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I enjoy reading books that I think of as WHAT IF books. What if there is an EMP, what if there is a nuclear war, what if Yellowstone erupts . . .
Books A Million notified me that Pat Frank's 'Alas, Babylon' is available. My copy is old and worn out. I am going to order Bobby Akart's 'Beyond the Gates' series, so I will add 'Alas, Babylon' to it.
Some books I enjoy reading over and over. Some I get tired of after reading a few times, so they get donated. Do you have any books you just can't bear to get rid of?
I have a fairly extensive nonfiction library of old physical "how-to" and reference books that are invaluable to me now but more so if shtf. Basically how everything was done long before I was born in the 50s, e.g., primitive food preservation techniques, identifying plants for food or medicine and how to use them, and much more.
Novels are purely for entertainment. I have many classic fictional works that I would not get rid of. These physical book versions would be invaluable for entertainment after a shtf event, just as they were before the digital age.
I am a senior citizen and have already mastered most of what is taught in books. I do love it when something I learned from my Dad in the 60s is presented as something new. The most important thing I learned is that wilderness survival truly sucks. I love my central air conditioning and heating.
My emphasis is on surviving at home. I could live without most of the creature comforts I enjoy now, but I would rather not!
I have a home library filled with all manner of books, from books on survival to 'On Walden Pond' and 'The Road to Serfdom'.
If the electricity goes out, I pull out my flashlight, get a good book, and wait for things to go back to normal.
Yes, I have candles, but I prefer a flashlight.
I have learned to be content with what I have available to me, and not whine and moan about what I do not have.
I am a senior citizen and have already mastered most of what is taught in books. I do love it when something I learned from my Dad in the 60s is presented as something new. The most important thing I learned is that wilderness survival truly sucks. I love my central air conditioning and heating.
My emphasis is on surviving at home. I could live without most of the creature comforts I enjoy now, but I would rather not!
I have a home library filled with all manner of books, from books on survival to 'On Walden Pond' and 'The Road to Serfdom'.
If the electricity goes out, I pull out my flashlight, get a good book, and wait for things to go back to normal.
Yes, I have candles, but I prefer a flashlight.
I have learned to be content with what I have available to me, and not whine and moan about what I do not have.
Same here. I'm 70+. I learned all sorts of things growing up---hunting, trapping and fishing techniques, raising food, and preserving food (in mostly 20th century ways, not many of the older ways I've learned from old books)---and I would 'live or die' at home as well, not living in harsh wildnerness (I could but don't want to at my age).
That is why I developed acres of local wild edibles in addition to conventional gardening. I have the resources and knowledge from my books to make my own botanical medicines if needed, which has kept me healthy and off prescription and OTC meds at 70+ (not against those meds but they are overprescribed and often unnecessary for many things that diet, lifestyle changes, and botanical remedies can resolve when used properly and knowledgeably).
Those are a few things I learned from my books and applying them since growing up. My children were taught all of the practical survival skills and how to be more self-sufficient, and I'm happy to say that my digital age grandchildren are learning the skills and they enjoy visiting my library too.
My daughter is a firm believer in using her tablet to read books. Until they day we were both reading, me a paper book, her on her tablet. Her tablet ran out of power. When she plugged it in, she found out the battery had gone bad.
These physical book versions would be invaluable for entertainment after a shtf event, just as they were before the digital age.
I hear you.
On the other hand, the amount of electricity needed by an e-reader is pretty minor and I doubt a reader would drain a 0.5 kWh battery/inverter over the course of a couple of weeks. Something like that can be charged readily from a 100w solar panel. And you would have at your disposal thousands of books, all equally portable.
As an additional benefit you don't have to struggle to read an e-book at night by candlelight or whatever.
Of course ... tech wears out eventually, batteries only have so many cycles, etc. So in a true unrecoverable SHTF situation you are quite correct; in a more likely situation where utilities are disrupted for long periods, digital books still have some utility.
Another thing it's pretty simple to do is to download the entirety of Wikipedia, which comes with a private server so you can read anything in that knowledge base without internet access. It's not as big a download as you might think, I believe it took a couple of hours with my broadband connection. Which reminds me, it's been a couple of years and I should update it.
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