Possibly the most important tool in your survival bag

Its been said for along time that knowledge is power, and in a survival situation the knowledge you have can easily mean life or death.

The problem with having knowledge of any kind is retaining it and having it quick at hand. And for survival in a post SHTF scenario, there is a load of knowledge that you need to have. What kind of plants can I eat, what kind of plants can heal me, how to dress certain types of wounds, how to make different shelters in different climates, what type of weapons to use in certain situations ect ect.

Now Im pretty sure I can speak for most people reading this, you have a large amount of information on survival stored in your head and can readily use it. But I guarantee you dont remember EVERYTHING survival minded that you have ever read or seen.That also goes for the rest of the people in your SHTF posse. They may have little to no knowledge regarding what to do in an emergency situation.

You may be saying thats okay if not everyone has uber survival knowledge, because I do and I'll be there. Well there are several reasons that your knowledge may be of no use to the rest of your clan. ie you may be apart from the rest of the members, you may be incapacitated, or worse even dead.

Many of you may have already taken the previous 2 paragraphs into consideration and thought about books. Survival book are great to have on hand for many reasons. Anyone that can read the language that it is written in can attain the knowledge. There is little room for error of your memory because you have the info right infront of you. But some of the drawbacks to books are numerous aswell. There are tons of specialized books, Books can be heavy and take up ALOT of vital room in your survival bag. And as we all know every inch and every pound needs to count when your trying to survive.

Well I have found a solution to most if not all of those problems. I present to you the Amazon Kindle.


Its light weight and portable. It can store tons of information and books. Almost every single one of your survival books can be found in a PDF format and downloaded on to your Kindle. No longer will you have to decide wether to put your massive feild trauma book in your bag insted of your edible wild fruits book. You can have all the information at hand without taking up ANY extra space in your bag.

Now some of you may be saying, yeah that great and all but what about the battery. how are you gonna keep an electronic devise charged in the wilderness. Well, on top of an incredably long battery life (3 months) Kindle thought of that too. Here is a cover for it that incorperates a solar charger with built in night light.
Kindle solar charger


So with your tons of survival info packed neatly into your Kindle and without worrying about battery life you can sleep alot easier knowing you have the info you need, when you need it right at the tip of your fingers.


ETA: if any members know of some survival websites that offer PDF's of their information, it would be great if you could post a link so we all can be better prepared.

Thanks and remember keep your boots tied and your powder dry.

But what happens if there is no Internet available when the supposedly "SHTF" or what happens if you run out of power? If things get really bad, one can hardly sit around for a few hours trying to charge it.

Where I come from, in Winter, it's dark all day long, so solar charging will hardly be helpful for anyone around me :

The Solar charging cover for your Kindle link doesn't work!

reply to post by faryjay


Or,
What happens if there is an EMP?

reply to post by Talltexxxan


If a EMP were to strike, your Kindle would be next to useless. Though you could use it to filet fish on or chop veggies.

My brain is my most important survival tool I can think of.

reply to post by Violater1


I guess then it will work as either a hand fan or a plate to eat from

Thanks for this. I'm not a big fan of the Kindle, but its low power consumption makes it a good fit for this purpose. My iPad would need a "slightly larger" solar charger.

Plus, it being black and white doesn't settle well with me, even when SHTF I still want coloured screens. If I'm gonna be living a hard life or dying soon, I'd like to do so in style. I hardly want iPad users laughing at me and my Kindle.

Come on, I wanna die respectfully

Sell it on eBay.

Use the $ to buy a real tool for survival....

GUN(s)

reply to post by Talltexxxan


Star & Flag. Very well thought out...if knowledge is power, then certainly you've nailed it down. As a 9 year veteran of the Army with extensive survival training, I can't argue with your premise here. Peace...

I swear you would be better off with a basic dentistry kit, than the kindle, being able to pull a tooth in an emergency that is possibly ongoing, although incredibly painful, would be necessary.
Not nice to think about, but, maybe people should.

Just got 404'd on your link OP.

Those things all have a life cycle one should be wary of. Just like phones that last two years till the end of the contract they will all fail at one point or another.

Critical data is very small vs informative data. Even if you choose to use such a device and in some cases I have even heard of people buying spare devices for storage, you should still consider critical data is best saved on paper and laminated with a full edge seal all the way around and no holes punched.

Just some thoughts.

reply to post by The X


Great point!
Tooth pain is no joke! Some lidocaine, plyers, etc... Would be a lifesaver.

Toilet paper is another.

Link works now. sorry bout that.

And as far as if the internet goes down. well, thats your fault for not having the info ALREADY on the Kindle before the SHTF.

And as for the EMP, correct me if Im wrong but doesnt a fareday* cage protect things inside it from a EMP blast.

You wouldnt have to carry around the cage, you would just have to store your kindle in it until they EMP happens. once that happens take out your fully info loaded kindle, stick it in your bag and get ready for the fun to begin.

You are correct about knowledge being a powerful tool.

The best way to gain knowledge is to use it, practicing your woodcraft is essential to a survivalist being a survivalist. I expect that the first people I see laying dead in a SHTF scenario will be those packing electronic devices into survival situation.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, I simply can not say it enough. When a person preforms actions they may need in a situation knowledge retention is much higher than if they just attempt to retain the knowledge through book reading.

Many survival situations will require a person to put the knowledge they need to use very quickly, most of the time the situations will not permit you to pull out a electronic/or non-electronic source of information for reference.

ever been to the wilderness? ever went trekking to a mountain during rainy season for days in a row? wetness.. rain......mud....rivers to cross ...the possibilities are just to high for a kindle to get wet and brake down (even my iphone died on me because i put it beside a glass full of iced tea and the condensation created a small pool of water on my desk).

Granted though, for a city survivor this might be a good choice.....

Originally posted by thepupils
reply to post by The X

 

Great point!
Tooth pain is no joke! Some lidocaine, plyers, etc... Would be a lifesaver.

Toilet paper is another.

Nope, number one tool would be... The LEATHERMAN!!!

Originally posted by mileysubet
You are correct about knowledge being a powerful tool.

The best way to gain knowledge is to use it, practicing your woodcraft is essential to a survivalist being a survivalist. I expect that the first people I see laying dead in a SHTF scenario will be those packing electronic devices into survival situation.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, I simply can not say it enough. When a person preforms actions they may need in a situation knowledge retention is much higher than if they just attempt to retain the knowledge through book reading.

Many survival situations will require a person to put the knowledge they need to use very quickly, most of the time the situations will not permit you to pull out a electronic/or non-electronic source of information for reference.

You are very right, but as I stated there may be people ether in your group or ones you come across that dont have te knowledge. Ye you may beable to teach but there may also little details that you have forgotten and having the material right there can be a life saver. And remember, you may be the most knowledgable person in the world in regards to survival skills, but if you are incapacitated and have a heavy wound or sickness, you might be thankful that Kindle was there in your bag for another person have the help the needed in bringing you back to health.

The Kindle is not a prime survival tool.

You aren’t going to need every piece of info in a survival book, and there is no need to bring a personal library. If you want a good reference tool, take notes from various sources and compile them into a notebook like a Moleskine. I would also make sure that I had a ziplock bag for the book to prevent it from getting wet. Books don’t need to be charged, they won’t stop working after being dropped, no screen to crack. Just don’t get it wet.

I second the use of the kindle for these purposes. It is actually a really awesome device. Once things are on it there is no need for internet. The pdf reader is a bit clunky, so be warned but once you get used to it it is not bad. The e-ink makes it's battery drain incredibly slow and its storage is huge. I spent a few bucks and bought the entire site archive of survivalblog.com... and if you look around this forum some you will find links to all kinds of pdfs and other formats - including pretty much all of the military manuals - I would suggest this one first off www.ar15.com... and if you have the cash, get a hard copy as well and keep it in a ziplock baggie. Plus never underestimate the value in pleasurable distraction (for me, reading).

Go to Google Books and type in keywords such as "chemistry", "yeast" and so on with it set to "Full Downloads".Thousands of extremely useful public domain books from the turn of the 20th are free to download that detail how they used to do eveyrthing before electricity and so on.

Don't forget to have one of those in a faraday cage.