What information will you have available after the SHTF, when the rebuilding starts….Or to pull from when you need information on how to do something without the convenience of the internet.
(Providing your library survives the SHTF event.)
What physical books and nonvolatile data do you have on hand, that you can pull from when needed?

My current book repository measures about 70 linear feet of shelf space. (seven 2 foot wide 5 shelf bookshelf’s Or 14 feet of wall space.) Covering mechanics, electronics, computers, power generation and distribution, concrete, hydraulics, refrigeration, carpentry, hunting, guns, military, nuclear energy, and related industries. Books spanning over 60 years of development on all fields.


Not including electronic media like MP3 and video, the electronic repository is currently about 100+GB of text, PDF’s and related programs collected from 20 years on the internet. All is backed up to DVD on an annual basis. When something gets in the "save" file, it's there for good. Nothing is thrown out.

Should the rebuilding come, I guess I will get my wish to live like my grand daddy, I have the first five FoxFire Books.... books on 19th century farming, building, horsecare, ... let's see...books on astonomy, land navigation, fishing, ....uhm, preserving food, animal husbandry, natural medicines and herbs, ....yup. That about does it.

I always felt like I was born out of time...a dinosaur if you will. Living like Jerimiah Johnson would suit me just fine.

Oh, I do more than read about those things.... I really do live them...

" We don't need no stinkin' grocery stores."

Originally posted by Mr Tranny

My current book repository measures about 70 linear feet of shelf space. (seven 2 foot wide 5 shelf bookshelf’s Or 14 feet of wall space.) Covering mechanics, electronics, computers, power generation and distribution, concrete, hydraulics, refrigeration, carpentry, hunting, guns, military, nuclear energy, and related industries. Books spanning over 60 years of development on all fields.

I think you might need some more basic things in that collection too, I guess it all depends upon how much stuff is left but things like electronics need a huge number of steps before you can get even a single electronic component.
So I would suggest things like books on metallurgy (how to extrude wire etc), chemistry (how to make led acid batteries and thing like that) and I guess even books on how to find and mine the metals to do that with in the first place.
That stuff only applies of course if it isn't just a case of cannibalism from previously built things

I have been thinking about this myself. I have failed to do anything about it. I might start getting on the ball with it now that my wife is more interested in the subject of surviving a SHTF scenario.

I think my first print out will be A Steam Punk's Guide To The Apocalypse. It has a lot of useful information about food preservation, water gathering and filtration, sanitation, and building suitable structures for living.

Past that my library is pretty empty. I'm thinking a book on farming and maybe some information on generating electricity might be helpful. I just don't know which direction to take.

[edit on 2-9-2010 by MikeNice81]

[edit on 2-9-2010 by MikeNice81]

Reading from library above my computer desk...

Prescription for Herbal Healing
Prescription for Nutritional Healing
A Modern Herbal Vols. I & II
A Master book of herbalism
General Chemistry
Digital Principles
Basic Circuit Analysis
Basic Electronics
SolarTrike plans
Electric Circuits Fundementals
Human Anatomy Made Easy (sketching manual.. filed in wrong spot)
General Chemistry solutions manual
General Chemistry problem Solving
General Chemistry Study guide
The End of Time
365 Simple Science Experiments
Supercharged science projects
Inventions and Discoveries
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
Dictionary of Dreams
An Incomplete Education
The Passion of the Western Mind
Modern Tae Kwon Do


And that's just one shelf on this bookcase... have another book case in the other room.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
books on 19th century farming, building, horsecare, ... let's see...books on astonomy, land navigation, fishing, ....uhm, preserving food, animal husbandry,

I found that kind of funny, growing up around here (farming community), you don’t need books for that.

I guess I just take that information for granted.
I know what you don’t do around a horse.
I know horses and nails don’t mix.
I usually can tell when a cow is getting sick.
I know what type of hay they like, what they can tolerate, and when the hay is bad (horse and cow).
I know that a cow magnet is a good cure for hardware disease.
I know the general procedures for hay drying and stocking, square bale, round bale, and loose hay in a hay loft.
I know a cow caving on a cold winter day is not a good thing.
On and on..

I guess those things are just stuff I learnt as a mater of fact in a farming community and take the idea that everyone knows the information, for granted. I have never contemplated getting books on the subject. If I needed to know something, I could just walk down the road and ask someone that I know will know. I will be danged if I can ever remember looking at a book regarding the subject.

I know all that too... I keep the books for stuff I don't know and refer to for the things i don't do often... like build a spring house, or cure out a ham, or what plant is best for a stomach ache, ... stuff like that. Even how to make a good batch of wine.

Yeah.. I also have stuff and experience for making wine and mead.. a VITAL skill to have in a SHTF scenario..

Glad to hear that some else considers the importance of that.
I am a book fiend myself.

I will U2U my mailing address. That way you will have contact with a

fellow "Librarian" just in case.

God hopes it never comes to that, but a massive solar flare could actually
wipe out the electrical grid. In that case you would have to hope it is isolated
to only some surface areas of the planet. In that instance, in due time
restoration would commence.

I know it may be silly apprehension on our part, but remember the Seed
Bank that was created in Scandinavia. Plan Ahead.

Originally posted by davespanners

I think you might need some more basic things in that collection too, I guess it all depends upon how much stuff is left but things like electronics need a huge number of steps before you can get even a single electronic component.
So I would suggest things like books on metallurgy (how to extrude wire etc), chemistry (how to make led acid batteries and thing like that) and I guess even books on how to find and mine the metals to do that with in the first place.
That stuff only applies of course if it isn't just a case of cannibalism from previously built things

I am perfectly aware of that.

Lets look across the library for things that could be classified as first generation technology, or at least early production technology.

Engineers and mechanics guide 1921.
Steam engine design, valve train, control, regulation, efficiency and mechanical considerations. Boiler design and considerations.

House wiring, power circuits, and high tension transmission. 1931
Covers setting up power and telegraph and power transmission lines using hand hewed poles with human assisted pole erection. Line path planning. DC transmission, voltage, and loss considerations. AC transmission voltage, and loss considerations. Underground installations using tiles and other systems. Splicing using all sorts of systems and the like.

Progressive dies design and manufacture. 1962
Designing, constructing, and using stamping drawing and rolling dies.

Electrical circuits and machinery. 1942
Electrical motor/generator design, winding, wiring, and considerations.
Transformer design and construction, oil filled and dry
Metering, power management and transmission

Metal processing. 1941
Machine tool setup and use.

Magnetic amplifier engineering 1951
Magnetic amplifier design construction and uses.

Standard handbook of engineering calculations. 1972
Several thousand pages. Covers everything. From wood frame/stud/beam calculations. To distillation calculations for oil, alcohol, and water. To suspension bridge, and dam design considerations. To electrical engineering. To pressure vessel design and compression/steam system engineering.

Motorola semiconductor design and construction.
(How I got it will for ever remain my little secret.)
Covers basic laboratory methods for refining silicon, constructing semiconductors from basic transistors to full mask, film deposited, integrated circuits.
(The methods are not that difficult either.)

RCA vacuum tube design manual.
Covers materials selection, construction of tubes, and production hardware, including vacuum diffusion pumps.

Several books on processes/factory instrumentation, control, and management.

Several books on concrete and cement production and construction.

Several books on spark gap transmitter design and construction. Receiver design and construction using cat whisker, coherer, or other crude home made semiconductors.

Rather than re-list the most common things that people have mentioned already, here are some things in my library that haven't been mentioned.

I think it fairly important to keep around a couple of comprehensive history textbooks. They're a great compendium of our successes and failures. Also, having them around will be important to any generation that survives Situation X. I also keep around a number of literature anthologies for similar reasons (plus, gotta have some sort of entertainment). I think it's prudent to have reference manuals for the core computer programming languages that are in use. If Situation X takes a great number of lives but leaves the technology unharmed, these may be necessary.

Maps are important. I probably have way more than I should, but everyone should have at least a map of their own region/country that shows the major roads, rivers, railroads, and other aspects of the terrain. You'll need them if for any reason you have to travel or otherwise leave your base of operations during or after Situation X. Similarly books on Cartography, Surveying, and the like may be useful if Situation X involved major changes to the landscape.

Language reference books are important. It might be useful to at least have references for commonly spoken languages in your region. Similarly, I think it is highly valuable to have a large dictionary for one's own language. All of these have value insofar as facilitating trade/cooperation or preserving culture (for the rebuilding phase) is concerned.



[edit on 2-9-2010 by bikeshedding]

Originally posted by rogerstigers
Yeah.. I also have stuff and experience for making wine and mead.. a VITAL skill to have in a SHTF scenario..

I would like very much information on making mead, i have yet to find info detailing how to make it. Got any links?

*Whew!* I thought for a minute that this was another thread about the Georgia Guidestones.


I print out recipes and such that I need, since our computers crash every couple of years. I cannot entrust my knowledge-base for pemmican to the interweb alone!

I have a pretty large library of cooking, gardening, how-to and educational books. I try to print off things I find online and 3-ring binder them. I'm so far behind it's not even funny. I always joke that when the net does go down I'll have so much time I'll be able to catch up and get organized, but I still try to work on it as I can.