Are you an expert when it comes to first aid?

Probably not! If that’s the case, you are exactly in the right place. These three first aid books can help you become MORE expert!

Every prepper, survivalist, camper, boy scout and emergency manager needs some basic training in first aid. Heck, every parent needs training in first aid! The problem is, we just don’t get it as part of regular schooling. It’s up to each of us to use what we learned ourselves as children. . . to try something we watched on TV, or follow some “advice” on the internet – which invariably turns out to be an ad.

In other words, we mostly do the best we can and hope for the best.

Hoping for the best just didn’t work for me so I started doing some real research.

And after reading many articles, watching many videos, and getting a variety of hands-on trainings, it became clear that . . .

• I needed a good medical reference book written by a credentialed person.
• For my go-bags, I needed a handy not-too-heavy pocket-sized guide.
• I wanted to write a book for other “citizen responders” who are in my same insecure position!

So here are the three first aid books hat I feel very confident recommending. Click on the links and you can get to Amazon — where we are Associates — for more info.

My Go-to Reference

I sat down and pretty much read this book from cover to cover, all 311 pages of it! It is that good and that interesting! Lots of real medical jargon but so clearly described that you’ll find yourself saying, “Oh, so THAT’s what that is!” Hands down, this is my go-to reference. I have used it every week since I got it!

The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide: Emergency Preparedness for ANY Disaster

The book above is, unfortunately, quite heavy. So to meet my need for a handier, easier to carry book, I searched further.

The Handy Pocket Guide

This one was a bit harder to find. Many of the first aid books are meant for people in the wilderness, and I was looking for something for people in an urban setting, too. This guide fits the bill: it’s a good size to tuck into a backpack or car glove compartment, big enough print to read in low light.

The Complete First Aid Pocket Guide: Step-by-Step Treatment for All of Your Medical Emergencies Including • Heart Attack • Stroke • Food Poisoning … • Shock • Anaphylaxis • Minor Wounds • Burns

Organizing to Save More Lives

At our website, EmergencyPlanGuide.org, our emphasis is on helping people build stronger and more resilient communities. I was looking for a book that would help a neighborhood leader approach a disaster and organize response. Didn’t find it, so I wrote my own, which became the 12th booklet in our Emergency Preparedness Q&A Mini-Series.

Crisis First Aid: Emergency Preparedness Q&A Mini-Series (Personal Preparedness Mini-Series)

The booklet that comes in your first aid kit probably won’t do the job.

Of course, you won’t become an expert reading any of these books, or even reading ALL of them. But you will likely be surprised, as I was, at how much you already know — and what a good feeling it is to have developed a new level of understanding.

Don’t deny yourself and your family this knowledge!

The Q&A Mini-Series can serve two different functions.

For the person committed to preparedness basics: feel confident you haven’t overlooked anything.

The series is made up of 14 different titles — from Custom Go-Bags and Evacuation, from First Aid to Crisis Communications, from Power Outage to Protecting Pets. Plus 8 more.

Each is an easy read, 35-55 pages in length, introducing a dozen or so common questions with common-sense answers. Room for you to take notes about your own next steps. At around $5 per booklet, you’ll feel more secure knowing you haven’t overlooked any of the basics.

Make a bigger splash! Share preparedness skills by building a group around the series.

Some readers are leaders. They are looking for a tool they can use as a study theme for their group. The Series is appropriate for church groups, HOAs, teen-aged scout troops. Pick a title for each meeting, assign members of the group to “host” that meeting as experts. Members build community, getting to know each other better all while picking up important survival information. The 15th booklet, Prepare & Share, gives more details on using the Q&A Mini-Series with a group..

You can read more about each title at Emergency Plan Guide or go directly to the collection on Amazon.

Keep on your shelf, pass along to others, give to your local library!

by Paulette Jiles

I’m getting pickier . . .

The more I read (and the more I write), the pickier I get about spending time with a book. When I picked up Lighthouse Island, I ran it through my list. Well written? Check. (It only takes a couple of pages to confirm that!) A new word every so often as a bonus. Action along with conversation or contemplation. A setting that’s new to me.

And lately, I’ve looked to mix in some books dealing with preparedness, emergencies, etc., just because.

Lighthouse Island checks all the boxes. And it’s absolutely compelling!

The story starts out simply, with a main character who has sort of given in to the constant burdens of life in her time – a future time where society has morphed into great masses of people being constantly manipulated by a few at the top of the heap.

Crowds of people being moved, directed, even sent off to . . .?. Meaningless bureaucracies designed to chain some to desks and factory floors, working to develop and manufacture – who really knows what?

It’s a gray and amorphous world where hope is pretty much dead.

Our hero emerges from this murky mess.

She decides there’s more to life and she’s prepared to claim it. Her quest is to reach “Lighthouse Island” – a mystical green place which may or may not be real, but which becomes her beacon.

Her journey involves many traditional “survival tactics:” foraging for food, finding shelter, outsmarting or avoiding the enemy.

She is clever – and becomes cleverer!

I admired her ability to be “gray” when necessary. And I loved how she talked her way into safe places – and talked her way out of trouble! (Delicious!)

If you’re somewhat of a jaded reader, this book will grab you and renew your interest in books – and your hope for humankind.

Not bad for a New Year’s read, eh???

Lighthouse Island is a book you get for yourself. It’s at Amazon:

Lighthouse Island: A Novel (P.S.)

---