National Geographic Extreme Weather Survival Guide: Understand, Prepare, Survive, Recover

It's good to have for being prepared and being safe.

Glad I purchased. I would rate this as one of the more interesting NG books. Many interesting facts and sidebars spread throughout

Interesting subject matter. I bought this as a gift.

I will at least give the author(s) credit for making references to NOAA, the National Weather Service, and other important government agencies which also provide survival information - for FREE. Our tax dollars already pay for this information, so in typical capitalist fashion, someone has to try and make a buck off what is already available for free. My real gripe though is that this book makes a lot of "carefully worded" claims, pandering to the alarmists. It also contradicts itself from chapter to chapter. For instance, in one section they claim there will probably never be another dust bowl. Then later in the book, they claim that a "dust bowl"- like climate could become the norm. So which is it? They can't both be right. Then it tries to make it sound like dust storms in Arizona are a recent development, because of climate change. That is just flat out wrong. so while there are some good tips in this book, some interesting anecdotes, maybe some interesting trivia, this book also displays the same weather disaster photos that have been used over and over again for years. It also uses advice that is available for free from the government, and then puts it's own spin on the information it has supposedly gathered. If I worked at Nat Geo, I would be embarrassed to say I had any part of this book.

I'll start with what I see as the main problem - this book has very little useful information about Immediate Survival, or what to do when you're in the middle of a disastrous event. For example, the chapter on lightning gives hardly any information of little-known do's and don't's of outdoor sheltering, like stay out of overhangs or ditches, and don't lie flat on the ground. The lightning chapter also contains the only two mentions of CPR in the entire book. Basically, give CPR if required, but not if the victim has a heartbeat and is breathing! The reader is urged to obtain first aid certification as part of preparedness. There is no basic first aid section, and what is given in the individual disaster chapters is very superficial at best. True to it's advertising, the book does contain a lot of background information on the natural causes and mechanisms leading to disastrous weather. There are many references to past events. It also contains a lot of politics about climate change, and warnings about how things are likely to get worse. We are advised to recycle and conserve, which is good, but doesn't do a thing about either preparedness or survival. It also contains opinions, like don't buy food from industrial scale farming operations because they are bad for the environment. The book contains many checklists for preparedness and recovery. Examples include preventive actions like keeping brush and shrubbery away from your house in wildfire areas, and building berms to divert flash floods. There is advice about removing damaged wallboard after a house has been flooded, and not using food that has been subjected to floodwaters. Again, before and after, not immediate. In conclusion, I believe many readers will find the information interesting and useful, but I find it to fall far short of it's title as a "Survival Guide."

Great weather info source---comprehensive---a must for most households

I find it interesting that I am writing this review a week after a major snowstorm hit Buffalo, NY, and set a new record for snowfall in 24 hours, passing the record listed on page 363 of this book where Silver Lake Colorado received 75.8 inches of snow in 24 hours back in 1921. “Extreme Weather Survival Guide: Understand, Prepare, Survive, Recover” by Thomas M. Kostigen is an excellent book on just that: understanding, preparing, surviving, and recovering from extreme weather conditions. There are four main parts, with ten chapters. This is what is covered in this guide: Wet: thunderstorms, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes. Dry: drought, wildfires. Hot: rising temperatures, heat waves. Cold: cold waves, blizzards. Each chapter contains explanations of why the different extreme weather patters occur. This might even be more information than some peppers and survivalists want. That's okay. It's better to have too much information than not enough in my book. Each book also contains various tips in sidebars, graphs, and charts to help the reader prepare. The authors have included lists of apps that can be useful during extreme weather, and tips to take care of pets during these situations too. Experts are interviewed, statistics and records are shared, and all of these are accompanies by full color photographs. It makes for a very interesting read as well as one full of useful information. All of the chapters conclude with how to lists. These lists cover preparation, surviving the incident, and recovering afterward. Not everything is applicable for everyone. But because of the easy to read format, you can study the chapters that deal with weather in your area. Because I travel and teach all over, I read the entire book, and include it in my library of resources to not only help me prepare for myself and family, but to better be able to teach others how to stay safe and survive. Excellent book dealing with extreme weather survival, because the time to prepare is now, not when you are in the middle of the storm.

Ok

Sehr gut!