Books on basic survival that include food storage, hunting, shelter building, as well as plant identification will be useful in every scenario. While books on gardening, solar and wind power generation, canning and animal husbandry might not be that useful to the one who is bugging out but will be invaluable to those who are sheltering in their country retreat.

For that person, the pocket-sized “SAS Survival Guide” by John “Lofty” Wiseman is a must for their BOB (bug out bag). Personally, I also keep in my BOB a couple of other pocket-sized books, including: a “Guide to Animal Tracks” printed in 1958, the “Health Handbook” by Louise Tenney, and a New Testament.

Preparedness books can actually teach you how to eat and live well in a disaster survival situation, so you can never have too many. Here are just a few of the other survival books that we own or would like to own: