I read a lot of books. I tend to get tied up in everything from fantasy fiction, self improvement, investment, and biographies of bands and famous people. By reading a lot you are constantly putting new ideas in your head about living and life. This past evening I read an interesting line from the Neil Strauss book Emergency which is his 2 year experience of learning to survive.

“If our life span is a movie that begins with a tiny screaming neonate and ends with a shriveled, arthritic geriatric, then I don’t want to leave in the middle. There’s romance, horror, adventure, comedy, fantasy, family , and, most exciting of all, suspense still to come. And I want to see it all, until the very last credit rolls and the screen goes dark.”

The book takes the reader through learning to shoot a gun, urban survival tactics, living in nature, and methods of surviving WTSHTF (When the shit hits the fan). It’s a great read and there is one comment about learning to survive I found particularly thoughtful.

“I was developing the sense of centeredness… when I went out with friends I didn’t need to dress up. I didn’t need to be at the coolest club in town. I didn’t need to drink. I didn’t need to talk to anyone. Wherever I went, I brought myself, and that was enough.”

The book just made me realize that all the things I perceive as important are really meaningless if something catastrophic actually were to occur. It also makes me realize how unprepared I’d be.

I final take from the book is that the most important survival skill is faith. “Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.”