Practical Doomsday

As an experienced emergency responder, I found the book filled with practical advice that had me nodding my head in enthusiastic agreement throughout - and it was thorough and broad enough that there were still chapters that had me taking notes on topics I'd not considered, or am now seeing with another perspective. I've definitely adjusted my own preparations after reading it and highly recommend it to anyone - both those who consider themselves already prepared, and especially those who would like to be prepared without committing their life to an expensive hobby. -Matt Linton, @0xMatt Definitely the best no-nonsense guide to adult life out there. -Martin Obiols, @olemoudi For years, Michal has been thinking about mitigation of catastrophe. You should put his pragmatic book on your shopping list as a guide to exploring for yourself. Be Prepared. -Eric Grosse, former VP of Security & Privacy at Google Practical Doomsday is very thoroughly researched. Mr. Zalewski does an excellent job of providing simple, practical advice to prepare for life's more common disruptions, such as job losses and day-long power outages. The best part? His advice, when applied toward more humdrum but fairly likely events, will also help readers prepare for less common, more catastrophic events. -The Organic Prepper Zalewski's book begins by examining risks in a very sane, voice-of-reason, manner. The end-of-the-world scenarios get downplayed immediately in favor of the actual things that kill or injure most people in first world countries--things like ladders and backyard swimming pools. He does consider larger scale risks but always in a thoughtful manner . . . I plan on keeping this book around as a reference, all-be-it an unusual one. -Rik Farrow, USENIX To some degree, I am student of risk. I ascribe to Elroy Dimson's bon mot: 'Risk means more things can happen than will.' In my own work, I define a state of security as the absence of unmitigable surprise, not no surprise but the absence of unmitigable surprise. If that makes you say, 'How exactly does that help?' then Michal's book is your answer. -Dan Geer, Computer Security Analyst and Risk Management Specialist A great book. Everyone should buy it. -Dave Aitel, @daveaitel If you are looking for something different, try this. -Haitham Alani, @Mroverflow