The Rugged Life: The Modern Guide to Self-Reliance: A Survival and Homesteading Guide

by Clint Emerson

Become self-reliant, live off the land, and be prepared for the unexpected in this modern guide to self-sufficiency and homesteading from New York Times bestselling author, retired Navy SEAL, and survival skills expert Clint Emerson.

"Add The Rugged Life by former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson to your library today and get on the path to independence and self-sufficiency."--Jack Carr, Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil's Hand

Clint Emerson is the go-to expert for surviving the first minutes, hours, and days of a crisis. Now, in The Rugged Life, he works with modern homesteading experts to show you how to thrive over the long-term--for months, years, or even a lifetime--by being prepared and self-sufficient.

You can live the Rugged Life completely off-the-grid by farming your own food and using the waste from your toilet for compost. Or, you can live it by adding solar panels to your suburban home and keeping chickens and bees in your backyard. You can even live the Rugged Life in a city by simply gathering the salad for tonight's dinner from your windowsill garden. Each of these homesteading and prepper long-term survival skills stand on their own, and taken together, they can help you design the independent life you want for yourself and your family.

- Be your own homesteader: Make your own shampoo and face creams; pickle and ferment food; make natural bug spray and cleaning products; smoke meat; tan a hide
- Be your own protector: Create a last-resort emergency plan; gather medicinal plants; protect against dangerous animals and threats; understand survival first aid
- Be your own provider: Hunt for game; make a gillnet; set snares; forage for wild foods; build a rabbit hutch; ice fish; butcher a pig; keep bees
- Be your own builder: Retrofit a van; set up solar, microhydro, and geothermal power; create a water catchment and filtration system; build a shipping container home
- Be your own farmer: Grow a victory garden; build a greenhouse; waffle garden to save space and resources; build a root cellar; can, dry, and store crops; operate a tractor

With hundreds of step-by-step, illustrated, self-sustaining skills and projects, The Rugged Life is for everyone who feels they can use more adventure, freedom, and choice in their life--everyone ready to get out of their comfort zone and try new, hard, profoundly rewarding things.

Genres: Survival, Self Help, Self Reliance, Nonfiction, Audiobook

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2022

Reviews

[Kaila (pagesofthevalley) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to learn how to live off-the-grid, vanlife or close too, this is the book to read. This was such a interesting and very informative read. Even though, some of the information  can be repetitive from other books and sites, this does give you different  perspectives and ideas. The hot tips, pictures and the lists looks like they could be helpful for someone who is doing the off- the-grid lifestyle.



Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this e-arc.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Rugged Life is an interesting and worthwhile collection of self-suffiency and survival tips collected by Clint Emerson. Released 10 May 2022 by Rodale Books, it's 272 pages and is available in paperback, spiral bound, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The chapters are arranged thematically: building, power, farmer, butcher, hunter, homemaker, protector, RTO (news & communication), first responder, and handyman. Each of these sections are standalone and can be read in any order. There is no required cohesiveness to the content and it can be read and accessed as needed. To that end, the book does not include an index. I therefore recommend the electronic format for ease of finding specific info more easily.

This is a very broad and general book. It's a good 'starting off' guide, a 'dreaming' guide; it's emphatically not a specific how-to guide. If it errs, it does so by trying to be everything to everyone. Anyone actually going into homesteading will hopefully have a solid workable plan for getting from lifestyle A to whatever level of self-sufficiency is desirable. The author has a competent but stern voice and I found the emphasis on protecting property and fighting and weapon making a bit macho for my taste.

It's very tempting to see pictures of healthy gardens and adorable lambs and healthy beehives and want to be a part of that lifestyle. (I did & do!) The guides rarely show pictures of neighbor's pet-dog ravaged lambs, nosema infested empty beehives, or flattened gardens with more weeds than produce and production that wouldn't feed a toddler. This book could bridge the gap between dreams and reality. He definitely doesn't sugar coat things.

The emphasis here was more on protection and basic survival than smallholding but there is a fair bit of useful info in capsule form. The graphics are simple with line drawn illustrations and text boxes with tips and very short info bites throughout.

Four stars. This would be a good choice for the smallholder's library, people who want to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle and are at the planning stage, and for people who are interested in building a survival skill set.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Some practical information. As the massive supply chain issues during the locksdowns of COVID, and anytime there’s a natural disaster show, it’s important to have some level of self sufficiency. This book lets you take your time and pick and choose what you want to do and to what extent. This should be a household read and keep it on a shelf for when needed.

[Richard Propes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retired Navy SEAL turned New York Times bestselling author Clint Emerson is geared toward what he calls "the rugged life," a life of self-reliance and self-sufficiency and it's that natural instinct toward survival that comes alive in his latest book "The Rugged Life: The Modern Guide to Self-Reliance."

"The Rugged Life" is a primer in what could easily be described as rather extreme independence and self-sufficiency, though I have the feeling Emerson himself likely feels there's nothing that particularly extreme about what unfolds within these pages as he very intentionally directs these instructions toward both those who wish to go off-the-grid and those who fully intend to keep their feet fully planted in something more resembling ordinary daily life with greater discipline and greater intentionality.

Emerson is recognized as a go-to expert on surviving the first minutes, days, and hours of a crisis or emergency. "The Rugged Life" is an introduction into the world of personal thriving while surviving and becoming more self-reliant and in control of one's own destiny. "The Rugged Life" approaches a wide variety of topics on how to be your own homesteader, how to be your own protector, how to be your own builder, how to be your own provider, and how to be your own farmer.

In each area, Emerson offers relatively simple and step-by-step instructions along with graphic illustrations on how to handle the basics in these areas though, let's be honest, if this kind of lifestyle is new to you simple may very well not be simple enough.

However, "The Rugged Life" is truly an introduction into this life and not necessarily an in-depth exploration of it. While each section is quite in-depth, the topics within each section are relatively brief and occasionally surrounded by an aura of obviousness. As I was reading, I occasionally felt the presence of Emerson going "C'mon folks, this is easy."

If you've never done it, it's probably not going to be easy.

To be fair, I am most likely not the target reader for "The Rugged Life" though I enjoyed it quite a bit. As a paraplegic/double amputee, I'd imagine a good amount of what unfolds here would be difficult to achieve and certainly difficult to achieve with the desired self-reliance. I'm not saying this would be true of all paraplegics/amputees, but on more than one occasion I found myself mumbling "Nope. Not happening. Ever."

But, I still found myself intrigued by it.

I also greatly appreciated how Emerson worked to make this material accessible. This feels like introductory survival and it's clear that Emerson sort of made the effort to turn this into a paint-by-numbers journey into self-reliance but gave us enough that our curiosity would likely take us deeper into each of these topics.

"The Rugged Life" is most certainly not for everyone. For some, this will prove undeniably intimidating and I picture some folks readily speedily through the pages and going "Nope." For others, however, I can even picture the material here not being deep enough - in some areas, Emerson really only skims the surface of how to master a more self-reliant life. For the truly curious, however, "The Rugged Life" offers enough of an introduction and strong enough examples that one will easily figure out if this life should be explored more fully and it offers a roadmap for actually starting the journey.

"The Rugged Life" pushes us out of our comfort zones and into a new way of living. It does so in a way that is well-informed and more than a little encouraging. While I don't picture "The Rugged Life" starting a whole new wave of self-reliance, for those seeking a more disciplined, self-determining life "The Rugged Life" is a fantastic place to start the journey.

[Dachokie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basics guide for homesteading/living off-grid is both informative and interesting.

Clint Emerson is a retired Navy SEAL who is really good at presenting his know-how in a compact, readable and easy-to-reference format. I’ve read all of his guidebooks as well as his autobiography and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

This book is intriguing in that it gives you a clear idea of what being completely self-reliant entails … and you’ll immediately know whether such a lifestyle is for you or not. With that being said, Emerson understands that a live-off-the land approach to life is not for everyone, but some of the information he offers are definitely useful from a practical standpoint (basic carpentry and electricity knowledge, medical basics and quite useful survival tactics) to things that may be fun and challenging to try (making your own soap/shampoo, composting and canning).

The book is organized very well and divided into sections that can be roughy accessed when the book is closed for easier reference. The 9 chapters are dedicated to: building, creating your own power grid, farming, butchering, hunting/foraging, home making, protection, communication (radio/telephone), first responding and handyman skills. Useful information across the board … there is something for everyone.

I found the information presented in a simplified manner that never comes across as making you feel like an idiot over things you thought you should already know. The book is heavily illustrated with clear drawings that assist in understanding items and processes; this helps to reinforce the written guidance.

While I have no plan to live off-grid or butcher my pet rabbit, I bought this book to read while visiting/hiking the 5 national parks in Utah and found the information quite handy to know (like the stick/sun/shadow/rock technique for identifying north). The book is a great resource for those seriously considering a more primitive life to those looking for fun things to experiment with the kids.

[Darlene Messenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher through the ambassador reading program and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
In these uncertain times, the skill set of our ancestors is lost to convenience of expecting all that we need will be available locally or can be ordered for a quick delivery. Whether you have any work skills, farming background, live in a city or country side, this book will have something for everyone.
The author has a military background and has gleaned information from around the country (USA) to assist the reader in specific areas of expertise: Provider- raising and hunting of food, livestock; Homesteading - canning and drying of food, personal hygiene, etc; Building- basics power, use of chainsaw, water filtration; Farming-crop growing, greenhouse building, root cellar, etc; Protection- from animal and human predation, identifying poisonous critters, use of medicinal plants, and stocking an emergency medical care kit.
Excellent basic book on self-reliance.!
Note: Author doesn't expect the reader to be able to do it all, just do what you can with what is available and hone new skill sets.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some helpful information but felt all over the place. The book was set up with a Build / Farm / Hunt construct and the build section was by far the most helpful. I liked learning about some of the energy tricks like using PVC pipe underground. I also liked the context of what energy needs a family has and how to reduce that need. The writing was engaging and sometimes funny.

The farm section seemed extremely surface level to the point that it wasn’t helpful, and the hunting section even more so - learning hunting from a book does not seem the way to go. I would have also appreciated a better understanding of “difficulty” level of these farming challenges - eg growing wheat does not seem worth the effort / how should you trade off the time and money needed for various homestead investments, when the baseline costs he notes are so high

[Jessica Carver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely an essential to keep on your book shelf. Great to read from cover to cover, but more of a handbook to come back to over and over. This book is basically a guide to go completely off grid, but he give you steps to do as much or as little as you want to. Tips on how to cut your own hair, to raising your own cattle, to building your own house, and everything in between. I've used the section on vegetable gardening the most. Can't wait to get my hands on the other book he has, and I want to be friends with him.

[John Glanton · Rating 2 out of 5]

very basic

The knowledge in this book is extremely basic. I thought maybe a navy seal would have some insight and tips I’ve never heard, but it’s nothing but basic knowledge you’d see on the first page of Google search for the topics. Plus this is supposed to be about self reliance, and many times throughout this book the authors advice is to “call a professional instead of attempting yourself.”

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic holistic approach to self reliance and homesteading at a high level, an impressive amount of research and effort has gone into this.

One thing to note is that this book is mostly catered towards Americans, so you'll still need to investigate your local area (which you should be anyhow).

Highly recommend as a brilliant starting point and as a companion book, as well as plan building motivation, to compliment other writings that are more specific and catered for you.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical. Ran across the lard soap recipe. My mom used to make that. She was a Minnesota farmers daughter. They lived 50 miles from town so they made or traded for it. She did make her own soap, laundry soap, bread, crackers, ketchup too. She used apple cider vinegar in the ketchup not the sugary crap from the store.

[Patina Malinalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very informative. It provides extensive alternative resources pertaining to everything from hunting to livestock care to gardening. It also describes how to run construction equipment, etc. I would have given it 4 or even 5 stars if it weren't for the foul language smattered throughout the book. I sincerely did not find that appealing.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of, The Rugged Life, by Clint Emerson. If you want to know how to live off the grid or land, this book is for you. From how to build a chicken coop, how to ferment, and how to make honey, among many other how to's.

[Mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling look at how to thrive in different difficult situations. Resilency and ingenuity are mainstays of this work of non-fiction. Many creative and ingenious ideas are presented. Well worth the read.

[PolishPierog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction and basic overview of living off grid( to a degree). Gives a lot of things to think about and basic topics to further research when considering different ways to live more self reliant.

[Malachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro, high-level overview of homesteading/off-grid living.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great educational book for learning how to take care of yourself and your family. From gardening, to shelter this book is full of great tips.

[Aubrey Nekvinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh, DNF'd around halfway, I didn't really like this

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for building a flexible homestead.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to learn about living off the grid, as well a simplified reference guide. I would purchase this book for myself or for someone else as a gift. It has everything.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

The phrase "just enough knowledge to be dangerous" comes to mind. Fine if you want to get a tiny summary of a certain concept and then go find a much better book on the topic.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rugged Life – The Modern Guide to Self-Reliance: A Survival Guide by Clint Emerson

271 Pages
Publisher: Rodale Inc, Rodale Books
Release Date: May 10, 2022

Nonfiction, Home, Garden, Survival, Off the Grid, Homestead, Self-Reliance, Skills, Reference

This book describes to readers what life could be like living off the grid. He explains how you can do a little (like growing your own herbs or composting) to a lot (like living off the grid, raising your own animals and growing your own grain). I learned the trick about cutting a tree a knowing how far it would fall when I had large pine trees removed this autumn. The man did exactly what the author said to do. Amazing!

He provides information on how to raise chickens, which are best for eggs and eating. He also provides information on how to sew, make soap, and use a saw. He describes the differences between earth houses and the different climates. I learned so much reading this book! If you are interested in improving your life by providing more for yourself, you will enjoy reading this book.