Title: Get Prepared Now

Authors: Michael T. Snyder, Barbara Fix

Publication Date: May 2015

Binding: Paperback, 300 Pages

The market is flooded with books and articles warning of an economic collapse, bank failures and a host of other things. Some of them set dates, and some of those dates have come and gone. Frankly, if I had only seen the title of this book I might have passed it by. However, seeing it was authored by Michael Snyder, I decided to give it a read.

Michael Snyder is the author of The Economic Collapse Blog. I’ve been reading excerpts from his writings for some time, and I’ve heard him speak on the radio. Although he is an attorney, his explanations are very down-to-earth and easy to understand – and they are believable. He writes from a Christian perspective. This is not all gloom and doom, but it is a call to wake up and smell the coffee. Trouble is brewing. As he states in this book, “I am hoping for the best, but I am also preparing for the worst.”

This book is in two parts – more like two books in one. In the first section, Michael Snyder addresses several time bombs that are currently ticking in the United States and ties them together to show their vulnerability. Besides the financial system, he discusses the power grid, our food supply and the threat of a pandemic disease. Any of these, he believes, can cause a collapse of the economy.

The second portion of the book more fully addresses preparation. This section of the book is written by Barbara Fix, an author with whom I admittedly was not familiar. She is an expert on preparedness, living off-grid in Alaska and, according to her web site, has written “hundreds of preparedness-related articles under the pen name Survival Diva.” Her advice is straightforward, no-nonsense practical insight on what it takes to survive.

The preparation portion makes up about 75% of this book, addressing topics like water, food and medical supplies. More than just listing these items, the author discusses how to obtain, store and protect them. Also covered are essential things you would need to consider in an emergency like food preparation and staying warm. In the author’s own words, “Preparedness is nothing short of a puzzle, where one piece of the puzzle fits into the other, and on to the next. Miss a piece of the puzzle and the results will be less than stellar.”

This book was published in the Spring of 2015. As with anything this relevant and timely, some of the statistics will by now be dated only because they change rapidly. For example, there are asset and exposure numbers for the five largest U.S banks, numbers that were current at the time of publication. There is a chapter covering the Ebola outbreak which was big news in late 2014. Today, it seems to be of little newsworthiness (which makes you wonder what we missed while the news was focused on Ebola). The warnings Snyder gives will remain relevant.

In this book you will find a lot of lists and how-to instructions. In fact, the final chapter of the second section is a list of lists. Everything is practical and, more importantly, doable. After reading the book, you will want to keep it on hand for constant reference.

As he does on his web site, Michael Snyder includes a short section on spiritual preparation. This well-rounded holistic approach to both warning and planning makes this an invaluable resource. I highly recommend that anyone concerned about the near future read this book and take its message to heart.