books about: disaster

books about: disaster

books:

Disaster

Jose Saramago

Harvest Books, 1999

Man, mirror, Woman, hope
Got it from a local used book, out of curiosity mainly, never expected such a gripping, at times nauseating narrative that violently shattered the veneer of modernity. Trembling I stood contemplating my own humanity. Enraged, saddened, excited, ashamed... as the ...

Anathem

Neal Stephenson

William Morrow, 2008

great as expected, but...
xkcd was right: the little trick of inventing new words the meaning of which must be deduced by the reader from context did get a little old. But absolutely worth the read!

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Naomi Klein

Picador, 2008

Essential Reading
Considering the global political climate and the way policy decisions are created these days (witness the latest "crisis" of the economic variety in the US, for one), this book ought to be required reading for pretty much anyone who can or will at some point cast a ...

When Technology Fails (Revised & Expanded): A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the ...

Matthew Stein

Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008

Preparing for "CHAOS" in the United States.
This manual guides one toward survival, when technology fails.....and it will, it's only a matter of time now. It has already begun. Most people cannot hunt, grow food, or recognize anything growing in the wild that would help them survive, if they needed to. The ...

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Timothy Egan

Mariner Books, 2006

The American dust bowl and the grit and gumption of those who will never forget
Subtitled "The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl", this 2006 non-fiction account of this American tragedy is historical writing at its best. The author is a Pulitizer Prize winning reporter for the New York Times. I loved his simple but ...

When All Hell Breaks Loose

Cody Lundin

Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2007

real deal
excellent-generally reality does not sell-1 platoon to many rambo type films (example).particularly in self defense-survival etc. feel good fantasy sells. this is one of few practical books on these subjects ...

CISSP Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, 4th Ed. (All-in-One)

Shon Harris

McGraw-Hill Osborne Media, 2007

Wouldn't have passed without it!
I can honestly say that if it weren't for this book I probably would not have passed my CISSP exam. Unlike other prep-guides, Shon engages the reader and keeps their attention. Also, this book doesn't read like a "read this book and pass an exam" book. It reads like a ...

Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival

Jack A. Spigarelli

Cross-Current Pub., 2002

Packed full of information - a valued addition to any preparedness library
This is a very insightful and well constructed book. There is a TON of information. It does lean heavily on food storage, dedicating nearly 2/3 of its 315 pages to various facets of food (production, preservation, storage). The remaining 100+ pages discuss things ...

Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse: A Novel of the Turbulent Near Future (Expanded and Updated 33 ...

James Wesley Rawles

Xlibris Corporation, 2006

An Awesome Look Into A Possible Future
I can't say enough about this book. The literary style in which it was written kept me spellbound for hours, I didn't want to put the book down! More importantly, it gave me a look at one possible future should we ever have an economic collapse, and the hope of ...

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Erik Larson

Vintage, 2000

I've always said the Weatherman prevails even when he's wrong{{
Erik Larson has documented an extraordinary narrative of an epic storm which killed over 6,000 people and wiped out the City of Galveston, Texas. Here we find Isaac Cline employed as the resident U.S. Weather meteorologist failing to warn the residents of ...

High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backups, Replication, and More

Baron Schwartz, Peter Zaitsev, ...

O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2008

Excellent book for advanced users
The title of this book is very appropriate. Great coverage on performance, reliability, backup & recovery. Definitely not an introductory book. There were a couple of places where the writing was hard to follow, but I'm sure that'll be fixed in the next printing.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

Jon Krakauer

Anchor, 1999

Who's got more credibility?
It's interesting to read all of the articles criticizing Jon Krakauer, saying he painted himself in a heroic light, that his book is a giant ego trip, and that Anatoli Boukreev's book is so much more accurate. Many of these so called experts seem to assume that the ...

The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the ...

John Perkins

Plume, 2008

Sad but true, and time for us to act
Perkins once again tells it like it is. We are part of the problem. Our addiction to cheap clothing and exercise equipment (put together in tropical sweatshops by people living only marginally better than inmates of Nazi prison camps) fuels the system. We have to ...

Alas, Babylon

Pat Frank

Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005

Reqd reading in High School
I remember reading this in High School and I have been looking to pick it up for a re-read.

Life As We Knew It

Susan Beth Pfeffer

Harcourt Paperbacks, 2008

Great Book!
This book is so interesting. I am reading it aloud to my middle school grandchildren. We are all enjoying it. What a page turner!