Right on, but the Boy Scout’s handbook from the 1940s or 1950s, not the current book unless you need guidance in being politically correct
Let me take a contrarian viewpoint. Anyone can call themselves an expert. In court we had a definition of expert: A guy from out of town with a Cross pen. From 25 years in court I can guarantee you I can find experts who will qualify to testify as such in court who will support the theory the moon is made of blue cheese.
For example, the author of one of the books on this list espouses taking nine Cliff Bars as emergency rations for the three-day march to your bug-out location. Three Cliff bars equals 750 calories. While you might not have fallen over in a calorie deprived coma on 2250 calories after three days, I assure you that you will be stumbling around in a fog and will be experiencing significant fatigue. The food folks in the government say that 2,000 calories per day is the average calorie count for the average adult performing normal activities. If you are bugging out to your hidey-hole, I submit you are not performing “normal activities.” MREs average between 3,600 and 4,000 calories per day and are very heavy on protein. There is the calorie count you need per day if you are bugging out. You don’t want to keel over in a coma 15 miles from your bug-out location and die because you just can’t muster the strength to go on.
Before you purchase a book on survival, make sure it covers where you will be likely bugging out. A book heavy on surviving in the Amazon jungle or the frozen tundra of Alaska is not much help if you are bugging out in the southwest portion of the U.S.
Another is solar distillation from a hole in the ground or from leaves on trees with a plastic bag. Look very closely at how much water they say you will generate per day. Most of the time, if they are honest it will be a little more than a pint. For, again, normal activity folks who claim to know say we need close to a gallon of water. Oops again. If you are down three and a half quarts, you are going to be running on empty. It is an utter waste of time to expend the energy necessary to harvest a pint of fluid when you are dangerously close to dehydration. That is another book you should not spend your hard earned money on. Please read with discernment. Ask yourself, “Does that seem reasonable or likely?”
Another expert champions using a shopping cart to haul your goodies to your hidey-hole 150 miles away in three days in the event the end of the world occurs. I defy you to march 50 miles a day three days in a row let along pushing a shopping cart. Many decades ago, Leathrneck Magazine ran an article about a Marine battalion that had covered 100 miles at Camp Pendleton in three days. That was an infantry battalion, not a headquarters battalion. They had meals ready at the food stops and porta-potties located at strategic locations. they only made 35 miles a day and it made headlines. AND nobody was shooting at them. I don’t care that 20 years ago when you were 20 years old in the Army Rangers you were able to march 75 miles a day and still come out on top after a fire fight. That was twenty years ago and you didn’t weigh 230 lbs.
Read, analyze, reject advice that seems unreal. I maintain if you can average 15 miles a day dodging fires, hostile folks, clogged roads while searching for a place to relieve yourself that is somewhat sheltered so that you won’t be caught with your pants down, you are doing great. Most assuredly, you probably won’t be able to follow I-17 directly to your bug-out location but will have to detour through towns off the highway, dodging folks who are very interested in what you have in your bag and will insist on inspecting it. They may even shoot at you just for crossing “their territory.” I can absolutely guarantee that you will not cover 50 miles a day pushing a grocery cart a la The Road.
with all that being reprinted from another comment: https://urbansurvivalsite.com/best-survival-books/
