I read every survival novel I could find when I was growing up. Some of my favorites were Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Mysterious Island, Stobor, and Baby Island. Also, Robert A Heinlein had some good space oriented survival novels. Probably not what you were looking for, but these were all written back before the computer age and if TSHTF really hard, you can pretty much count out new technology and are better off thinking old school.

 

In my opinion the best ones to begin with are:
- Patriots and others by James Rawles
- One second After
- Lights Out
- Jakarta pandemic

There are many more, but these cover most situations in a very interesting novel format...many based on very realistic situations...that are entirely probable... Patriots is also available on CD book!

 

Thanks dude!!!!!

 

Heinlein's Farnhams Freehold
My Side of The Mountain
Into the Wild ( actually this is a how not to story )
No **** There I Was.......

 

That was one of Heinlein's books I was thinking of. And yes, Into the wild is a good example of what not to do.

 

In addition to the other posts, I liked The Hatchet. It's really simple and I read it a few years ago, but it's pretty interesting.

 

Thanks. I think I'll check this one out. :thumb:

 

Any of Jerry D. Young's stories would be good. You can read some of them on here or buy at Amazon.

 

The main character in Time Enough For Love, colonized a planet using 18th century tech but I don't recall how in depth it went.

 

The zombie survival guide
Tunnel in the sky by Heinlein
Life after doomsday by Dr. Bruce clayton
Alas Babylon
and my favorite bug out book-Huck Finn by Mark Twain

 

Thanks for Tunnel in the sky, I was thinking it was called Stobor, It has been over 40 years since I read it.

 

Join Amazon Unlimited Kindle ($10 a month). You can download a lot of the stories (and lots of Jerry D Youngs books). If you have time to read, you get unlimited downloads during the month. The books will lock when your subscription ends. But, if you have the time (I did) you can read a lot of books in a month. But just doing 2 or 3 a month is cheaper then buying them most of the time.

 

It's been a while, and I may just go pull it off the shelf again. Louise Lamoure's "Last of the Breed" is a great read.

 

I agree. I've read it several times.

 

Patriots by Rawles
One Second After by Forstchen

The very first book that I read about SHTF and survival was 'Alas, Babylon' by Frank, in 1979. My sister gave it to me. she had to read it in college.

 

Forstchen wrote a second book called One Year after and it is the second part. His books are in your face and real. I have read many book written by service members that describe very gruesome situations. But these 2 books were the scariest books I have read. We talk about these situations and what we would do but he describes it very well maybe too well.

Peter

 

Someone has to recommend Rawls' book "Patriots", though I found it very instruction heavy.

There are a lot of good stories on this forum in the books and stories section, some of them novel length.

I have a fondness for Mother Hen's Story Time Blog. A gal called Kathy in FL. wrote dozens, some sadly unfinished but good none the less. She's missing in action right now and we are all worried what has become of her.

Most other prepper/survivalist forums have books and stories sections as well.

 

Lucifers Hammer, Lights Out, The "Survivalist series", "out of the Ashes " series, The books of AR Shaw.

 

Lucifers Hammer...

I want to second this one. GREAT BOOK.

 

A great series

Check out the Home series by A American. One of the best series I have read. The author was on Alone the first season. Lights Out by David Crawford is also a very good read.

 

Jerry D Young.... have several of his and they are all great.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=digital-text&field-keywords=jerry+d+young

Also have the Home series by A American and thought it was very good.

 

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. - True story of two mountaineers in a proper SHTF situation.

The One That Got Away by Chris Ryan. - True story of an SAS operation gone wrong in the first gulf war. Ryan evades the Iraqi army for over 200 miles and manages to escape into Syria.

 

Some of the classics might be helpful:
Swiss Family Robinson
Robinson Crusoe
Little House on the Prarie - I didn't read them, but my ex thought they were full of usefull country doin's.
Malevil
On the Beach
Lucifer's Hammer

 

Freehold and any other book series by Michael Z Williamson
Molan Labe by Boston T Party
Unintended Consequences by John Ross
Any book by John Wesley Rawles

 

I was home-schooled, and my aunts and uncles and grandparents equired oral book-reports from all us kids. These are some they furnished us:

WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE by Borland == Apache orphan rodeo king returns to wilderness.. Made into a 1972 movie with Richard Widmark and Frederick Forrest.

DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS by Wyndham == bamboo runs amuck. Probably made into a movie, but would lose its imagination.

LAST BLADE OF GRASS [US] NO BLADE OF GRASS [UK] by Christopher == engineered plague.

Stories like these were more than mere words. They stimulated my imagination!

I recommend visiting the site for long-distance equine riders == LongRiders.

I like the rider reports from ADVriders. Some of these motorcycle trips are epic, and illustrate practical prep compared to fantasy.

 

I am reading Lucifers hammer again after 15 years. No one has mention the series called 299 days. I read the entire series but it tells a very plausible story about an economic collapse and a guy that takes his family to a location he inherited from an uncle on the Oregon coast. The first books were spellbinding the last few addressed the conservative take over of the government and subsequent new political structure they erected.

 

Going home series by A. American
Great read and very informative.

Holding their own series by Joe Nobody

 

Luficer's Hammer

Luficer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle was an early gold standard for how to survive the end of civilization as individuals and then consider how to how and why to organize at the small community level.
https://www.amazon.com/Lucifers-Hammer-Larry-Niven/dp/0449208133

 

I have to second "My Side of the Mountain" (first book... not the sequels). Can't tell you how many times I read that growing up, and, combined with McGyver... well... here you have me.

Caveat: I am connected to the authors of the following. You can find them all on Amazon, but I'll skip the affiliate links

Seeking Safe Harbor by Albert A. Correia
Avalon: The Retreat by L. Michael Rusin

and my favorites (because I wrote them to explain what we do to my four children), though they aren't exactly, ahem, novels. But dangit, they're fun!:

Prepper Pete Prepares: An Introduction to Prepping for Kids
Survivalist Sam Stocks Up: The Four B's of Prepping for Kids
Gun of a Son: A Gun Safety Book for Kids
www.PrepperPeteAndFriends.com

 

Hi Noles I've been a member of the board for quite a while and have mostly been reading and learning from the viewpoints of others. As this is my first post I hope it proves useful. This isn't a direct answer to your request about novels on survival and the folks on this board have given many great examples so far. Some I've read and others I now intent to. In addition to all of these great resources I would recommend reading real life accounts of survival success and failure. For example the Donner party accounts and subsequent arm chair quarterbacks that point out legitimate resources that they failed to exploit. Likewise reading about the Japanese soldiers left behind after ww2 and how they survived. The lewis and Clark expeditions are another good source as well as any relative discussions of the mountain men to name a few. There are many others out there that are just as applicable and very entertaining reading. Current information is chock full of modern equipment and tactics, but older accounts gives so much more info on basic survival, trapping and bushcraft. I hope this will help you a little and give you new and free avenues to ventire down. Respectfully. Mike

 

Boyd Craven - Good Fences and Northern Lights
Emerson Hawk - Grid Attack and Strike Point (the series)
Matthew Mather - Cyber Storm

 

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing, 1st published 1959

One of the world's most amazing real-life survival tales. The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 expedition to Antarctica. Wintered over in Antarctica, sailing ship crushed & sunk in polar ice pack, living on ice floes, dog team sleds, starvation, foraging, shelters, stranded on an island, an open lifeboat voyage for 800 miles across the stormiest seas in the world, alpine mountain climbing, and balls of brass.

28 completely isolated Humans at their best against Nature's worst. For two years. And they all lived.

https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/078670621X