, like pet food or food for any livestock you may have.
I found the book a fascinating, informative read. Yet at the same time a little scary thinking of all the things that can go wrong in the world and the realisation of how many things we take for granted on a daily basis. Life would certainly be a lot harder for example without water on tap, or central heating in the winter, or cooking without electricity or gas.
Having said that Kylene And Jonathan have done this "preparedness" and could live fairly well and survive most disasters.
Kylene and Jonathan also suggest getting together with some like minded people so that you could exist in your own small community, and share the work that needs to be done as well as having a perhaps wider skill range. More people = Less Work. More People = More Skills.
So did I enjoy the book? Yes I did Would I recommend the book? Yes, it's a book that you would want to keep and could dip in and out of for "normal" living too. Would I read another book by Kylene & Jonathan? Yes I think I would, even though this one is super comprehensive. Would I read another Prepper book? I'd certainly check others out too. It would be interesting to read a Prepper book wrote with tips etc for scenario's in a UK setting too.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jonathan is a licensed civil engineer and an avid enthusiast of alternative energy sources; especially solar and wind power. He has served on the advisory board and on the board of directors as vice president for The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA), as secretary/treasurer for a local chapter of Civil Defense Volunteers, as an emergency preparedness and communications specialist, and as a city councilperson, has been tasked with developing the city emergency plan in his own community. He has co-authored numerous articles published in The Journal of Civil Defense on emergency preparedness topics with his wife. He is the co-owner of Your Family Ark, LLC, an educational and consulting business designed to assist individuals and families in preparing for an uncertain future (www.yourfamilyark.org, www.theprovidentprepper.org).
Kylene has an educational background in business management as well as in family studies. She has also served on the advisory board and on the board of directors for TACDA and is currently the editor for The Journal of Civil Defense. She has a passion for researching and experimenting, adding a sense of real life to their writing and teaching. A firm believer in hands-on learning, she involves her family in emergency training for everything from fire drills, to living off food storage and garden produce, to turning off the power in the dead of winter just to see if they can survive it. Many powerful lessons are learned from these experiences, the best lesson being that we are tougher than any challenge. We will not only survive, but we will emerge better, stronger people as a result of the adventure.
Jonathan and Kylene make a dynamic combination. Together they have presented in a wide variety forums including; community education courses, educational seminars, preparedness fairs, employee education programs, and community classes. With Jonathan’s extensive knowledge and Kylene’s high energy personality, they have a unique talent for taking a relatively boring topic and turning it into an exciting quest, motivating audiences to join the ranks of the provident preppers.
GUEST POST
Are
You Ready?
Extreme
weather conditions can cause significant damage and interrupt public utilities,
leaving you without power, water and sewer for an extended period of time. In
2013, The St. Jude Storm created 100 mph winds and torrential rain which left
600,000 homes without power. What would you do if your power went out for
several days? How about several weeks? Are you ready?
Prepper
is a fairly new term coined for individuals who prepare for future unforeseen
events. Like everything else, there are a wide variety of preppers. The media
likes to portray preppers as knife-in-your-teeth, rat-eating,
survive-at-all-costs survivalists who use very little common-sense and are
waiting for the complete collapse of society. The preppers on the other end of
the continuum are real people who love their families and take practical steps
to increase their chances of surviving both natural and man-made disasters.
The
first step in prepping is to evaluate your risk. Risk factors vary depending on
location and personal circumstances. Some of the more common risks include;
house fires, extreme weather, flooding, earthquakes, economic challenges,
war-related events, civil unrest, etc. Once you evaluate your greatest risks
you can get to work to take steps to reduce the risk. The Practical
Prepper guides you
through your personal risk evaluation and explores each step to preparing for
emergencies.
We
will focus this post on one of the most critical resources during any disaster:
clean drinking water. The best way to ensure you have clean drinking water is
to store some water in your home. We recommend storing at least 2 gallons per
person per day for a minimum of 2 weeks. Water is heavy and takes up a lot of
space so you may need to get creative.
It
is important to understand how to create clean drinking water if the situation
outlasts your water storage. Let us briefly review a few basic water
purification and disinfection techniques and principles.
Always
clarify water (remove particles) before disinfecting. Microscopic critters can
hide in the particles and avoid deactivation. Water can be clarified by pouring
it through a clean cloth, coffee filter, paper towels, etc.
Boiling
is the safest method of disinfecting water. Viruses, bacteria and parasites
cannot survive a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
Chlorine
disinfection is an effective way to disinfect water. However, some protozoa
(giardia and cryptosporidium) are resistant to chlorine and may not be
deactivated. A good filter should be used in conjunction with chlorine
disinfection. Household chlorine bleach has a shelf life of only 6 months for
effective water disinfection. Consider using calcium hypochlorite to create a
homemade chlorine stock solution. Granulated calcium hypochlorite has a 10 year
shelf life. See http://theprovidentprepper.org/disinfecting-water-using-calcium-hypochlorite/ for details.
 Solar
Water Disinfection (SODIS) is a great way to deactivate all pathogens using a
clear plastic or glass bottle and the sun. Clarified water is placed in the
bottle and exposed to the sun for 4-6 hours. This is an inexpensive way to kill
all the microscopic critters in the water. See www.sodis.ch for details.
Note
that none of these techniques will remove chemicals contaminants from water. If
chemical contamination is a possibility, use a quality filter designed to
remove them. We discuss water filters in
detail in our book.
You
can survive less than 3 days without water. Drinking contaminated water can
result in severe illness and even death. It makes sense to prepare ahead of
time to ensure your family has safe drinking water during an emergency. Are you
ready?
Kylene
and Jonathan Jones
Authors
of The
Practical Prepper – A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies
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