Preparing Your Head

Midway through World War Z there is a scene in which a pilot - forced to eject from her plane and making a dangerous trek across barren, zombie infected country - passes an SUV. The vehicle is stocked with survival gear and supplies; behind the wheel is the body of man - dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The can only speculate as to whether he had been bitten or was simply overcome by the steep horror that had become his reality.

The tragic image lodged itself in my head; it comes to mind every time I come across one of the too-rare articles that occassionally surface on survival blogs pointing out that stockpiling resources isn't, in and of itself, enough to survive when the SHTF. (For those who aren't used to the acronyms, SHTF = s**t hits the fan.) We have to prepare our heads.

That aspect of a preparedness lifestyle tends to go alarmingly undiscussed. Though most of us have imagined ourselves reacting to a disaster at some point, few of us realize we have extensive power to positively impact our behavior before, during and after an emergency.

Author Amanda Ripley tackles the challenging questions of how humans react to emergencies, why they do so and how we can pre-program ourselves to be more successful when emergencies strike in her incredible book The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why.

Bringing together researchers, disaster survivors, military and civilian safety trainers and other diverse, valuable sources, Ms. Ripley provides a clear, viable framework for everyday people. She not only explains why government/official programs are so often ineffective, but demonstrates what we can do to empower ourselves - as individuals, families and entire communities.

The examples in this book are powerful, and the information is surprisingly encouraging. It has altered the trajectory of my preparedness planning, and I urge you to read it for yourself.

(If you're waiting for a library copy to come available, you can also check out the related blog the author maintains or ReallyReady.org - the actually useful civilian response to the less-than-helpful ready.gov. )