In descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills:
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute "must" for every well-prepared family!)
The Foxfire Book series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best)
Where
There Is No Dentist
"Rawles on Retreats and Relocation"
Making
the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook
The "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course
Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon
Tappan
on Survival
Boston's
Gun Bible
Seed
to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
Survival
Guns
Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911 (Most readers recommend getting pre-1970 editions.)
All
New Square Foot Gardening
When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency
Back
to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition
Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition)
Putting
Food By
First
Aid (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies
Making
the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook
Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)
Cookin'
with Home Storage
SAS
Survival Handbook
Root
Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables
Outdoor Survival Skills
Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide
The
American Boy's Handybook of Camp Lore and Woodcraft
Emergency
Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive
Seed
to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss
Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management
Essential Bushcraft
The Survivor book series by Kurt Saxon. Many are out of print in hard copy, but they are all available on DVD. Here, I must issue a caveat lector ("reader beware"): Mr. Saxon has some very controversial views that I do not agree with. Among other things he is a eugenicist.
How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier
The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman
Tom Brown Jr.'s series of books, especially:
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking
Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (Field Guide)
Total
Resistance
Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies
Living Well on Practically Nothing
The Secure Home
Outdoor Survival Skills
When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes
The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO's Contribution to Warfare
Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book by Paul Tawrell
Engineer Field Data (US Army FM 5-34) --Available online free of charge, with registration, but I recommend getting a hard copy. preferably with the heavy-duty plastic binding.
Great Livin' in Grubby Times
Just in Case
Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.)
How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment
Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance
Adventure Medical Kits A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine
Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook (superceded the very out-of-date ST 31-91B)
Wilderness Medicine, 5th Edition
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition
Government
By Emergency
The Weed Cookbook: Naturally Nutritious - Yours Free for the Taking!
The Modern Survival Retreat
Last of the Mountain Men
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness
LDS Preparedness Manual, edited by Christopher M. Parrett
The
Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging
Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
Principles of Personal Defense - Revised Edition
Survival Poaching
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
