Quickie Book Review - Emergency by Neil Strauss

I just finished reading Neil Strauss' book "Emergency", and thought I would throw my 2 cents worth in. I've heard mixed reviews from other folks that have read the book.

It's not like this is a mystery novel, or other work of fiction, but this little review may contain spoilers... so stop reading now if that irritates you.

This book definitely wasn't what I expected it to be. I was expecting detailed instructions for "how to" perform various useful survival/emergency skills.

... not so much.

Instead, you ride along with Mr. Strauss as he transforms himself. He starts out as the type of person I have very little use for: Someone who is scared, spoiled, and helpless - but generally seems to look down on people that he would like to be more like.

Example: He's afraid of being unprepared for a disaster, so he decides to take steps to learn some survival skills - but at the same time he seems to hold on to his disdain for the type of people he sees as survivalists. He realizes that he needs to learn how to defend himself, but seems to cling to a dislike for guns and the people who have the skill to use them.

For a majority of the first half of the book, I struggled to keep reading. I didn't like Mr. Strauss much, and found the plans he was making to escape a coming collapse by retreating to a Caribbean island with dual citizenship a little unrealistic - for the vast majority of his readers, at any rate.

Most folks I know aren't wealthy enough for this to be a possibility, and by the time things deteriorated in this country enough for me to consider leaving everything behind and fleeing- I doubt very seriously if leaving would still be an option.

At some point, though, Mr. Strauss crossed a line. As he progressed through his learning curve, he attended Firearms training classes, wilderness survival classes, motorcycle classes, search & rescue training, EMT training, etc. I found myself liking him more and more as he gained confidence in himself and his abilities and began to be a person that I could admire.

All in all, the book is very short on actual skill details... but his descriptions of the training he chose to pursue and his reasons for pursuing them, were pretty interesting. His politics are not my own... but part of me can't help but think that he might be on the way to an awakening in that regard, as well - on down the line a bit.

I don't know that I would necessarily recommend this book - but I'm glad I read it.