Review: Bad Advice Concerning Firearms, Good Info On Maintaining a BOB
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2013
There are a lot of books on bug out bags, but this one stands out from the back with the extra information included about maintaining a bug out bag. Many preppers understand the importance of keeping and eye on food expiration dates and changing out the water occasionally, but this book takes it a step further with tips like keeping maps up to date and regularly changing batteries even when they aren't used.Although this book contains some helpful gear lists at the end, the content of the book is full of useful commentary about gear for the BOB.I did take issue with some of the advice concerning the usefulness of a firearm: "You can't hunt with a handgun, and their accuracy is surprisingly poor. You might be able to defend yourself with the gun, but this is always a last resort - if you are close enough for it to be effective, you are already in more trouble than is necessary."The first statement is entirely untrue. There are specific handgun hunting seasons in many states and pilots in Alaska often put their lives in the hands of the handguns they carry to neutralize threats from large animals like bears. I'm sure that the accuracy of a handgun may be surprising to the uninformed people that watch movies with ridiculously unrealistic portrayals of firearms, but I would think that this book was written to a more astute readership that understands that handgun accuracy has much more to do with the skill of the operator than the firearm itself. I have a personal friend who can regularly hit human sized targets out to 500 yards with a .40 S&W; Glock. I understand that this is unusual skill, but I have seen many new shooters that have been able to quickly learn to hit chest sized targets at >50 yards on their first outing.The second statement is confusing and misleading. What does the author mean by "more trouble than is necessary."? If a threat is in the handgun's effective range, should we give up? It seems like he is trying to say that carrying a handgun for defensive purposes is not worth the trouble, but handguns carried by concerned citizens actually save numerous lives every year: [...]This book did have an easy-to-read writing style that made the short and concise book seem even shorter.This book also had excellent formatting with bolded chapter section headers for easy skimming and well sized fonts for fitting a decent amount of content on each page. It had a properly linked TOC, but it was not easily accessed from the "Go To..." menu.Overall, this book is not recommended. Pass on this one. There are plenty of other books in this price range with comparable or better information. If you want to read the best book on the subject, I recommendBuild the Perfect Bug Out Bag, but it will cost more than $9.If you enjoy reading about survival and prepping and want a slightly different perspective, I also recommendUltralight Survival: Make a Small and Light Bug Out Bag That Could Save Your Lifefor specific advice on creating the lightest and most efficient bug-out-bag possible.