Countdown to Preparedness: The Prepper's 52 Week Course to Total Disaster Readiness

by Jim Cobb

A COMPREHENSIVE, STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO FULLY PREPARE YOUR FAMILY FOR ANY CATACLYSMIC EVENT. Welcome to the most important class you’ll ever take. In this dangerous world, there’s no place where disaster won’t find you. Your only option is to get educated. Presenting a straightforward 52-week course to becoming a full-fledged prepper, this book guides you step-by-step with everything from simple tools for storing food and water to advanced techniques for defending your family and Learn to stock, treat, use and reuse the most important survival item of all—water. Store enough food to feed your family for three months without breaking the bank. Develop the emergency skills to respond effectively to any catastrophic event. Fortify and protect your home with affordable and manageable DIY projects. Create a prepper savings account to ensure your family’s well-being. If you want to make it out alive, you can’t rely on hope or help from others, you need to be ready to act on your own.

Genres: Nonfiction, Survival, Reference

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2014

About the author

Jim Cobb has been a prepper since long before that term ever came into use. He's been studying, practicing, and now teaching survival and preparedness for about 30 years. Jim has written several books on the subject, including Prepper's Home Defense, Prepper's Long-Term Survival Guide, and Prepper's Financial Guide. He also regularly contributes to magazines such as American Survival Guide, Survivor's Edge, and OFFGRID.

You can find Jim at his website - Survival Weekly. He also has a consulting business found here - Disaster Prep Consultants.

Jim is also very active on Facebook .

Reviews

[Rykki]

I'll admit it, I read it cover to cover. As a library book, I wanted to use this as a test read. Here's the breakdown:

On the up side, this book is full of practical tips. Much of it can easily be handled by adding a bit to your weekly shopping and saving up some. My family is six, but this is written with four in mind, so planning it all by half again is easy enough. The encouragement of building a routine instead of just doing it all once and forgetting helps make for a lifetime practice of being ready for everything. The attention to details for situation is even good, with reminders to take into account small children.

Unfortunately, there are a number of details that prove this is geared towards suburban homeowners. My family lives in an apartment, below the poverty line. If the unthinkable happened, this would be the worst place to be, an area in poverty, primed for looting and rioting. Tips, such as keeping firewood or an outhouse a decent distance away just aren't practical. It's not a situation that permits for adding security measures, having a garden for more than the most minimal crops, or many of the other suggested preps. Even the length of knife is prohibited by state law. It would be great if there were more options listed for those that don't live in better conditions for potential disaster. It's also not terribly forgiving around modern allergies. Things like Ramen will need to be removed for my family due to wheat allergies, for example. It doesn't hurt to remind people to modify as their dietary needs require.

It's a great start, but requires a lot of personal tweaking. I may pick this book up to follow along when I get settled in my new place, just for fun.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remain fully unprepared for any disaster, but that's not this book's fault. I mean, I didn't actually do anything it recommended, so it can't really be blamed, but at the same time, I can't really go out and buy a bunch of guns (I live in Australia, only farmers, criminals and cops have guns), learn to hunt and fish (I'm vegetarian), set up a big outdoor woodpile and farm (I live in an apartment), or permanently fill literally 1/3 of my apartment with stockpiled goods without ending up divorced or involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. But if you live in the US on a big property somewhere, you can probably follow many of his recommendations.

[Charles Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Countdown to Preparedness" is an excellent book that gets you totally and comprehensively prepared for most short and long-term disasters in just 52 weeks. One of the things that I most appreciated about this book was the author's attention to the budgeting concerns that most families have. The book gives specific seasonal tasks, and he gives you a plan to save money before you have any major expenses. Most of the weekly "shopping lists" can be purchased at modest expense. To give you an idea of the extent of the author's recommendations, here is a very brief rundown of what you will be purchasing and accomplishing: "get home bags", evacuation kits, bringing in extra income, special needs of children and pets, home food storage, water filtration, first aid supplies and training, communications, hygiene, networking, firearms, transportation, tools, site security, vehicle emergency kits, barter items, lighting, and electrical power (including generators and solar power). Following the recommendations in this course, you will be able to store food and supplies for a family of four for three months, and you will have saved $700, which you can use to buy more (or more expensive) preparedness supplies. I highly recommend this book for both those new to preparedness as well as more established preppers. It can teach young pups and old dogs alike plenty of new tricks. I received this copy of "Countdown to Preparedness" from the publisher, in exchange for this impartial review.

[Chessy The Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a work of nonfiction, a departure to what I normally review, but within the same realm. Preparedness or homesteading or prepping or whatever you want to call it is only the smart thing to do. Heck, even FEMA advises you to prepare for potential disasters coming your way. And, families, especially those in rural farm areas pass down from generation to generation ways of growing and storing their own food for the cold, harsh winters. By following the plan in this book, you should be well on your way to being prepared for any event that leaves you stranded without power and/or water for the short-term.

Cobb’s book, Countdown to Preparedness: The Prepper’s 52 Week Course to Total Disaster Readiness, is a compilation of articles he had written for a SurvivalWeekly.com. His fans asked that he put the lessons altogether in a book and here it is. It is well thought out and written so that anyone unfamiliar with preparedness can jump right in there with no trouble at all. And, even the seasoned prepper can learn something.

It is recommended that you read from the very beginning covering The Basics before going to other sections. After that, you may want to head over to whatever season of the year happens to be going on right then. Don’t worry if you must stop and start again. You need to do what’s best for you and your family. Shoot, you may want to read it all the way through and then decide on your plan of action. Either way you do it, you will be better off because of it.

For a step-by-step guide to surviving through most catastrophes, you can’t get a better reference book. I highly recommend reading it and following its advice.

5 out of 5 stars.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starter checklist, split out into weeks

Broad but not deep, this book is a great way to ease your way into preparedness, one weeks assignment at a time. You'll likely find yourself wanting more at the end of every chapter however. Expect to need supplemental reading on most topics, depending on your experience and comfort levels.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I am so glad I won this book! It provides very straight forward and detailed ideas for protecting and providing for your family in emergency situations. I highly recommend this book for all Preppers.