The Art Of Urban Survival – A Book Review

In the casino of life, survival is the name of the game. Survival skills are especially important in the urban casino of life . Reading The Art of Urban Survival  – A Family Safety and Defense Manual – will put the odds of urban survival in your favor. The author covers just about every possible scenario one could be faced with in 294, jam-packed pages.  Keep it handy!

Since the civilization began, man has created an artificial environment in which to live. In part, the purpose of an urban environment is to separate us from the dangers of nature and to protect us from natural disasters caused by climate and predators. However, nature’s not easily thwarted and the laws of the jungle still apply.

We may have escaped being eaten by a tiger but the tiger has been replaced by other predators – the robber, street gangs and the rapist. Though cities offer some protection from the natural disasters such as droughts and floods, we are now subject to new, man made disasters like social upheaval, war and tyranny.

In his latest book, The Art of Urban Survival , author Stephan H. Verstappen, offers simple and practical advice on how to prepare for and react to the manydangers of modern society by learning to recognize the behaviors of predators and the signs of  impending turmoil.  The author draws from psychology, anthropology, military strategy, martial arts and wilderness survival to provide information on the full spectrum of urban survival skills.

The The Art of Urban Survival
is divided into three sections.

The first section, Surviving Predators, is a crime prevention and self-defense manual.  It focuses on a broad range of subjects from defense against psychopaths to what to do if you are lost in a bad neighborhood. Other topics include: How to overcome fear. How to tell when someone is lying. How to handle anger and aggression. How to deal with bad neighbors. And defense against stalkers, robbers, rapists,  kidnappers, street gangs, home invasion, carjackers, child abductions, car accidents, researches and much more. This section also includes illustrated and practical empty-handed self defense techniques suitable for women and children, how to employ commercial weapons and how to improvise homemade weapons and basic combat strategies.

Section two is concerned with Surviving Natural Disasters. It provides information on what to do if a natural disaster should occur in your city. Topics include: How to create a disaster plan, how to assemble a home emergency kit, car emergency kit, three-day survival kit, and even a pocket survival kit. This section also teaches you what to do if you are lost, how to organize a search and rescue team to search for lost family and friends and how to read the urban search and rescue symbols marked on the sides of  buildings when searched after a natural disaster occurs.

Section three , Surviving Social Disasters, covers the signs and dangers of when societies breakdown. Topics include what to do during blackouts, riots, Marshall law, widespread corruption and war. It also includes how to prepare for and what to do during biological, chemical and nuclear events. The final chapter covers how to escape incarceration and evade recapture as a last resort.

Cities were largely developed to mitigate the risks of living. It’s ironic that the very environment that was developed to make our lives easier will probably be our undoing. It’s up to us to protect ourselves, our families and in reality, our species.  Never-the-less, The Art of Urban Survival is not like so many other survival books that envision surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.  This book deals with the common dangers you face everyday living in the real world. With the increasing incidence of war, terrorism, crime and economic depression, this book will be a vital and timely addition to your home library.

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