When Technology Fails

Reviews

Review From John Egan, proprietor of the website SurvivalistBooks.com

Matthew Stein has written a clear, concise book on the subject of survival that, while educating, also does what few others have managed to do - entertain and engage the reader.

Throughout the book you'll find personal stories accompanying the text to further illustrate or drive home a point. The use of these asides brings you into Matthew Stein's life, as he recounts personal stories of survival and tells the stories of others who have managed to overcome the odds to survive. Not just a survival book, Matthew also covers topics like alternative therapies; how to create a survival mindset; survival strategies; renewable energy; companion gardening; prophecies etc. as well as all the regular topics found in such books - edible plants; first aid; making a survival kit; growing, hunting and foraging; making tools; creating shelters; spinning/weaving/tanning etc. The book has some great illustrations that make plant identification and first aid that much easier to understand and each chapter finishes with a reference section listing books (along with a short review) and resources (with web addresses where available).

Review From Matt Savinar, proprietor of the website, and author of the book, Life After the Oil Crash

Like most of my readers, I spent the entirety of my "pre-Peak Oil" life as a fossil-fueled zombie, slavishly servicing the petro-techno, hyper-energetic collective narcosis commonly referred to as "the US economy."

Then I found out about Peak Oil and realized, "Holy Mother of God . . . if this shit's true, I'm like totally screwed. . . and worse yet, I don't even know the first thing to do to begin getting unscrewed."

Then I found Matthew Stein's book, When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival. This book which covers pretty much everything you need to know to begin preparing for "life after the oil crash." It has so much valuable information, I am even considering stocking up copies for "investment" or future barter purposes as a book with this much valuable and life-saving information will certainly be more valuable than the US dollar post-peak.

Stein has organized the book into byte-size and manageable skills for you to master and things to acquire. The book is particularly useful to people, who like myself, have spent their entire life in what James Kunstler calls the "hallucinatory economy." We need very simple, clear directions as we begin down the road to reality and self-sufficiency.

For example, right now I'm on Stein's chapter on what you need to include in your "grab and go bag" aka "shit's hit the fan, time to run to the hills bag" aka "grab this bag and haul ass to somewhere remote if Bush lobs a nuke at Iran . . . "

Being a city-slicker by birth and an attorney by trade, I don't know the first thing about what you need to include in your survival pack. If left to my own instincts, I would probably include a three-piece suit, rolodex and some retainer and fee agreements.

Obviously, I wouldn't survive long.

Luckily I have Stein's book (actually four copies - one in my book box, one in my grab-and-go bag, and an extra two just in case something happens to the first two.) So I open to his chapter on survival packs and am able to include the appropriate things. (While I've left out the three-piece suit, briefcase, and rolodex, I just can't give up the retainer and fee agreements. Hey, old habits die hard.)

Stein's book has much more than just information to help you survive short-term emergencies. For instance, he has a chapter on building yourself an small "ecoshelter." When I get to that chapter, I will read through it, do some google searches, purchase or acquire the necessary materials and do my best to construct one myself. Even though I won't be moving out of my apartment and into the shelter anytime soon, having the skill to build one will prove valuable, and possibly profitable, in a post-peak world.

Stein has a section on Peak Oil and is clearly quite well versed in the issues relating to it. There's even a graph from Dr. Campbell in the book!

To the men reading this: to be perfectly blunt, Stein's book may even help you get laid post-peak. Before you bust up laughing, hear me out. I recently finished reading Jared Diamond's book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. He cites an example of one collapsing society (don't remember which one as the book is as big as a freaking encyclopedia) where he suspects the final demise of the society occurred when the women in the society realized the men didn't have the skills necessary to survive the new circumstances that had befallen the society.

What did the ladies do to ensure the continued existence of their genes? Simple, they abandoned the men and hooked up with the men in a neighboring society who had the necessary skills. Kind of harsh, but hey that's natural selection at work. Deal with her or she'll deal with the guy down the road.

Now who do you think will be best suited to ensuring the continued existence of their genes post-peak when the market has crashed, gas is $10/gallon, and electricity is extremely expensive at best and woefully intermittent or nonexistent at worse:

A) Alan, a Wall Street stock broker;

B) Bob, a fat-cat corporate attorney;

C) Carl, a Madison Avenue advertising executive;

D) Dave, a rap/hip-hop star;

E) Earl, a tanning-hut manager;

F) Fred, an SUV salesman;

G) Gary, a guy who can build a shelter out of scrap, hook it up to small homemade solar-pv system, do a little energy- acupressure healing, preserve meat and fish, and extract water from air via a solar still?

You don't need to be cultural anthropologist to figure out which of these guys will be deemed the most "inclusively-fit" by the female population. If you want to be like Gary, you had better start learning now. Stein's book is as good a place to start as you're going to find.

This author has been active in the areas of alternative medicine, water treatment and renewable energy for 15-20 years - and the time and effort taken to research his topic really shows. When Technology Fails belongs in your survival library - as the publisher says, "it's a user-friendly manual for the 21st Century".

"Stein's excellent guide to simplifying your life, reducing your environmental impact, and pulling yourself out of a jam is sure to gather no dust on your bookshelf... This book is a personal and planetary empowerment tool."

—Richard Heede, Ph.D., author, Homemade Money: How to Save Energy and Dollars in Your Home

"A marvelous guidebook for helping us through the worst of times, and even improving on the best of times..."

—Thom Hartmann, author, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

"I liked this book. It's carefully researched, comprehensive, well illustrated, and readable. It presents much needed alternate information, for, in my opinion, technology has already 'failed' ...So replacement of polluting 'high' technologies with non-polluting 'low' ones is urgent, and Matthew Stein's handbook systematically and accurately surveys a wide array of possible low-tech options. Much hard work, time, and talent went into the building of this basic reference survey of low-tech options."

—Caria Emery, author, The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old-Fashioned Recipe Book

"We may all need a survival reference when technology fails. Matthew provides one—fact-filled, with useful tips on all aspects of survival, clothing, food, shelter, water, etc., including such vital subjects as grazing and the green pharmacy."

—James A. Duke, economic botanist, USDA (ret.) and author of The Green Pharmacy

"When Technology Fails is a massive project done well. First the book gives a superb presentation of WHY one should be more aware and prepared—and then HOW one should go about this. The scope of this book... is thorough. Not only is the information presented well, but a solid bibliography can carry the student as far as he desires in any particular area of interest."

—John McPherson, author, Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills

"The depth of this book, covering everything from building materials to spiritual healing, is astounding. It is a one-stop source... to create a self-sufficient, earth-friendly lifestyle. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in preserving the health of themselves and the planet—and moving toward a sustainable, sane way of living."

—Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor-in-chief, Natural Home magazine

"Whether you are seeking self-reliance and a simpler life or fear the collapse of social services, this compendium of practical information for sustainable living belongs on your bookshelf..."

—Fred C. Walters, editor, Acres U.S.A. magazine