Growing up in the 80’s I recall reading a lot of my father’s American Survival Guide: The Magazine of Self Reliance issues. Wished I had a mint of copy of those back issues! Now a days I pickup an issue of Backwoods Home magazine from time to time.
The other day I stopped in at Barnes & Nobles to pick up some light reading material for a flight home and stumbled upon American Handgunner’s Reality Check: SURVIVE, 2012 issue. I normally pass on the majority of gun rags these days but this particular volume had some useful information. I think it is a great read for anyone who is just starting out in the prepping thing or is on the fence about the life style. Might be a good fire to light under someones ass you know to get them to start their preps.
Just a head’s up, I’m glad someone is publishing magazines like this, check it out when your at the news stand next.
I have about 5 years, '86 to '91, saved and sealed in bags. That was my favorite magazine ever. I hated to see it go away. It went online for a bit but that just sucked.
One will learn far more SHTF information here in the Disaster Preparation and Planning section then in any basic survival rag book.
While the current batch of survival books are basic information at best for beginners most of the information is stale and a paste and click by the author from other sources which the author is not a subject expert.
Now some of those older publications like the American Survival Guide had a lot of real survival experts from the military and civilian trainers who offered fresh ideas for changing times. Its a shame that type of information has faded away as it is more relevant today then ever.
Yeah, I really liked that publication. It’s a damn shame they went under.
I agree. Online forums such as M4C are far more educational than 99% of the crap that is being printed these days.
I would say some articles, yes. See if any stores local to you carry it. I have found it carried by a local Wal-Mart and Barnes & Nobles. I go and read mags on the shelf so I don’t have to waste the money on buying them unless there is something really of interest.
Backwoods Home is more of a living off the grid publication than it is a “survival” one, but we all know they go hand in hand.
I picked up SureFire: Combat Tatics Fall 2011 Volume Nine Number Two recently. I know, I know. . .gun rag. But I was pleasantly surprised to find two “prepping” articles in this volume.
Recipe For Disaster: various industry professionals and veterans (Mil & LEO) polled on what they learned to keep in their Go Bags.
What’s In Your Trauma Kit?: well, the title says it all.
Came across this one today, SURVIVALIST and thinking about getting the “free issue” to get a feel for it. Always in search of good thrown room reading material!
I’ve picked up a few of these whenever I can find them. I believe they are only published quaterly. Some good articles in them, but like most rags I like to review them before I spend $ on them.
Wonder if anyone ever placed the A/S Guide in a PDF format some were on the net. It would be nice to be able to down load the entire publication if available.
Not really prepping guides, but great niche information can be found in some of the well established organic gardening and cropping magazines.
“Backyard Poultry” is a great little hobby magazine that is accurate in its name. It is about raising chickens and such in small lots.
“Organic Gardening” has good to very good articles about how to get good yields from small gardens. Avoid any of the other articles, they have gone around the bend…
There is another, much like Backyard Poultry, but for raising goats. I meant to grab one last spring and had forgotten until now. It was pretty nice. It was going into what feed to use to maximize the critter for meat or milk, how to make a ton of products from their milk, and how to butcher and preserve the critters. If i remember, I will try to find it at the store.
For those of us in Ohio, great places to find these types of magazines is in the niche shops that grow around the Amish and Mennonite communities.
Not certain if these are the type of magazines the OP was interested in, but they certainly offer information to help one be less reliant on others.
Good stuff thanks for sharing those titles. I shop at an all natural grocer myself. In their check out lines they have a lot of “do it yourself” farming periodicals as well as “living off the grid”/ rural living types.
I subscribed to the SURVIVALIST and will give feed back once my first issue arrives. I can cancel within 30 day at no charge if I find it a no go.
The hands down, best, most truly knowledge-filled books Ive ever read on how to live & survive are the old FOXFIRE series of books.
Not “survivalist” books by any means, these books show you how our forefathers & mothers lived waaay back before any of todays
modern convieniances. Pioneer, mountain man type stuff, done by the real people who at that time, were still doing it on a daily basis.
Mountain folk, hillbillys, rural folk interviewed for these books.
As a kid in the 70’s I devoured these every chance I could find them, along with the old Fur Fish& Game magazine, as I trapped heavily at the time. Ive meant to many times over the years assemble a collection of the FOXFIRE books, but have yet to do so.
About any subject you can imagine was covered by these books, including medicines, plants, cabin building, skinning, butchering, preserving meat, gardens, …just nearly everything.
