What you think you know can get you killed as easily as what you don’t. How often have you heard someone say, “I’m not worried, when it hits the fan, I’ve got guns. I’ll be able to get what I need.” “I’m gonna head for the hills, live off the land.” “When it happens it’ll be like the stadium during hurricane Katrina.” These sort of assumptions are exactly what Sam Sheridan’s book shatters.
Sleepless nights, that’s where it starts. Would it be a tidal wave? Earthquake? Zombies? Had he done everything possible to protect and provide for his family? Have you?
Being a prepper brings with it a certain level of paranoia. We wouldn’t stock food and supplies if we were confident in the future. We wouldn’t research bunkers and rad counters if we didn’t think there was even the most remote possibility they might be needed someday.
From stunt driving school to freezing desert nights with Cody Lundin, Sheridan covers practically every scenario. “The Disaster Diaries” is an easy and engaging read. Sam Sheridan’s voice is compelling and he takes you from one example to the next without sounding overly dramatic.
Perhaps the greatest takeaway from reading “The Disaster Dairies” is the pin Sheridan pokes in the assumptions that far too many of us make. We think we know how we will react. We think we know how others will behave. From psychological trauma to physical fitness, each chapter starts with a fictional story and then with Sheridan’s effort to overcome the obstacle presented. Need to escape an alien invasion? How do I really steal a car? Confronted by a group of cannibals how do I fight them off?
Sheridan learns these skills and more, not by reading how to manuals, but by searching out subject matter experts and learning the skills it takes to survive. Have you ever really asked yourself the hard questions about your level of preparedness? Did you like your answers?
Reading “The Disaster Diaries” won’t teach you how to do anything, but it may help kick start your prepping efforts by making you confront your own assumptions.