Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family

by Arthur T. Bradley

Ninety-nine percent of the time the world spins like a top, the skies are clear, and your refrigerator is full of milk and cheese. But know with certainty that the world is a dangerous place. Storms rage, fires burn, and diseases spread. No one is ever completely safe. Not you. Not your children. We all live as part of a very complex ecosystem that is unpredictable and willing to kill us without remorse or pause. This book will help you to establish a practical disaster preparedness plan for your entire family, covering all 14 basic human needs. Additional information is also presented for those with special needs, including the elderly, children, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and pets. Every topic is well researched, with over 240 references cited, and is presented in a clear, easy to read format.

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

540 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2010

About the author

Events have made me who I am, neither a hardcore survivalist nor an all-trusting soul. I am a Boy Scout in the truest sense of the word—­dedicated to family, country, and good citizenship. As you may already know, an enabling element of those ideals is being prepared.

It took the horrific events of 9/11 to wake me from my routine complacency. In one single moment, I came to realize that our world is not as safe as we would all like to believe. We have no guarantee of safety in this world. Disasters occur on an almost daily basis all around the globe. Major events in recent years have included the devastating tsunamis striking Japan and the coast of Sumatra, the rash of tornadoes that swept across the U.S. in 2011, Hurricane Katrina, the deadly earthquake in Haiti, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to name just a few.

I believe with all my heart that we have a duty to prepare our families for the dangers they face. I started my preparation by reading nearly every disaster preparedness book currently available. If you check Amazon, you will see that I am the #1 reviewer for many of these books. Even with all the material out there, I could not find a single book that offered a complete, well-reasoned approach to practical preparedness. As a NASA engineer, I took up the challenge by conducting very careful research – disecting fact from folklore. Three years and many thousands of dollars later, I have finally released a handbook that offers well-researched advice that can be put into practice in the real world by normal families.

I wrote this handbook for my own family, but I would be honored to share it with yours. If you are not fully satisfied with the Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family, send it back, and I’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

Arthur T. Bradley, Ph.D.

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a ton of useful information, but it falls flat because it assumes certain things about the reader that aren’t necessarily accurate:

1. You live in a house.
2. You own the house you live in.
3. You’re a dude. (The author doesn’t explicitly say “Hey, gents,” but there are several times when he seems to forget that women could also be reading this book and appears to be addressing men directly. This doesn’t take away from the information he’s providing, I just find it annoying.)

I live in an apartment that I rent, which makes many of his suggestions completely impossible. I can’t modify my apartment in the ways he suggests, and laughed out loud about his suggestion of dedicating a room in one’s house to be a safe room (I live in a studio apartment, so the entirety of my living space is one room). I understand that these are helpful tips for homeowners and they should be included, but why not offer a quick tip for what to do if you instead live in an apartment with limited space and ability to modify your home?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best books of this type I have read.

[Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of useful information but I didn't really like the way it was organized.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book years ago, along with "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It." I figured it would be useful to have these two books on hand if disaster ever strikes. Having these books on a shelf, of course, doesn't compare to actually putting their suggestions into practice.

Of the two, this is the more practical book. (The other book is more for survivalists--it recommends moving to a location at least 300 miles from the nearest metro center!) This manual is for people who want to take some fairly basic steps toward preparing for a disaster--keeping food and water stocked, having a generator, etc. The sections on lighting and electricity are particularly helpful. A lot of the advice is common sense. Although I read this book cover to cover (off and on, more when I was between books), it is fine just to keep it as a reference book. Definitely not very exciting reading, but important stuff, nevertheless.

[David Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Resource...

I was looking for information on the danger of an HEMP, and I found so much more. As a survivalist, I have studied materials, and lived in situations that required various skills, and I can confirm that this book is a great start toward preparing for anything. Forewarned is forearmed.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less useful than other survival books I've read.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic stuff, but there's a lot of information there for someone just beginning to think about preparing. Less so for someone who's already given it a lot of thought. But it's a good resource.

[Sheryl Stinchcum · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family" offers an encompassing overview of how to survive and cope with disasters--natural and man-made.

Arthur Bradley takes a logical approach without bordering on hysteria. He reasons that the type of disaster you might face could depend upon where you live. For example, if you live on the coast, you would be more concerned with hurricanes than other types of disasters.

In the event of a disaster, Bradley makes you think about how you would get by from day to day. If you were without electricity for an extended period of time, what would you do for light, heat, and sanitation? How much food and water would you need?

Bradley presents numerous scenarios with practical solutions. Of course, since the book is an overview, you might need to do more research on a specific topic. For example, while Bradley offers suggestions for storing and preserving food, you could follow up with a detailed book on food preparation.

Besides being an easy read, "Handbook to Practical Preparedness for the Family" is an excellent reference book to keep on your book shelf. Believe me, you won't want to part with it.

[Nathanael Coyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, balanced, practical guide to preparing for and surviving disasters. The first half of the book is the most useful - I skimmed the latter half as some of it wasn't particularly relevant or useful to me such as radiological hazards, firearms and I have better resources for first aid. It is US-biased so some of the resources listed, mentions of NOAA weather radio etc aren't applicable outside the US but overall it's applicable in all countries and well worth a read. The author doesn't tell you to waste money buying loads of stuff you'll never use but recommends you stock up on food you actually eat rather than stuff you'd only access in an emergency and only acquire equipment that would be useful in likely disasters given your situation, i.e. living in a tornado-prone area versus coastal area verus seismically-active area (like I do).

[Zander Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

really a useful book for those of us who don't live a preppers life but want to understand how to survive. its all about planning for the most likely thing to happen to you. not the wildly unrealistic. if that happens only the compounds will survive but its not likely. I enjoyed and very much value the simplicity and ingenuity of this book.

[Trace]

2012 Booklist

[Joshua Friesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent workbook of every idea imaginable. Invaluable resource.