Book Review: Survivors

As previously mentioned, I had to get out of town for job preparations.  I got to the airport with very little spare time before boarding.  I popped into the book store, saw Survivors on the shelf, grabbed it, and ran to the gate.  Oh yeah, I paid for it too.  Quite a bit actually, everything is so much more expensive at the airport.

Survivors, James Wesley, Rawles

I read very quickly.  In between naps I finished this book in about 8 hours of flying.  After finishing this book, and reading the back flap, I realized that the author is also the author of one of the survival blogs I visit.  Actually, it is the survival blog, www.survivalblog.com.

Conceptually, there were a lot of very interesting things going on in this book.  One of the main characters is a military man, stationed over seas when SHTF.  One of the main story lines in the book is his epic journey to get back to his family.  There are also an interesting range of people in different scenarios and how they manage when the economy totally collapses in a very short period of time.

There were some interesting themes in this book, ones that should seem familiar to many who read survivalist blogs: the conspiracy about government controlling the economy, the UN trying to take over, gangs running rampant, and how gold, silver, and ammo are the only currencies that will be acceptable after SHTF.  There are some good survival tips and some cool suggestions on gear.

There is also a very large religious theme, pretty much every "good" character is very Christian.  When I finished the book, I theorized that if you removed every religious reference, ever bible quote, than the book would have been half as thick.  That might be fine for a lot of readers (especially those who are more familiar with his work), but I'm a very non-religious kind of guy and I found it a little too much.

Unfortunately, because I read so much, I'm also incredibly picky.

So, it's an entertaining book, it has some good points...  some readers (especially religious ones who are interested in the conspiracies about the economy) will probably enjoy this book.  As a non-religious guy, who isn't too big on conspiracy theories, this book was a little less than I was hoping for (especially at airport prices).  There isn't any character development, the book skips months at a time with no real changes, it's interesting but awkward.  And very religious.

If I'd paid $2-3 dollars in the kindle store for this book than I probably wouldn't care, but paying full list price +25% airport markup?  I'm not impressed.  And this is a "New York Times Best Seller"?  If you're looking for something to reaffirm standing religious/conspiracy beliefs than this book is perfect for you, if you're not, than this book probably won't blow your mind.