Emma Nora

This is not a serious book of medical knowledge for long-term survival off-grid, although it begins that way. It is also stretched into a mishmash of info on building emergency shelters, keeping warm while lost, trapping game, and a host of survival related information, and some of which is nothing more than the author's favorite information. That's a lot of stuff that has nothing particular to do with medical prep. As such, the book is not nearly as informative and useful as single topic books which are what a serious reader really wants and needs.

I found the section on testing wild foods to be dangerously inadequate. Fundamental to foraging and wild food testing is a sound knowledge of botany and particularly the plants that would be found in your region. Ms Nora's preppers are not parachuted to an unknown island and asked to survive; they are in a known locale where systematic, botany-based systems for classifying plants that reduce risk. I imagine that a serious prepper would already own several regional foraging handbooks. The tasting testing protocol is interesting, but without basic botanical knowledge I am not convinced that it would be particularly protective.

Ms Nora is sincere but is not a very skilled writer. Her sentences are clear but the book could use better organization and subtitling. Ms Nora's editors should have advised her that her eclectic system of in-text references could be revised to be more complete and therefore more useful. It would also shield her from questions about copyright and plagiarism that plague summary books like these.

This is not a useful book to add to your library.

I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley.com.… (mehr)