This is the third book in a trilogy of what could loosely be called a “survival” series. Twenty years ago, I wouldn't have ever imagined myself writing a series like this. I would not consider myself a survivalist in the current sense of the word. If I had to describe myself best, I think that the word “prepper” would be most appropriate, though probably not entirely accurate. It sounds wishy-washy, and that's most likely because I'm a moderate. I believe in moderation, and survivalism in the minds of most people is not considered moderate.
This book touches on everything—from construction, to power production and farming, to armed combat. In a volume this size, it would be impossible to provide a detailed discussion of everything that one could possibly want to know and understand about survival retreats. I just scratch the surface here. What you see is the tip of an enormous iceberg of knowledge.
In today's world, it only makes sense to be interactive with the most powerful source of public information available: the Internet, and it's right at our fingertips. This book refers to numerous websites where you, the reader, can find more detailed information than I am able to provide in this book. I highly recommend that you sit next to your computer or have your laptop handy while reading. Become one with your browser. Print off as much as you can afford, because if you truly do believe that the shit will someday hit the fan, then you believe the Internet will then be vulnerable and you will lose that resource when the service providers and servers crash.
Finally, as I have seen in my research, and as the world has witnessed so many times throughout history, survivalism and retreatism can be risky. Don't go off the deep end—it's bound to go bad. Just remember:
The world is not your enemy.
The zombie hordes have not been unleashed.
The world and civilization will still be here in 2013.
I promise—DB