Books

  Under this section, if there’s a link, it goes to Amazon.com so you can purchase the book and help support this site.  Just remember to come back here after your purchases.

Survival

• How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter, and Self-Preservation That Makes Starvation in the Wilderness Next to Impossible
    This is the first book I ever got on how to survive in the woods. Was somewhere around the age of 14 when I found it second hand in an estate sale.  That summer, I read it probably about 10 times and carried it with me always when I was out in the woods.  Some of the info in it is dated, some I have a suspicion that it’s plain wrong, but still a very valuable part of my survival library. Geared mostly for North America environments.
• SHOESTRING SURVIVALISM - How to Prepare for Bad Times
     Great book. Just finished reading it. I highly recommend it because it covers quite a bit of valuable information on how to prepare for disasters on the cheap.  It covered some areas that I didn’t even think of. If you only get one book on how to be prepared, this is the one I’d recommend.
• SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
    I think this book is significantly better than How to stay alive in the woods.  It covers many more circumstances and environments. It has more of a focus on preparing for a trip into the wild, and is more insistent on staying put for rescuers to find you. So great info, but keep in mind it’s pointing at more of a thought process of how to stay alive until you’re rescued.
• Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
    This was my second book on survival that I ever bought. Got it while I was in the Marines.  Has lots of good info in it.  Might not be the best book, but it covers a lot of stuff that’s important in a survival setting.  The thought process of this book is how to live in the woods/wild, not how to just survive until you’re found.  If push came to shove, however, I’d stick with the SAS manual, unless you’re from and never planning on leaving North America, then I’d go with this one..

Foraging

• The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants
  This book is the best book I’ve read on foraging, preparing, and storing wild foodstuffs. This author speaks from intimate knowledge of the foods he lists in here.  A link for his website can be found here.  This link will open a new window.
• The Illustrated Guide to Edible Wild Plants
  This book was written by the Department of the Army.  One would like to think they know what they’re talking about.  Most of the plants they show in here are color photographs that are pretty good quality.  A good addition to your library.

Self-Defense & Personal Protection

• Eyes Wide Open: Bodyguard Strategies for Self-Protection
    A well thought out book. Comes from the viewpoint of how to use the skills of a bodyguard to be your own bodyguard.  Has quite a few case studies on what someone did right, what they did wrong, and how the law would probably look at the incident.  In my opinion, it’s a very well thought out book.

Weapons & Ammunition

• Do-It-Yourself Gunpowder Cookbook
  If the time ever comes where you can’t get your hands on gunpowder to reload your gun, this manual will teach you how to make your own gun powder and gun powder substitutes.  Something that’s important in this day and age.
• The Sling, Cliff Savage - This is the book that I’m using to make my sling. Important in cases where you don’t have or can’t get your hands on a gun, this is one of the most basic and highly adaptable weapons you can make/use.  It’s also extremely concealable.  Heck, with a piece of gauze or fabric behind it, you can use it as a improvised eye patch. Available through Paladin Press.
• Homemade Guns & Homemade Ammo
  You can’t get much more direct than this title. Teaches you what you need to know on how to build a shotgun and ammo to use it.  With some modifications, you could conceivably turn it into some type of musket/muzzleloader.

Weapons Handling

• Surgical Speed Shooting: How To Achieve High-Speed Marksmanship In A Gunfight
    A very good book on how to improve your handling ability of a handgun.  After reading it and practicing what they advise, I could see an immediate improvement in my handgun shooting skills.  A must buy.
• Contemporary Knife Targeting: Modern Science Vs. W.E. Fairbairn's Timetable of Death
  An excellent book on realistic effects of using a knife for self defense and attack.  The first half of the book gives a statistical framework for times of death and incapacitation from knife cuts to correct targets (as an average, not absolute since everybody is different). It also points out that structural targets are usually better and more easily defendable in a court of law.  A must have for anyone’s self defense library.

Fitness

Mental Conditioning

Miscellaneous

• The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Knots and Ropework
    A good book on how to tie knots.  In a survival situation, knowing the right knot can have a significant impact on your survival.  This book has a lot of knots you’ll never use, but the ones that remain are invaluable.  You can’t go wrong with this small tome.

Catalogs

  Under this section, all links will open new windows.

• www.paladinpress.com - Publisher of excellent books on all sorts of topics dealing with self defense, weapons usage, survival, and other great stuff.  I’ve gotten quite a few books from them, but I’ve found that there’s a good chance you can get the same book for cheaper from amazon.com.  I’m guessing amazon orders the books in such quantity from Paladin Press that they can afford to discount below what Paladin Press offers the books for, but the nice thing is, if you show them a link to someone who is selling the book for cheaper, they’ll price match.
• www.majorsurplus.com - Wholesale source of military surplus stuff, plus other supplies, some new.  Can’t beat half their deals without a lot of searching.
• www.coldsteel.com - Supplier of excellent knives, swords, and other edged and blunt weapons.  My personal favorite when it comes to knives. Very competitively priced for their level of quality.  I’ve got quite a few knives from them, and can’t wait to get more.

Websites

  Under this section, all links will open new windows.

• www.russianmartialart.com - The main website for Ryabko style Systema.  I believe this is quite possibly the best martial art for someone to learn that’s interested in self defense.  It teaches you how to defend against multiple attackers, proper body movement/dynamics, ground fighting, and weapons handling.  The biggest thing this style will teach you, in my opinion, is how to take a hit.  This is probably the most important thing I think a martial art can teach.  Reason being, if you’ve never been seriously hit, then you’re not going to have the muscle memory or mental ability to effectively protect/defend yourself.  Most people, when hit, freeze up.  This art will, pun intended, beat that out of you, but in a gradual and helpful pace.
• http://www.executivegunrunners.com -  “Discounted prices on all guns, weapons and ammunition at Executive Gun Runners”.  Seems to be a nice place to get firearms and other weapons.  If anyone purchases from them, let me know what your experience was like.

 Fitness/Exercise Equipment

  Under this section, all links will open new windows.

• www.dragondoor.com - Everything you could possibly want to know about kettlebells, including their top of the line kettlebells. After all, this is the company that started it all in the USA with authentic Russian style kettlebells. Also has books and other assorted stuff.  Great place, tad bit on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for.  Can’t go wrong with anything purchased from here in my experience.
• www.lifelineusa.com - Great site for equipment.  They focus more on bodyweight and stretch bands/tubing.  Don’t let that kid you, they have stuff that uses bands that have up to 300lb of resistance. Also a supplier of lower grade kettlebells.  Still great equipment tho... (it’s what I currently have).
• www.ironmind.com - High quality weight lifting equipment. If you’ve ever watched the worlds strongest man competition, then you’ve seen their equipment in action.  If you want to get strong as a bull, this is the site to get your equipment and books from.
• www.mattfurey.com - This guy really knows what he’s talking about when it comes to improving your fitness level using nothing but bodyweight and flexibility training, along with self motivational information.  This is a great place to start with getting into shape, getting stronger, more flexible, and increasing your endurance.  The cornerstone of his workout plan is what he calls the Royal Court.  You can get stronger, more flexible, and have more endurance than 70% of the people out there, including quite a few bodybuilders/fitness buffs.
• http://www.bronzebowpublishing.com - This guy has a lot of the same ideas as what’s on Matt Furey’s site, but taken from a slightly different perspective.  He references Matt in his Pushing Self to Power book, and includes a few of the exercises that Matt Furey promotes, what Matt calls the Royal Court