Captain Dave's Book Shelf
- Books recommended by Fellow Survivalists
- Terrorism, WMD, and Survival Retreats
- General Survival
- Captain Dave's Best Sellers
- Duncan Long Survival Books
Captain Dave's Book Reviews
Books Recommended by Fellow Survivalists
These are the books recommended by members of Captain Dave's Survival Talk bulletin board, real survivalists who approach survivalism from multiple perspectives. These are the books that helped them, now they can help you.
Note, MOST of these prices reflect a 20 percent discount. So when you buy from this site, you not only get a great discount and enjoy all the benefits of Amazon.Com, you support Captain Dave's Survival Center and allow us to keep growing.
- Where There is No Doctor. By Werner. Hesperian Foundation 1992 $17. If you buy no other medical book, you must have this one. This is the must-have of survival medicine; it WILL save lives.
- Where There is No Dentist. By Dickson. Hesperian Foundation 1983, $12. The only book of its kind. Very good. Dental care is a very underestimated survival problem.
- Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, $16.95. Called the bible of modern midwifery by a Survival Talk member, this book provides first-hand accounts and then provides "a medical text for the lay person."
- Carla Emory's Encyclopedia of Country Living, $19.57. A definitive classic on food, gardening, and self-sufficient living and a complete resource for living off the land. More than 800 pages of collected wisdom from country maven, Carla Emery--how to cultivate a garden, buy land, bake bread, raise farm animals, make sausage, milk a goat, grow herbs, churn butter, catch a pig, make soap, work with bees, etc., etc.
- Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA, by Terry Reed and John Commings, $13.00. Billed as "the first documented expose of Bill Clinton's involvement in illegal government activity."
- "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons," by Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan, published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Energy in 1977. This one is out of print, but you may be able to find in a used bookstore.
- Medicine for Mountaineering, James A. Wilkerson, ed., $18.95. The title pretty much says it all.
- Merck Manual Vol. 1: General Medicine. Berkow. MSD. 93. $12. Good reference, but can be complicated and verbose.
- Infantry Combat - The Rifle Platoon: An Interactive Exercise in Small-unit Tactics and Leadership, by John F. Antal, $19.95. It calls itself a "tactical decision game" and is a good training aid for anyone who needs to deploy infantry troops against an adversary. Read the synopses at Amazon.Com by clicking on the link above. Published 1995 by Presidio Press
- Culpeper's Color Herbal by David Potterton (Editor), Michael Stringer (Illustrator), Nicholas Culpeper. An illustrated guide to herbs.
- Everybody's Outdoor Survival Guide by Don Paul, U.S. Army Special Forces retired. Comments from Survival Talk: "Chapter 9 covers making your water safe. On page 97 there are drawings for two types of home made water filters. These are suitable for a retreat. I have seen filters like these in use in Viet Nam."
"For my money, Don Paul has the best books for someone who is starting to build a survival library. I have 5 books of his that cost less than $15.00 each."
Other books from Don Paul:
- Great Living in Grubby Times
- Ammo Forever: The Complete What to Shoot and How Manual for Rifles and Shotguns
- Everybody's Knife Bible : The All-New Way to Use and Enjoy Your Knives in the Great Outdoors
- Secure from Crime: How to Be Your Own Bodyguard
- Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, $5.95. A classic tale of the end of the world as we know it, this time as a result of a comet hitting the earth. Excellent coverage of what happens immediately after the impact and weeks and months later as the disruption of civilization continues. Even if you do not think this is how the end will arrive, it is a good study in behavior after the fall. One of the few novels on this list.
- From the Shepherds Purse, by Max Barlow. A reader comments: "It the best book I have on the identification, preparation and use of medicinal plants." Unfortunately, not in print at this time, but look for it in used book stores.
- Emergency War Surgery: Second US revision of NATO Handbook. $50.50. The do-it-yourself surgery guide. Designed for junior doctors with minimal trauma experience going into a war zone. Starting to be a little dated, but the basics don't change.
- The Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook : The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living (9th Ed) by John Schaeffer (Editor), Doug Pratt (Editor), Real Good Staff (Editor), $26.00. A Survival Talk member calls it "A Very good book on going off the grid with solar or hybrid systems ... They give quite a few examples of other people's systems and how they went off the grid."
- Nuclear War Survival Skills, by Cresson H. Kearny, $19.50. A classic and one of the first Survival books Captain Dave ever read. We also have this available online. Check it out before you buy, but keep in mind that after a nuclear war, your PC probably won't be working!
- Five Acres and Independence : A Handbook for Small Farm Management, by Maurice Grenville Kains, Maurice G. Kain, $7.95. The title pretty much tells it all.
- The Art of Blacksmithing, by Alex W. Bealer ,$9.99. A Survival Talk member says "It's written so that even one as dense as I can understand it, it has well over 500 illustrations, and is an easy-to-read book."
- Deadfalls & Snares edited by A R Harding, $4.95. A Survival Talk member says "Originally written around the turn of the century. It's 218 pages packed with information on traps, deadfalls, and snares."
- Land Cruising and Prospecting by A R Harding, $4.95. Another classic from Harding, this one from 1908, is perfect for the outdoorsman or woman.
