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PRACTICAL DOOMSDAY
PRACTICAL
D O O M S D AY
A U s e r ’s G u i d e t o t h e
E n d o f t h e Wo r l d

b y Mich a l Za le w s k i

San Francisco
PRACTICAL DOOMSDAY. Copyright © 2022 by Michal Zalewski.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval
system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

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Names: Zalewski, Michal, author.

Title: Practical doomsday : a user's guide to the end of the world /
Michal Zalewski.
Description: San Francisco : No Starch Press, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021042681 (print) | LCCN 2021042682 (ebook) | ISBN
9781718502123 (paperback) | ISBN 9781718502130 (ebook)
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The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has
been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc. shall have any
liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by the information contained in it.
For my children
About the Author
Michal Zalewski has been actively involved in disaster preparedness for
more than a decade, including the publication of a popular 2015 guide
titled Disaster Planning for Regular Folks. By day, he is an accomplished secu-
rity researcher who has been working in information security since the late
1990s, helping companies map out and manage risk in the digital domain.
He is the author of two classic security books, The Tangled Web and Silence on
the Wire (both No Starch Press), and a recipient of the prestigious Lifetime
Achievement Pwnie award. He spent 11 years at Google building its product
security program before joining Snap Inc. as a VP of Security & Privacy
Engineering. Zalewski grew up in Poland under communist rule, lived
through the fall of the Soviet Bloc, and moved to the United States in 2001.
 BRIEF CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

PART I: THINKING ABOUT RISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1: A Method to the Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2: The Specter of Humdrum Calamities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 3: Exploring Large-Scale Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 4: Oh No, Zombies! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

PART II: THE PREPARED LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 5: Mind Over Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 6: Building a Rainy-Day Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 7: Safeguarding Your Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 8: Engineering a Doomsday-Proof Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 9: Staying Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Chapter 10: Protecting Oneself in the Digital and Physical Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 11: Getting in Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 12: Building a Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Chapter 13: Hatching a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

PART III: THE ESSENTIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Chapter 14: The Discreet Charm of the Bulletproof Vest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Chapter 15: Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Chapter 16: Nourishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 17: Sanitation, Hygiene, and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 18: Fuel and Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Chapter 19: Household and Vehicle Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Chapter 20: Evacuation Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Chapter 21: Protection Against Pollutants and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Chapter 22: Emergency Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Chapter 23: Entertainment and More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

PART IV: ACTIVE SELF-DEFENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Chapter 24: The Politics of Putting Up a Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Chapter 25: Standing Up for Your Belongings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Chapter 26: Fighting for Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 27: Understanding Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

x Brief Contents
 CO N T E N T S I N D E TA I L

PREFACE xvii

PART I: THINKING ABOUT RISK 1

1
A METHOD TO THE MADNESS 3
A Method for Reducing Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A Model for Quantifying Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Challenge of Crony Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2
THE SPECTER OF HUMDRUM CALAMITIES 9
Unemployment and Insolvency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Loss of Shelter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Loss of Basic Utilities or Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Unintentional Injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Theft, Harassment, and Intentional Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Illness and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
But Wait, There’s More! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3
EXPLORING LARGE-SCALE RISKS 17
Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Industrial Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Social Unrest and War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Economic Crises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Pandemics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

4
OH NO, ZOMBIES! 29
Uniquely Virulent and Deadly Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Runaway Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Other Planetary-Scale Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Exotic Physics and Miscellaneous Space Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Unimpeded Rise of Totalitarian Regimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Global Thermonuclear War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Ghosts, Bigfoot, and the Coming Robot Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Scourge of Extraterrestrials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Looking Beyond Doomsday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PART II: THE PREPARED LIFESTYLE 45
5
MIND OVER MATTER 47

6
BUILDING A RAINY-DAY FUND 49
Finding Ways to Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Compartmentalizing the Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Dealing with Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Knowing Where to Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

7
SAFEGUARDING YOUR SAVINGS 57
The History of Currencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Debt as a Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Age of Coin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Fractional Reserve Banking and Fiat Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Cryptocurrencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Revisiting Dangers to Liquidity and Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Loss of Access to Bank Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Adverse Judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Gradual Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Hyperinflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Confiscation of Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The (Monetary) Zombie Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Methods for Mitigating Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Physical Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Diversified Bank Deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Simple Currency Hedges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Equities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Stock Options and Commodity Futures Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Precious Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Physical Collectibles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Cryptocurrencies and NFTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Insurance Policies and Separation of Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Portfolio Design Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

8
ENGINEERING A DOOMSDAY-PROOF CAREER 91

9
STAYING ALIVE 95
Defensive Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Working at Heights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

xii Contents in Detail

The Enemy in the Medicine Cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Alcohol and Recreational Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Workshop and Power Tool Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fireproofing the Homestead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Other Dangers in and Around the Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

10
PROTECTING ONESELF IN THE DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL REALM 105
Dealing with Online Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Maintaining Privacy on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Minimizing the Impact of Burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Responding to Muggings and Home Invasions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Fending Off Pickpockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
A Word on Kindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

11
GETTING IN SHAPE 115
The Folly of Miracle Cures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Establishing a “No Diet” Diet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Calorie Restriction vs. Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
The Importance of the Long Haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

12
BUILDING A COMMUNITY 119

13
HATCHING A PLAN 121
Jotting Down Scenarios of Concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Modeling Sequences of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Defining Basic Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Identifying Indicators and Decision Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Planning to Fail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Facing the Final Contingency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
From Plans to Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

PART III: THE ESSENTIALS 127

14
THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BULLETPROOF VEST 129

15
WATER 131
Estimating Water Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Household Storage Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Hydration on the Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Long-Term Storage Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Contents in Detail xiii

16
NOURISHMENT 137
Estimating Bulk Calorie Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Nutrition in the Long Haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Picking a Storage Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Keeping Stockpiled Foods Fresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Stocking the Doomsday Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Specialty Survival Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Backyard Gardens as a Source of Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

17
SANITATION, HYGIENE, AND HEALTH 145
Waste Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Containment of Flooding and Leaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Dishwashing, Laundry, and Other Chores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Personal Hygiene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Medication and Medical Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Medical Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

18
FUEL AND ELECTRICITY 153
Keeping the Lights On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Powering Small Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Staying Warm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Staying Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Getting Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Looking Beyond Short-Term Outages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

19
HOUSEHOLD AND VEHICLE TOOLS 161
Storm Cleanup Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Dealing with Car Malfunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Other Household Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

20
EVACUATION GEAR 165
General Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Setting Up a Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Bad Weather Preps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Food and Water in the Wild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Knives and Other Camping Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Wildlife Management and Physical Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

xiv Contents in Detail

21
PROTECTION AGAINST POLLUTANTS AND DISEASE 173
Human-to-Human Transmission of Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Zoonotic Disease Vector Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Smoke and Industrial Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Nuclear Disaster Preps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

22
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 181
The Lost Art of Pen and Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Satellite Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Two-Way Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Understanding the Range of Handhelds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Radio Bands and Types of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Digital Radios and Data Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Licensing Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Looking Beyond Handhelds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

23
ENTERTAINMENT AND MORE 191

PART IV: ACTIVE SELF-DEFENSE 193

24
THE POLITICS OF PUTTING UP A FIGHT 195

25
STANDING UP FOR YOUR BELONGINGS 199
What You Aren’t Allowed to Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Buying Some Peace of Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Buying Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

26
FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE 203
The Legalities of Self-Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
The Right to Arm Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
The Merits of Unarmed Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Less-Lethal Defense Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Weapons That Kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Contents in Detail xv
27
UNDERSTANDING FIREARMS 211
Handguns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Semiautomatic Pistols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Revolvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Other Concealable Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Deciding on Handgun Caliber and Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Long Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Shotguns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Firearm Safety Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Firearm Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Getting Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

EPILOGUE 221

NOTES 223

INDEX 237

xvi Contents in Detail

 PR E FAC E

This isn’t my first book, but it’s by far my most unusual. For one, I don’t fit
the typical profile for the disaster preparedness genre. I’m not a grizzled
ex-military survivalist, nor a peddler of gold bullion, nor a doomsday prog-
nosticator convinced that the world around us is going to hell. Nothing of
the sort: I’m an unassuming, city-raised computer nerd.
In a way, the book in front of you is simply a product of circumstance.
I grew up in communist Poland, a once-proud nation razed to the ground
in the final days of World War II, then subjugated by Stalin and unceremoni-
ously subsumed into the Soviet Bloc. I remember childhood tales of distant
relatives vanishing without a trace, and I recall long lines and ration cards
for basic necessities like sugar and soap. Later, when I came to the United
States, I lived through the dot-com crash of the early 2000s, and then through
the housing crisis of 2007 to 2009. I watched friends go from earning cozy
six-figure salaries to having their cars and homes repossessed. I kept telling
myself this would never happen to me—all the way until, through a stroke
of bad luck, I almost ended up on the street.
In the end, my fascination with emergency preparedness isn’t rooted in
a mean militaristic streak or a bleak outlook on life; it stems from a simple
realization that disasters aren’t rare today, just as they weren’t rare in days
gone by. We all have friends or relatives who have experienced financial
hardships or had to escape wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods—
but we invariably imagine ourselves safe from such calamities. Moments
later, we open history books and read about thousands of years of brutal
 conflict, conquest, plague, and war, with only fleeting decades of prosperity
and calm in between. We know about all this, and yet we convince ourselves
that nothing of the sort could ever happen again—not here, not now, not to us.
Still, the goal of this book isn’t to convince you that the end is nigh and
let that thought consume your life. On the contrary, I want to reclaim the
concept of prepping from the hands of the bunker-dwelling prophets of
doom. Prepping shouldn’t be about expecting the apocalypse; it should be
about enjoying life to the fullest without having to worry about what’s in the
news. Such is the power of having a solid and well-reasoned backup plan.
Another way in which this book differs from others is that from the
beginning of the project, I wanted to teach a thought process, rather than
write down a rigid set of axioms, a list of investments to make, or a collec-
tion of items to buy. We all come from different backgrounds and have
different life goals; it follows that there’s no one solution that fits all. The
future is unknowable too, so not every approach that sounds good on
paper is guaranteed to pay off down the line. The ability to reason through
unforeseen problems can be worth more than even the most remarkable
stash of survival gear.
Ultimately, my goal is to equip readers with a healthy mix of data, opin-
ions, and interesting anecdotes. Far from being gospel, the book is merely
a starting point for you to conduct your own personally relevant research.
This, in turn, should help you make your own decisions that not only prepare
you for potential adversities that might await in your life—but more impor-
tant, help you sleep well at night when everybody else is worried sick.

xviii Preface
 PART I
THINKING ABOUT RISK

Learning from the past, reasoning about the future, and

making sense of predictions in an ever-changing world
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