If I said, “Preparedness books,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Foraging, survival, fire starting, bugging out? All of those things are important to preparedness, but they only scratch the surface. There are so many other important preparedness topics that should be learned and discussed. Today, we’re going to cover five different main topics and a total of fourteen different books on essential preparedness topics.
***There are links in this post. Some of the links may be affiliate links. My promise to you is that I will only recommend the most economical version of the best quality of items to serve you. All of these are the items that I have bought for my own family. If you click on a link, your price will remain the same. If you make a purchase, we may make a small commission that aids in the cost of the running of this website.***
The five main topics that we’re going to discuss today are homesteading, food and water storage, survival, medical, and negotiating. Each of the books that I recommend are books that I’ve purchased myself and have found great value in.
Homesteading Books
Homesteading is so much more than just growing your own food and livestock. Homesteading is living self-sufficiently as much as is possible in all things. Sanitation is an important part of homesteading. As is learning how to make your own food, cleaning, and personal care items from scratch. Homesteading touches on being able to dress your own animals so that the meat can be preserved for future meals. Let’s dive into some of these books and what makes them unique – and my personal Preparedness Book Picks.
Back to Basics
When I think about being self-sufficient, the first book that I think of is Back To Basics. A friend of mine had this on her bookshelf when I visited over 15 years ago. It caught my eye, and I just started reading. It takes you from buying land and potentially building on it to how to produce your own energy. I found Abigail’s down to earth methods really doable – and that’s saying something for someone who’s not a techie. She also discusses growing your own food and livestock; after which, she goes right into preserving your own food and cooking and baking with it. She continues with skills and crafts that can be done around the homestead. Gehring finishes off with recreation on the homestead.
It scratches so many itches for someone who wants to live more self-sufficiently! I love that it’s so adaptable for whatever your situation! It’s definitely one to check out. I would highly recommend that you buy the third edition. I have not read the subsequent editions, and I know this one is amazing!
Making It – Radical HomeEc for a Post Consumer World
I feel like these two books could go hand in hand. The first one gives you a great overview with excellent how to’s on a multitude of subjects. This book, however, is amazing, because it teaches you how to make everything that you need on your homestead. For example just in section one, you learn about how to make an olive oil lamp, how to clean your teeth and make your own tooth powder and mouthwash. You’ll learn about shampoo alternatives that you can make as well as hair conditioners.
Then there’s a whole section on making things like making your own cleaning products, laundry detergent, deodorant, bug repellent, soap, how to make your own vinegar, mead, and beer, and then a ton of things for the garden – compost bin from shipping pallets, making a dry toilet, worm farming, solar cooker, a chicken coop, and even a whole section on bee keeping. It was because of this book that I made my first foray into making things for myself for the first time.
When it comes to propagating plants, I have TWO favorite books.
Propagating Plants – How to Create New Plants for Free
This book is amazing because it walks you through how to grow so many different kinds of plants – trees, shrubs, climbing plants, perennials, annuals and biennials, succulents, plants grown from bulbs AND vegetables. It walks you thorough how to sew seeds – if you choose to sew seeds. It teaches you about how to split plants, how to dig up a bulb and create two plants from them. This is perfect for anything from a mini-homestead to a full blown plant business where you are constantly growing new plants from what you’re cultivating. It’s an amazing book that deserves a place on every prepper’s bookshelf.
Seed to Seed
This is my personal favorite book when it comes to learning how to propagate vegetables and herbs. Propagating Plants only gives about thirty pages to vegetables, but Seed to Seed focuses specifically on veggies. Because of that, I feel like anyone interested in being self-sufficient needs both books.
Basics of Butchering Livestock and Game: Beef, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Poultry, Rabbit, Venison
This book walks you through every single type of butchering listed in the title. Each type of butchering has descriptions and pictures that walk through the butchering step by step. Great reference when you start butchering your own meat.
Water Storage 
The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide: Harvest, Treat, and Store Your Most Vital Resource
You can survive three weeks without food, but only three days without water. Making sure that the water that you have whether in your home – if you’re on city water, or you have a well – there’s a lot that you need to know about your water. This book will let you know what all there is about it.
Survival Books
The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs
Every time I pick up this book, I learn something else new. Whether it’s about learning direction from plants or from the stars or the moon. You can learn how to tell the way to civilization from where you are. Tristan weeds through old sayings about nature – which are true and which can you count on. What animal signs are out there and what can you learn from them. This book has it all.
Foraging for Survival
This book was written by MyKel Hawke – you may know him from Man vs. Wild (free with Prime); Man, Woman, Wild; and even Dual Survival. He’s a former Spec Ops and knows his stuff. The book is full of pictures on almost every page. It will give you info on what parts of plants are edible, which parts aren’t. It’s a great book to have for both home and for your Bug Out Bag.
The Survival Handbook
This book has been read so often (mostly by my boys) that the binding has been damaged. It’s a great book that walks you through everything starting with mental and physical preparedness for a journey. But that’s just the very beginning. It talks about things that you need to know before actually starting out on a trek – everything from what to wear for the time of year and the different environments that you plan on traveling for. How do you figure your way on the trail? And then there’s a whole section on camp life and emergency first aid.
Medical 
Books
The Survival Medicine Handbook
I’ve owned other medical preparedness books before. This is one that I wouldn’t be without. I appreciate the first section which is just on the principles of medical preparedness and the different types of preparedness before it jumps into the basics of becoming a medical resource for either your family or your group. It goes onto sanitation issues and infections. Then it moves onto problems caused by environmental factors. Then this book goes on to talk about injuries and how to deal with them. Then Chronic medical conditions get a whole section to themselves. The book finishes off with things like medicines that you should try to source.
Prepper’s Natural Medicine
Now after what I just said above about The Survival Medicine Handbook, I appreciate it, but I also really like the Prepper’s Natural Medicine because it’s something that – for the most part – we can grow and use at and from home. I’ve read through my copy more than once and highlighted it extensively. Most of the herbs can be grown or propagated at home. As I went through it, I was able to determine which herbs we need to help our family. That’s what’s so amazing about this book. Not only could it help me in the future. It can help me now!
Negotiating
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
This book is the newest one in my arsenal and I have not completed it yet, but it’s been good so far. But even going through the reviews on Amazon – they are amazing! One review said, ” I’m compelled because this book has changed my life, and I suspect it can change yours — What do you have to lose by reading it?” Another said, “WHY THIS BOOK MATTERS: We negotiate or persuade dozens of times a day. Then there’s the big stuff that changes the course of life: getting a raise; landing a job offer; buying a car or house. Most of us had no formal training in negotiation, or were taught incorrectly. This book is your secret weapon for mad success.”
What About You?
What preparedness books would you recommend? Which books that you own have been the most helpful? Share with us in the comments so that we can all be better prepared.
Together, we will Love, Learn, Practice, and Overcome.
Don Paul’s great living in grubby times is a very good read for if the worst happens, his other book are great too