When disaster strikes, knowledge can mean the difference between survival and death. Gear and supplies are important but not having the right information in your head (and in your hands) can get you killed. That’s where a solid library of the best prepper books comes in. These aren’t just manuals, they’re lifelines with skills, strategies, and lessons from people who’ve been through it all or spent their lives preparing for SHTF.
We do not know what the future holds. But, we do know that everything can change in a second. Just picture living without electricity for a month. Would you be able to do that? This is just the simplest scenario preppers get ready for. And you want to survive whatever life throws at you, don’t you?
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been prepping for years, the right books can sharpen your thinking, expand your skills, and help you stay calm and confident in any situation. From food preservation and first aid to off-grid living and bug-out strategies, these books cover it all, step by step, and in plain English. No fluff, no fear tactics. Just solid, time-tested knowledge.
In this article, we present the best prepper books across a range of categories. You’ll find titles for beginners who need the basics, as well as advanced guides for self-reliant homesteaders, tactical thinkers, and basically anyone interested in survival when SHTF.
You will surely find something that you need and that might save your life someday.
The Lost Ways 2 – Best Prepper Book For Beginners
For beginners stepping into the world of preparedness, The Lost Ways 2 by Claude Davis serves as a compelling introduction to ancestral survival techniques. As the title suggest, this is the second book in a well-respected best seller prepper book series. The survival handbook is one of those survival books that you cannot put down once you start reading it.
The book delves into time-tested methods our forebears employed to thrive without modern conveniences, covering topics like food preservation, natural remedies, real stories, and self-sufficiency. Its practical approach offers readers a foundational understanding of survival skills that remain relevant today.
One of the book’s strengths lies in its emphasis on traditional practices. It provides insights into building smokehouses, crafting pemmican, and utilizing wild plants for sustenance and medicine. Such knowledge not only enriches a prepper’s skill set but also fosters a deeper appreciation for sustainable living. The inclusion of detailed instructions and illustrations aids in comprehending and applying these techniques effectively.
The premise of The Lost Ways is simple: who are the best people to teach you about survival through disastrous events? Those who already went through them. Our forefathers did not rely on electronics or modern technology. And we can learn so much from them.
Claude Davis did a wonderful job with this book. Not only did he gather lost information we can all use, he also adapted some of the old ways to new ways to help take full advantage of what we have access to while respecting the core principles of our forefathers.
Learn more about The Lost Ways 2 here!
The Self-Sufficient Backyard – Best Homesteading Guide For Preppers
For aspiring homesteaders seeking a practical guide to self-sufficiency, The Self-Sufficient Backyard by Ron and Johanna Melchiore offers a wealth of hands-on knowledge. Drawing from over 40 years of off-grid living, the authors provide detailed instructions on transforming a typical home into a self-reliant haven. From establishing efficient water collection systems to setting up cost-effective hybrid electricity solutions, the book covers essential aspects of sustainable living.
Beyond infrastructure, Ron and Johanna highlight food production and preservation, offering insights into creating a productive garden and storing harvests effectively. They also share their expertise on cultivating a medicinal garden, highlighting seven essential herbs and their applications. Their real-world experiences lend credibility to the guidance provided, making complex projects approachable for readers.
Whether you’re on a quarter-acre plot or even a smaller urban space, The Self-Sufficient Backyard adapts its strategies to fit various living situations. Its comprehensive approach empowers readers to take actionable steps toward independence, making it a valuable course for anyone interested in homesteading and sustainable living.
Learn more about The Self-Sufficient Backyard here!
A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide – Best Bugging-In Prepper Book
For individuals aiming to fortify their homes against unforeseen crises, A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide by Joel Lambert stands out as a vital resource. Drawing from his extensive experience as a Navy SEAL and BUD/S instructor serving his country, Lambert provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide to transform your residence into a secure self-sufficient location when society collapses. The guide emphasizes the importance of being prepared to “bug in,” offering strategies to ensure safety and sustenance without the need to evacuate.
The book delves into critical areas like food storage, water preservation, stressful situations, and home security, all vital when hell breaks loose. Lambert introduces the concept of “The Life Pie,” highlighting ten fundamental aspects every individual should address to ensure comprehensive preparedness. From building a long-lasting food stockpile without reliance on refrigeration to implementing effective water storage solutions, the guide offers practical advice tailored for real-world application. Its straightforward simple language and actionable steps make it accessible to readers of all backgrounds and experience levels.
In times when the ability to remain safely at home during emergencies is invaluable, A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide provides the knowledge and tools necessary to achieve that goal. By focusing on self-reliance and proactive planning, Lambert empowers readers to take control of their safety and well-being, making this guide a top recommendation for those serious about home preparedness.
Learn more about A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide here!
The Amish Ways – Best Prepper Book On Food Preservation And Storage
For those looking for a comprehensive guide to food preservation and storage rooted in time-tested, off-grid techniques, and a survival handbook you can trust, The Amish Ways by Eddie Swartzentruber stands as an invaluable resource. Drawing from his upbringing in one of the strictest Old Order Amish communities, Swartzentruber shares firsthand knowledge of sustainable living practices that have enabled the Amish to thrive without modern conveniences. This book offers readers a unique opportunity to learn methods of self-sufficiency that have been honed over generations, all packed into a complete guide.
The Amish Ways digs deep into practical solutions for preserving food without electricity, such as constructing a backyard root cellar using simple materials like trash cans or barrels. It also covers techniques for canning produce for long-term storage and creating natural remedies from common backyard plants. With detailed instructions and illustrations, the book serves as a step-by-step manual for those aiming to build a resilient food supply independent of modern infrastructures.
Nowadays, reliance on technology can be a vulnerability you can counter with a good book. The Amish Ways offers a blueprint for achieving food security through traditional, secret methods. Whether you’re a seasoned prepper or new to the concept of self-reliance, this book equips you with the knowledge to preserve and store food effectively, ensuring preparedness for any crisis.
Learn more about The Amish Ways here!
The Lost Book Of Herbal Remedies II – Best Herbal Medicine And Natural Remedies Book
For preppers seeking a comprehensive guide to herbal medicine and natural remedies, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies II by Dr. Nicole Apelian is an exceptional resource. The whole series is great. Building upon the foundation of its predecessor, this volume introduces 139 additional medicinal plants, many of which are commonly found in various regions. The book offers detailed identification guides, complete with in-field photographs and close-ups, facilitating accurate recognition of plants in their natural habitats. It can easily be added to the list of best survival guides out there but we have to acknowledge that it is better as a field guide for learning about herbal medicine and natural remedies.
Beyond identification, the book provides over 207 step-by-step recipes for creating effective natural remedies. These include treatments like pain control tinctures, wound-healing covers, and herbal balms for sore joints and arthritis. Each recipe is accompanied by clear instructions, dosage information, and relevant warnings, ensuring safe and effective application.
In times when conventional medical resources may be scarce, like an economic collapse, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies II empowers individuals to harness the healing properties of nature. Its practical approach to herbal medicine makes it an invaluable addition to any prepper’s library, offering knowledge that can be crucial for health and survival in challenging situations.
Learn more about The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies II here!
No Grid Survival Projects – Best Prepper Book For Long-Term Off-Grid Living
For long-term off-grid living, No Grid Survival Projects by Michael Major is an invaluable written guide. Authored by a former infantry soldier and aerospace fabricator, this good book does an excellent job at combining real-world experience with precise, step-by-step basic instructions to help readers build a self-sufficient family safe lifestyle and survive. Major’s background ensures that each project is meticulously detailed, making complex tasks accessible to individuals with varying skill levels.
The book features 70 practical projects designed to enhance self-reliance anywhere in the country, including constructing a pressurized rainwater harvesting system, building a solar water heater, and creating a root cellar for food storage. Each project includes comprehensive materials lists, cost estimates, and difficulty ratings, allowing readers to plan effectively. Additionally, the inclusion of video tutorials complements the written instructions, catering to different learning preferences and ensuring clarity in execution. Access to the videos is available for every buyer.
Beyond the technical aspects, No Grid Survival Projects emphasizes the importance of independence and preparedness in uncertain times. By focusing on cost-effective solutions that can be implemented with limited resources, the book helps you take control of your basic needs. Whether you’re new to off-grid living or seeking to enhance your existing setup, this guide offers practical knowledge to build a resilient and self-sufficient lifestyle.
Learn more about No Grid Survival Projects here!
Home Doctor – Best Prepper Book For Medical Emergencies
Hard truth time: most people will die and nobody will be able to save them or their family when SHTF. Most will die because they are not prepared with basics related to medicine. This is something we do not really learn in school. You cannot count on others to give you first aid when the country is burning and people are focused on their own survival.
For preppers needing a thorough medical survival guide, basically alternative medical books, The Home Doctor: Practical Medicine for Every Household stands out as an indispensable resource. Co-authored by Dr. Maybell Nieves, Dr. Rodrigo Alterio, and survival expert Claude Davis, this 304-page manual offers practical medical procedures and vital supplies to manage health emergencies when professional help is unavailable. Drawing from firsthand experiences in Venezuela’s healthcare crisis, the authors provide insights into managing common ailments and emergencies without relying on modern medical infrastructure.
The book covers a wide range of topics, including how to recognize and respond to heart attacks, manage infections, and handle injuries during blackouts, a very tough situation that can quickly become reality when electricity disappeared together with your hope. It also discusses the use of expired medications, offering guidance on which ones remain effective and which should be discarded. With clear instructions and illustrations, the guide empowers individuals to take control of their health in challenging situations.
Access to medical care can be uncertain and family safe solutions can be hard to come by. The Home Doctor equips readers with the knowledge to act confidently during emergencies. Its focus on self-reliance and practical solutions makes it a must-have for anyone serious about preparedness and medical self-sufficiency.
Learn more about Home Doctor here!
Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide – Best Wilderness Survival Book
For preppers looking for the best survival guides for long-term wilderness survival, Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide: Forgotten Skills to Make the Wild Your Home by Dr. Nicole Apelian is an exceptional resource. Drawing from her extensive experience as a wilderness expert and herbalist, Dr. Apelian offers practical insights into transforming the wilderness into a sustainable and secure living environment. Her firsthand knowledge, including surviving 57 days alone on Vancouver Island during the History Channel’s show Alone, lends credibility and depth to the guide.
This guide covers essential survival skills like building shelters, sourcing and purifying water, and starting fires that can last up to 14 hours. It also discusses wilderness first aid, including the identification and use of medicinal plants, and provides techniques for tracking, hunting, and cooking in the wild. Each section is accompanied by step-by-step instructions and high-resolution photographs, making the information accessible and easy to follow.
Having the ability to live self-sufficiently in the wild is invaluable. Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide equips readers with the knowledge and skills necessary to not just survive but thrive in nature. Whether you’re preparing for potential emergencies or seeking to deepen your connection with nature, this guide serves as a vital tool for long-term wilderness preparedness.
Learn more about the Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide here!
The Modular Backyard Power Plant – Best Grid-Down Survival Book
In our modern world, electricity powers nearly every aspect of daily life, from preserving food and accessing clean water to maintaining communication and ensuring safety. A sudden power grid failure, whether due to natural disasters, cyberattacks, or infrastructure issues, can disrupt these essential services, leaving us vulnerable and feeling like in hell. Recognizing this risk, it’s crucial to have a reliable backup power solution to maintain self-sufficiency during such events.
The Modular Backyard Power Plant is a best seller for a reason as it offers a practical guide to constructing a personal power system that can keep your home running independently of the grid. This resource provides step-by-step instructions for assembling a solar-powered generator, enabling you to power essential appliances like refrigerators and communication devices during outages. By following this guide, you can reduce reliance on external power sources and make sure your house remains functional during emergencies.
For those seeking to enhance their preparedness and resilience, The Modular Backyard Power Plant serves as an invaluable tool. If you are not prepared and focused on electricity, there is a good possibility you will become one of those sad stories about what happened when the grid went down.
By building your own power system, you not only safeguard your family’s well-being during grid failures but also take a significant step toward energy independence. You can proactively address potential power disruptions, ensuring you’re ready for whatever challenges may arise.
Learn more about The Modular Backyard Power Plant here!
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re just starting your preparedness journey or looking for more survival knowledge, the right book can be a game-changer. These prepper books aren’t just guides. They’re lifelines packed with practical wisdom, time-tested skills, and real-world strategies. Remember that just one second can lead to hell. Choose the ones that speak to your needs, build your library, and get ready because being prepared never goes out of style.
Remember it takes one second to make a bad decision caused by your lack of knowledge and your family will not survive. Also, you may want to save everyone but be faced with incredibly difficult decisions to make. You will question reality for survival and if faced with an economic collapse, you have to stay focused on the most important thing: actual survival.
Stay safe everyone and remember: there is always something new to learn, new stories to hear, and a collection of skills you do not have, regardless of where you live, from New York to Texas, and regardless of what political party you love talking the most about!
Bonus Survival Handbook Options:
Obviously, the survival handbook options highlighted above are just a small part of what you could learn. When faced with a tough situation, you never know what skill you gained in the past from a survival guide will help you. You are not living in a TV show and you cannot redo life. So, to help you even more when hell breaks loose, here are some bonus books you can consider:
- The Prepper’s 52-Week Course to Total Disaster Readiness by Jim Cobb
- The Bushcraft Boxed Set by Dave Canterbury
- The Survival Medicine Handbook by Joseph Alton MD
- The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization
- How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It by James Wesley Rawles
- The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning by Diane Devereaux
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All books associated with this company. You left off the best one of all time. It’s simply called “The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization”. Google it. It talks a lot about history and so forth, but it tells how many modern inventions and systems were built and how to redo them if it is ever needed. From drawings and descriptions of how to deliver a baby to distilling, leathercraft from raw animals, skins, first aid, caring for livestock, rope, making, even into larger things like making your own generator, building a boat, all sorts of things that society would need like how to make concrete, refining, oil, making yarn out of cotton. So many things that we don’t even think of.
Wish we could edit these posts. I used voice to text typing and it put way too many commas in that. Hope you can figure out it out.
Trying to figure out the down votes. Really? Do you even know the book?
There are a lot of people who consider that more of a history book, it might be due to this that the downvotes came. Can’t think of any other reason. The Book is a good read.
Mo Prepper bashes the site for trying to make a living. He is visiting a free website and is free to go elsewhere or start a website himself with great information and comments with his remark on you trying to make a living selling excellent books.
I can confirm it’s a good read.
I completely agree with how crucial real knowledge is in disaster scenarios. A few years ago during a weeklong blackout in my town, I realized how unprepared I really was—everything felt uncertain and stressful. Since then, I’ve made it a point to learn practical survival skills, mostly through trusted books.