Bill Riddell

An Emergency Review

Today I want to review the latest book by one of my favourite authors, Neil Strauss.

A former journalist for Rolling Stone and the New York Times, Strauss had previously mastered the art of the ghost written bio and has now produced two superb books that take you into a whole new world, where the author drags you by the hand into the most intriguing subcultures.

His first such book, The Game, unearthed the world of Pick-up Artists and men overcoming their fear of women – while today’s topic for discussion, Emergency, deals with people afraid of a major event causing social collapse.

From the cringe worthy opening where Strauss shapes up to slaughter a goat we rewind to see how the author has come to see the world through what he terms ‘apocalypse eyes’: fearing terrorists, financial collapse, natural disasters and governmental hubris.

We rewind further, past the incompetency of the Bush administration to the authors childhood growing up on the 42nd floor amongst Chicagos concrete jungle-reliant solely on modern convenience. He like so many of us are far removed from the realities of where our food and amenities come from and how to trully survive not just without our parents but also away from the cocoon of modern life.

Strauss then takes stock and concludes his sole skill in the event of a true catastrophe would be to write about societies slide back into chaos. At a stretch he may be able to persuade someone with skills to help him, though he fears this may just paint a bigger target on his back.

So begins his quest into various subcultures who are preparing to survive and thrive if and when the shit hits the fan (WTSHTF).

Along the way Neil talks to billionaires and survivalists, cult leaders and doomsayers who offer a whole range of prescriptions from squireling his money away off shore and tying his holdings up in a confusing web of legal doublespeak to collecting and purifying his own drinking water from nature and storing caches of emergency supplies around the country.

Slowly his mind changes, after going to extreme levels of preparation to escape most possible scenarios his fear begins to evaporate.

“Fear, it seems, is like fashion: it changes every season,” Neil writes. “And even though threats like terrorism persist to this day, we eventually grow bored of worrying about them and turn to something new. Ultimately, though, every fear has the same root: anxiety about thing we take for granted being taken away.”

Throughout the book he skilfully walks a fine line, informing and inspiring without becoming an alarmist and entertaining consipracy theories.

Without spoiling the ending, Neil transitions even further: from someone who seeks to flee from his fear and events that threaten him to someone who runs towards them.

His inredibly entertaining book is packed full of life lessons and wisdom – you may not care to know how to escape from hand cuffs though we cann learnt to banish our fears and embrace the future.

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What great book have you read recentley and would you like to see more book reviews on my blog?