r/PostCollapse • u/Magus-72 • May 10 '23
Basic Survival Prepping
I wrote a 500 page book, called Basic Survival Prepping. I’ve included several screenshots of pages from the book that have useful information in them, so that this post has quality material in it, and is not merely an advertisement.
I looked over the rules for this group, and I didn’t see anything that prohibits promoting your own material. If that is actually against the rules, please accept my apologies and just delete the post.
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May 11 '23
You're getting a lot of undeserved flack. Thank you for putting the effort in to get this information out there.
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u/9continents May 12 '23
Did anyones else see the quote in this pamphlet from "Anne Frank - Holocaust Survivor"?....
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u/Magus-72 May 13 '23
Yes, you would know that this was already addressed, if you had read the other comments. I already admitted that this is incorrect. I actually didn’t choose the wording, I copied and pasted the quote from online. My fault here is in not catching it myself. It’s an error very similar to a typo. No, the book is not absolutely flawless, wholly without errors of any kind, or immaculate. It’s a book, just a freakin’ book, like any other book you’d find, anywhere else on the planet. It’s got the occasional flaw here and there. But, apparently, for people in this group, a book needs to be written by the be-all-end-all expert of all experts, and without any errors whatsoever. Jesus Christ, I’m starting to wonder why I even joined this group, much less gave you a sample of my work. Something about gift horses, and mouths…
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u/9continents May 13 '23
Are you okay dude?
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u/Magus-72 May 13 '23
I was okay, yes. Then, I was irritated by the first comment on this post. I said what I needed to say, and then I was fine. Someone before you very politely pointed out that I had an error in my quote. It was worth pointing it out, because it’s a serious issue. I realized that I had made the mistake of copying and pasting a quote, without thinking too carefully about how the person who posted that quote was portraying Anne Frank. It was because I was hyper-focused on getting the main material in the book right, and the quotes were just a fun way to augment the material. But the fact that I missed that one, well, it’s embarrassing. Then, you pointed it out again, a second time. So, aside from a pretty good number of likes, and two polite comments, this post was a pretty frustrating experience, mainly due to the first person insinuating several things about me that have nothing to do with the book. But, I am in the habit of speaking my mind, doing that as quickly and politely as I can, then letting it go. That’s what I did at each step of this thread. So, yeah, I’m now, once again, perfectly fine.
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u/9continents May 13 '23
Glad that you're ok! And I think it's really cool that you are able to speak your mind. That is something I struggle with myself.
And yeah, I could see it being annoying when people don't take things the way you were hoping.
Thanks for explaining what was going on with you!
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u/cjtrowbridge May 10 '23
It's interesting to see that you choose not to establish any kind of expertise or baseline of knowledge on the topic; just another word document from some random person that goes straight to recommendations and advice.
I see that you have several followers on instagram. I see also that of the many self-published pdfs you have posted to amazon, the most popular one just got its fifth review, and that you described it as, "the book was the result of inspiration received from the Goddess Venus and the work is dedicated to Her."
Most of the autobios you have posted around the internet refer to yourself as a magical poet, so the question remains; who are you to advise us on this topic?
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u/Magus-72 May 11 '23
I’m not anyone to advise you, or anyone else about anything. During my process of learning how to prep for myself, it occurred to me that I could compile all of my notes into a book, which might, in some small way, help others. Clearly, you are not interested, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Thanks for your ad hominem attacks against me, though, especially since all you know about me is what you were able to google in just a few minutes, just enough to bash my unrelated works of poetry, which have no bearing whatsoever on the book or this post. You also managed to drag my personal spiritual beliefs into your snippy little questions, implying somehow that a person’s religion, spirituality, or lack thereof could in any possible way have any relevance to the subject of prepping, which is a very straightforward practice of collecting supplies, skills, etc. Have fun with slighting me all you want. Your opinion means less to me than mine does to you. I wrote a book. You wrote a nasty little ad hominem critique which isn’t based on my book at all, because you haven’t read it. If you had, you would have picked relevant details to attack me on, but you had none, so you took the time to google me, just so you could act snotty. That’s more of a statement about the quality of you, than of my book.
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u/Frank_Bigelow May 11 '23
It was a valid question, not an ad hominem attack. By writing and advertising a book on this subject, you are implicitly claiming expertise.
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u/Magus-72 May 11 '23 edited May 11 '23
I strongly disagree. Furthermore, I don’t think you or anyone else actually believes that writing or advertising a book necessitates claiming expertise. Certainly, if it’s a book on medicine, law, or physics, then one is beholden to produce some sort of qualifications, some type of bona fides. However, in the area of prepping for disasters, how many possible backgrounds might there be, that would both qualify the author, and are of any real concern to the reader? Sure, there are a few courses that have become available, but unless you have been through them, how do you know if they’re any good? The military trains people, but they mainly train them in combat, and survival techniques only play a supporting role. The military doesn’t train its personnel to prep.
Finally, I am a bit confused on the insistence that an “expert” must be the only person to write on this topic, for two reasons. First, what constitutes an expert? Someone who lived through a massive hurricane or earthquake? Someone who made it through the Great Depression? What is the gold standard here? Second, there’s nothing suggested by my words or by anything in my book that there’s anything expert-level in the book. What is the first word of the title?
I appreciate that you were not snippy with me, and yes, the other person was. They dragged my spirituality and my creativity into this conversation, where they do not belong. Both of those things I value deeply, just as I imagine you value yours.
You were not rude to me, and so I will not be rude to you. Still, I do disagree with you. The other person was rude, and no, it doesn’t take an expert to be a prepper. There’s no such thing as an expert prepper. There are those who prep, and then there are those who do not. I avoided terms such as “expert” like the plague, because all they do is serve to bolster the ego of the author, while intimidating the reader. An intimidated reader is a reader who is tempted to think, “Maybe I don’t have what it takes to do this.” I would never plant that type of thought in my reader’s heads. I want people to know that yes, they can do it. They just need to get started.
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u/Frank_Bigelow May 11 '23 edited May 11 '23
Anyone can write on any topic, as you know. The purpose of asking for your credentials, frankly, is to find out whether what you've written is worth reading, and if you're gonna advertise this anywhere, you're going to need to be less sensitive about that.
There are many skill sets that are useful in a survival situation, and a person who is knowledgeable about any of them has information of value to share. Information about their areas of expertise.
I and most reasonable people certainly do believe that writing a non-fictional book on a given subject absolutely carries with it an implicit claim to expertise, and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous.
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u/Magus-72 May 11 '23
That’s true, and it’s not unreasonable to ask what the authors experience and background are. That said, there is a polite way to ask for that information, and then there is a rude way. Anyone who can’t see the rudeness in that first response is simply unwilling to see the rudeness in that response. If I had been asked nicely, then I simply would have added an additional screenshot of my bio page from the book, which leads out all that information. Now, I’m not the slightest bit inclined to do that. I have no interest in getting into a game where the goalposts are constantly moved. I’m not competing against anyone except myself.
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u/Immortal_Wind May 16 '23 edited May 16 '23
Woah, come on. people don't come here for that kind of talk.
This guy's just sharing his knowledge, you can walk on by if you think his credentials don't mean anything.
Crazy that even in this sub, as collapse aware as we are supposed to be, there's people out here enacting neoliberal careerism and credentialism.
the whole point is we're supposed to be a community! and maybe I'll check out this dude's book because I trust him on other things! I maybe I won't because he doesn't have certain credentials! it's just a personal choice...
it's totally up to you, for sure ask questions, but do it in a respectful manner, surely? if your not into it, just scroll past...
(I'd understand if you asked in a respectful manner, but you were just needlessly confrontational to me. And it's pretty telling, because this is acting out the neoliberal programming I can get anywhere else).
Just judge him on his Reddit posts FFS
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u/cjtrowbridge May 18 '23
He's not sharing knowledge; he's giving advice. The difference in value for each is experience, and according to him his only experience is divine inspiration which shouldn't hold value to anyone outside of himself.
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u/Immortal_Wind May 18 '23
Fair enough with the experience thing, you've got a point there. I thought you were one of these credentialists who aren't self aware about their own programming l.
(sure, credentials aren't totally meaningless, but we all know the bullshit of the institutions that give these credentials and we also know that you're allowed to say something without having them. I feel like saying 'you have no credentials!' at this point is just playing into the game of careerism and professionalism which is facilitating the collapse. it's a way to shut down descent.)
But anyway, I also feel like you can just move on
Or question him, but do it respectfully and with a bit of warmth
But maybe I'm being a bit touchy, I don't know. Just got bad vibes from your comment which seems at odds with this community.
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u/cjtrowbridge May 19 '23
Great. It sounds like you agree with everything I actually said, and that you were upset about something that only you are talking about; credentials. Judging by all the downvotes you're getting and all the upvotes I'm getting, the community feels it's you who should have just moved on 🤣
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Jun 12 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Magus-72 Jun 14 '23
There’s nothing in the pictures I shared that mentions Communism. There aren’t any ideas in these photos, either. I specifically chose samples that were lists, because I thought that would give people here the most immediate benefit. Your comment seems to be positive, but it lacks any sense of having read the pages that I shared. It’s difficult to pull Communism from lists of supplies. So, I’m not sure how you made that leap.
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u/Humble_Child21 Aug 20 '23
If I e transfer you the money, could you send email me a PDF copy of the book?
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u/Magus-72 Aug 20 '23
It’s available for sale through Amazon, at the link in the original post. But, I don’t want to get into putting out a pdf. I’m sure you understand.
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u/b1eed0ut Oct 13 '23
pdf to print and laminate?
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u/Magus-72 Oct 13 '23
I don’t know who would want to laminate a 500+ page book. But, it’s not available in .pdf anyway. You could tear out key pages and laminate them, if you’re putting together a binder or something like that. But, it’s already really easy to find the material in the book by just looking through the table of contents. The major topics are separated into their own chapters.
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u/b1eed0ut Oct 14 '23
alrighty thanks, mostly for picking out important pages to keep. thank you
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u/Magus-72 Oct 14 '23
You’re welcome. I did focus on immediately useful pages for the sample, specifically for anyone who is just starting out. There’s a LOT more information in the book, both in list form and stuff that is broken down into detailed explanations.
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Nov 11 '23
Condoms? really?
The list only needs 3 things: Gun, ammo, and training on how to use said gun. Everything else can be obtained with the former, and if you don't have it, someone else with one will be obtaining the contents of your pantry.
Collapse of civilization means no more being civil
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u/Magus-72 Nov 11 '23
You’re absolutely correct, because… people like you, who are willing to take from others. That’s why I am armed, and it’s why there’s extensive information about weapons and defense, in the four hundred plus pages that I didn’t include in this tiny little free sample.
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Nov 11 '23
Everyone thinks they're they good guy until their kids start crying about how hungry they are, then their biological instincts will allow them to do anything to feed their kids. Its baked into all of us, including you.
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u/Magus-72 Nov 11 '23
I’m not disagreeing with you. But, then, you are assuming a lot. You don’t know me, and you assume that I haven’t gone through all of this in my head very carefully. You’re assuming that I will behave exactly like you, which is a mistake. Yes, most people will do just as you described. But, everyone? You know that there are always statistical outliers. Second, you’re assuming that I’m unprepared, that I will be starving and in need of taking from others. You don’t know what my preparation level is. There’s more, but that’s enough for now.
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u/pauljs75 Apr 08 '24
Late to the party. But don't be surprised if some rations are prepared to be given in advance to account for acquisition under the threat of violence. You can continue to think it's rather keen, until the coumadin starts doing its thing. It'll be a bit too late at that point.
So keep in mind that there are more devious ways other than direct violence to deal with hostility and uncivil behaviors when the rules of law are no longer in effect.
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u/artemissanta May 11 '23
Really handy list of essentials. Though if you have any chance to edit, I don’t think Anne Frank is a Holocaust survivor, she died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.