My pocketknife is alarmingly orange, adequately sharp, and always in the left front pocket of my pants, whether those are faded work jeans or business-casual khakis. I use the lockback skinner mainly to slice apples, clean my fingernails (not always in that order), and open boxes. But it’s always there, because I never know when I’ll also need it to cut a seatbelt, fend off a mugger, or hack my way into—or out of—a burning curtain factory.
This is the nature of emergency preparedness. While statistically speaking, the other guy (or girl) has a better chance of getting it—whatever it is—than you do, many of us keep an eye open for the worst that the world might deal. Maybe it’s a car wreck, or a house fire, a killer tornado, or a rabid raccoon. A 3-inch knife might not prevent or neutralize any of these disasters, but it can’t hurt to have one in hand.
This is the premise and promise of the book in your other hand: that it’s better to be prepared for the worst than it is to be surprised and defenseless when it arrives. Because it will arrive. While statistically speaking, emergencies will remain strangers at any given moment, every human lifetime edges close to calamity at least once or twice. It might be a car accident, a natural disaster, a riot, or a fall down a flight of stairs.
As I reviewed and edited this excellent and useful crisis-response compilation, it occurred to me that humans can be almost equally divided into two camps: those who expect the worst and prepare for it and those who hope it will never happen to them. This is a book for the former, for those who recognize the world is a hazardous place and want to know precisely what to do when the shit goes down. For these people, knowledge is power, and this book is full of useful knowledge.
There is no better guide to this world of tragic what-if than author Joseph Pred. Pred has been a certified Emergency Medical Technician for more than 20 years, and he has trained in law enforcement, fire fighting, crisis intervention, and public-safety management. His particular field of expertise is in recognizing and mitigating the risks of large public gatherings, its own stew of suspended catastrophe and potential disaster.
Do you need this book? No. Not if you expect the best of the world, or think that disaster will never visit you. But if you fret about the contents of that strange package, or worry about the stability of the power grid or that rickety elevator, or if you want to know where to find safe air in a fire, how to splint a facture, or how to hack your car’s battery to get out of trouble, then read this book. And pack an adequately sharp pocketknife.
ANDREW MCKEAN
Editor-in-Chief, Outdoor Life