Are you worried about natural disasters, crime or terrorism? Neil Strauss was. He tried to prepare for everything, but ended up finding himself.
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life is an informative, funny, and sometimes disturbing memoir. It details the transformation of the author, Neil Strauss, a music critic and writer who admittedly has few practical skills at the beginning of the book. Strauss’ family lived in a high rise apartment building, so he never learned about nature or how to fix things. By the end of the book, he’s able to care for both himself and loved ones in areas ranging from wilderness survival to hand to hand combat.
The book immediately draws you in with Strauss’ moral dilemma of whether to slaughter a goat in his quest for survival skills. Emergency then bounces back and forth in time, from location to location, and from factual narrative to analysis. This stylistic choice holds the reader’s attention, but is confusing at times.
Strauss first became concerned about domestic terrorism and civil unrest during 1999, exacerbated by the hype around Y2K. When the apocalyptic predictions failed to come true, he relaxed. Although he was aware of it, he didn’t worry about the hatred directed toward America from other nations.
Strauss states that he was quite sheltered and privileged until the 9/11 tragedy occurred. Like many others, he never imagined that the US could be attacked. Suddenly, he was afraid of dying while doing everyday activities like opening letters. Some of his precautions, like buying a gas mask, he later realized only gave him the illusion of safety.
Strauss later falls in with some 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Although he never believes that the US government was behind the plot, he learns about offshoring assets from this group. Strauss discovers that foreign bank accounts are practically impossible for US citizens to get, so he would need a second passport to accomplish this task. Even if he did get a bank account, there is no financial privacy as the IRS requires US citizens to disclose if they hold over $10,000 in foreign bank accounts.
The author then stumbles into a group of billionaires led by a man named Spencer. They encourage him to read about the fall of empires, and realize that a similar fate will eventually happen to the US. They convince him that he needs multiple contingency plans, including a second citizenship, as well as with residences and revenue in multiple jurisdictions. He is motivated to get a second passport due to his distaste for Bush Administration policies like detaining “enemy combatants,” and he worries about losing freedoms.
Unfortunately, Strauss doesn’t have the bankroll for the plans he makes, such as purchasing real estate and citizenship in St. Kitts. He takes out a home equity loan and goes deep into debt, later realizing that his wealth and future is at the mercy of foreigners he just met.
In addition, his new place in St. Kitts is on an island vulnerable to drought, food shortages and hurricanes. If riots happen, he worries that he will be unable to protect his property and himself.
Strauss decides that he needs to buy guns and learn to use them effectively. He chooses Gunsite Academy in Arizona for his instruction, then buys a weapon and takes a course there. Not surprisingly, Strauss lacks appropriate clothes for shooting in the desert.
He’s taught how to shoot attackers while avoiding innocents, and that the police have no duty to protect you. After the training, he realized that he was a hypocrite for backing the First Amendment but not the Second.
Throughout the book, the author’s pattern is to research the best teachers and engage them directly. He doesn’t really care if they are expensive or located in an inconvenient place. With his background as a music critic and journalist, he’s not intimidated to call the top experts on terrorism, knives, or motorcycles.
Strauss finds out about the military training called SERE - Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. However, he determines that this program is not extreme enough for him, so he attends Tom Brown’s Tracking School. Brown is known for teaching instructors in the Marines how to survive anywhere with nothing.
As usual, Strauss is totally unprepared for the experience. He ends up wet and miserable despite his high tech camping gear, texting his girlfriend with complaints. Once his Blackberry stops working, he realizes that his bad attitude was making his physical and mental discomfort much worse. He starts paying attention to instruction, covering topics such as making a shelter, finding water, and reading the footprints of animals.
Once Strauss returns home from Brown’s school, he decides to fill in the skill gaps he’s discovered, as well as master the new ones. Despite his location in an urban area, he practices making a fire from scratch, primitive cooking, producing water from a solar still, and raising a female goat.
Strauss also notes impacts to his personality from his training regime, like feeling more masculine and “centered,” with a decreased need to impress others. Strauss had spent his life avoiding walks, dirt and physical labor, but he realized this is what his body was meant to do.
The author then plans to test his level of preparedness with various drills. Strauss instructs his assistant to alert him to a “3 day shutdown” of LA at a random time, to see if he is ready to survive without modern conveniences. On another occasion, he finds he could live three days in the wilderness with just a knife if necessary. The author also sets up caches on a nearby island should he need to flee LA due to violence.
Nevertheless, Strauss keeps discovering holes in his plans. Even with caches prepared ahead of time, he knows he won’t last long without a well stocked retreat. Desperation and hunger can make anyone violent. Living rough is fun for a few days, as long as the inconvenience has a planned end.
At a certain point in Strauss’ quest to build survival skills, he moves from his initial impulse to flee, to a more nuanced position. In order to get emergency training and develop a more positive relationship with local police, Strauss signs up for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in his area. As you can’t expect rescue for 3-4 days during a disaster, CERT training teaches you how to save your life as well as those of your neighbors. He learns many tips such as obtaining drinking water from heaters, and moving heavy rubble with pieces of wood, as well as how to cope with a chemical attack.
The author becomes aware that his life had been free of severe stress to date, and he worries that he would crack under the pressure of a real disaster. Strauss decides to take EMT training to learn how to help others in medical emergencies, but he was never under much stress during his ambulance shifts. Strauss then joins the search and rescue team, and is accepted to the California Emergency Mobile Patrol.
All of a sudden, he feels like he belongs to a team. Rather than choosing anonymity and privacy, he applies for several licenses such as his concealed weapons permit, which puts his fingerprints on file with the government, and an EMT license. This later allows him to save lives when assisting survivors after a train accident.
Now Strauss’ first instinct is to run towards danger rather than away. Although he wants to live as long as possible, his huge skill set makes him feel less afraid of the uncertain future. When he finally receives his long-awaited passport from St. Kitts, Strauss chooses to be useful to his new community instead of just hiding out there.
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life is definitely worth a read for its entertaining combination of autobiography and self-help book. Although the title implies it is a practical manual, it's really the story of a man achieving personal growth through learning survival skills. The author transforms from a naive music critic with few practical skills, to a much wiser man who can cope with nearly any crisis. It will appeal to people who are interested in survival skills and self-responsibility, and to those who enjoy an engrossing book as well.
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