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The Handbook for TEOTWAWKI(Rating: 5)
The author, James Wesley, Rawles tells you right on the cover what this book is all about, "How to Survive The End of The World as we Know IT--Tactics, Techniques and Technologies for uncertain times." If you are interested in preparedness for any disaster, but especially a major societal upheaval, this is a good introductory book.

Some have criticized the book for its focus on TEOTWAWKI, but Rawles, founder of Survivalblog and author of the novel Patriots, has always focused squarely on the thin veneer of society and all the possible ways it could quickly breakdown. You shouldn't buy a Stephen King book expecting a romance and you shouldn't buy a Rawles book expecting to be told how to prepare for a hurricane. If you want 3 to 5 day survival guidance read When All Hell Breaks Loose or Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook. Rawles is the guy who tells you how to survive for a year or more and, if you follow his guidance, when the hurricane or earthquake does come along you'll be fine.

I would consider this book to be more of a handbook or introduction for long-term survival. For example, Rawles gives advice on guns you might want to own, but provides nothing on gunsmithing or reloading and very little on hunting. Having said that, I consider myself well prepared--not like Rawles, but much better than most and yet, as I read the book, I found myself making notes in the margin, "Check on this," "Get more," or "Have wife buy this." The 307 pages are packed with information but, if you want more, the author provides titles for additional reading and links to many websites. Also, visit his website [...].

I criticized Rawles writing in my review of his novel Patriots. Fiction writing is significantly different from non-fiction writing. The author's non-fiction writing is clean, concise and informative.

If you already have a few days food and water stocked up and a good first-aid kit but you want to be better prepared for yourself and your family, this is the book you want to read. It won't tell you everything you need to know, that is not its purpose, but it will serve as a guide along the road of survival preparedness. I recommend it.

Covers the topic well!!(Rating: 5)
This books covers the topic well. It will make you think. In most cases, he does go into too much detail, which makes this book a good resource reference. Plus, the author more often than not gives you a web site for further research and reading, which I thought was great. The author does assume your a hard core prepper, for better or worse; he also assumes an unlimited budget, which is not realistic. He does cover all possible aspect of prepping. He speaks with authority, but I found myself questioning his point of view, especially about firearms, only because I do know something about them.

Great source of information.(Rating: 5)
I came into this with quite a bit of knowledge on the subject already, but this book had me thinking of many areas I had not in the past. If you want a good source for survival info, this is a great place to get it. I highly recommend this book as well as the authors blog [...]

How to Survive the End of the world as We Know It(Rating: 5)
This one of the best books for people who are just waking up to our changing times..

Overall, A Decent Starting Point.(Rating: 4)
Overall, I'm satisfied with the book in that Rawles gets you thinking. The radical life-changes he suggests are not appealing in the least, but the tactical/practical aspect of his information is rock solid. While it's true that the equipment he suggests is often expensive to the point of absurdity, the reader should take these only as suggestions and not as gospel. Comparable equipment can be found for less expensive if one looks diligently and I'm sure the author doesn't believe his recommendations are definitive. If he did, then he would be writing a book for wealthy people, and I don't believe that was his aim.

The religious and faith-based messages weren't out of hand, but it might put some people off. Again, this is my personal opinion and I'm not looking to have angry, die-hard Rawles supporters yelling at me; I just really, really disagree with his assertion that faith is a required part of survival. For some people? Yes. For everyone? Absolutely not.

When it comes down to it, the book is entertaining and full of start up information and points to consider. That's it. For actual skills, you can take this book and look over the recommend reading material and add on manuals as you see fit. But in my opinion, this book should in no way be taken as gospel and I am sure that's not what the author intended. I believe he intended to get you thinking about survival in a practical and common-sense way and the book definitely delivers in that respect, but by no means should it be your only point of reference. Rawles would agree.