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| Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival | 
 enlarge | Author: Jack A. Spigarelli
Publisher: Cross-Current Pub.
Category: Book
Buy New: $19.95
New (3) Used (5) from $19.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 2079
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0936348070
EAN: 9780936348070
ASIN: 0936348070
Publication Date: April 2002
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent resource for preparedness October 1, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book to be extremeley helpful in its content and uses. It was the most informative book out there and was very detailed. There were many ideas presented that I hadn't even thought of, and I found that it was easily readable. I am so much more prepared in my home for any emergency and I am so much safer after reading this book. This book presents a step by step guide that saves you from hours of research and headache. I wish I had found this book sooner.
 Interesting book, but unconvincing and poorly written September 26, 2007
17 out of 24 found this review helpful
I hate to be too critical of this book, because I did enjoy reading it and I think it is well worth the money, but I hope Spigarelli reads the customer reviews and hires a good editor before turning out his second edition. There are many, many careless errors in the book that make me believe that some of the instructions may be just as careless. For instance, "approximate" and "proximate" are not interchangeable. The information regarding food storage, particularly the sources of information (e.g., researchers at BYU) reveal the Mormon origins of much of the information. The medical information seems to me (as a layman) to be just plain absurd. For instance, he recommends storing 200 Phenergan tablets (that's a lot of nausea), but only 100 tablets of "acetamine" (??), a couple vials of Pitocin (I suppose we'll be inducing labor at home) and 50 Valium tablets (including two vials of the stuff for injection). I could imagine going to my doctor and asking for a prescription for all those little goodies. My guess is that he'd prescribe something else for me (i.e., a good anti-psychotic). Of course, there's also a recommended arsenal of various types of guns and thousands of rounds of ammo (probably for guarding all the prescription drugs...). Nope, maybe I should be giving it two stars instead.
Great Book September 25, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I thought the book gave a lot of excellent information. I am an old Boy Scout so there is a lot of information in there. I have supplimented the book with a Survival training book that talks about plants, shelters, general survival type of information.
I liked the book.
 Disorganized and unrealistic September 1, 2007
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
I bought this book on the strenght of other reviews, and that was a mistake. It is disorganized and unrealistic.
Realistically speaking, we should all aim to prepare for a Katrina-type disaster: one that affects a wide region, with the severe effects of total lack of services lasting 2-4 weeks. This book wants me to prepare a year's worth of stored food. To fulfill this plan, I'd have to move to a farm so I could grow food, raise animals, and have enough room to store the amount he reccomends. It sure isn't going to work in my one-bedroom aparment.
The overall organization of the book is awful - no planning involved in the order of chapters. The first 2/3 of the book are food storage and preparation. If you really want to learn how to grow crops, raise animals, grind your own flour, make your own leather, can/pickle/smoke/preserve your own food - you're better off buying books on those specific subjects. This one goes over them in enough detail (and bad writing) to be boring, but not enough to actually teach you how. Even more ridiculous, he details so many preparations that require electricity. If we have roads and electricity and whatnto, probably I'm not living off my stored foods anyway - and how many of us can set up our own solar power grid sufficient to run the freezer, household appliances, water heater, well pump, whatever?
And then the final 1/3 glosses over preparations for a 2-4 week disaster when it should be focusing on them. If we have a Katrina-type problem, I need to be able to take care of myself until services are reasonably restored enough to either live reasonably, or get out of the area. And if the disaster affects the whole country and there is nowhere to go.... Aside from buying your own farm/ranch in the wilds, living off solar power, etc, you're out of luck.
So, long story short, if you're like me - if you want to be prepared for an act of terrorism, a flood, a fire, a hurricane or tornado, that sort of thing, buy the books below instead.
Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural Or Unnatural Disaster
PREPAREDNESS NOW!: An Emergency Survival Guide for Civilians and Their Families
Overall Good: Beware the Dietary Advise! August 2, 2007
12 out of 21 found this review helpful
Spigarelli has put together a great how-to book and I recommend it highly. Where he falls short is supporting an out-dated food pyramid. A healthy diet becomes even more important after a catastrophe.
As a master's degree candidate in nutrition, I found glaringly inaccurate statements regarding animal proteins (meat and dairy) as they relate to a "proper diet". The book has been updated since its original date of publish, but the chapters on food choices seem to have been left untouched. I recommend tweaking his recommendations away from the large amounts of animal proteins and plus up the grains/legumes/vegetables and enhance the supplementation to boost B12 and D. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is leading us to death/disease/discomfort/ailments at very young ages so why continue that diet after a crisis when you may very well have no access to medical assistance? That simply does not compute.
I shared the dietary chapters with doctors, teachers and colleagues and they reacted just as I did. "What year was THAT written?" was said quite a bit. One of the many roads that have brought us to the precipice of crisis is the misuse of land and water toward keeping animals and the pollution derived therefrom, not to mention the negative effect of animal proteins to the human body. Even after a crisis, I cannot imagine the giving of precious land and water over to livestock when crops will sustain us.
Again, this is a very good book and Spigarelli should be commended on a job well done. I would just like to stress the fact that you should inspect the food recommendations more closely as the "conventional wisdom" regarding the food pyramid over the years is off base.
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