Ever wonder how to treat a snakebite? How about when you lock your keys in your car and you wonder if you might be able to break into it somehow? And the dos and don’ts of a tourniquet – what are they?

All this and so much more is explained in the small, comfortable, pocket-sized, handy-dandy The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by writers Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht.

This nice, yellow book is only 176 pages long, with easily understandable writing and clear diagrams of what to do in specific situations of danger. An extensive contents live provides quick access to specific instances such as “How to Hot-Wire a Car . . . 28,” “How to Take a Punch . . . 69,” “How to Jump From a Building Into a Dumpster . . . 77,” “How to Identify a Bomb . . . 85,” or “How to Survive an Avalanche . . . 140.”

The contents are organized into sections (“Great Escapes and Entrances,” “The Best Defense,” “Leaps of Faith,” “Emergencies,” and “Adventure Survival”) again providing invaluable aid to anyone who is in need to exact details and skills to be performed in a specific situation.

One specific instance lends greatly to our current position here at Cal State Long Beach, with the Africanized Honey- or so-called “Killer Bees problem we’ve been having.

There is no telling how useful this book may be to you. People go on trips and vacations without ever suffering any sort of mishap, while others seem to run into nothing but trouble. With The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, you will be able to eliminate at least 90% of your problems. So make sure you get a copy of this book, and the next time you go on a trip somewhere, make sure you slip the book into your duffel bag – just in case.

How to Escape From Killer Bees:

1) If bees begin flying around and/or stinging you, do not freeze. Run away; swatting at the bees only makes them angrier.

2) Get indoors as fast as you can.

3) If no shelter is available, run through bushes or high weeds. This will help give you cover.

4) If a bee stings you, it will leave its stinger in your skin. Remove the stinger by raking your fingernail across it in a sideways motion. Do not pinch or pull the stinger out – this may squeeze more venom from the stinger into your body. Do not let stingers remain in the skin because venom can continue to pump into the body for up to ten minutes.

5) Do not just into a swimming pool or other body of water – the bees are likely to be waiting for you when you surface.

Originally published on May 14th 2001 ©Alex C. Telander.

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