Book Review: Emergency: This book will save your life by Neil Strauss

Having read some of Neil Strauss’ stuff in the past (New york times stuff, the game, etc.), I had a good idea of what I was getting into with Emergency: This book will save your life. I knew the title was going to be slightly misleading, as well as the trailer for the book so to speak. With that knowledge ahead of time, I was able to enjoy the book for what it is: a narrative of Neil’s forays into a different subculture. He did this before in “The Game” when he dove headfirst into the world of pickup artists, and seduction. That book, was advertised as the “definitive guide to picking up chicks” but it was just a narrative of his adventures meeting these people and becoming part of their inner circle, and littered with anecdotes of his practicing some of their ideas.

Emergency is in the same vein. I think a lot of his readers will buy this thinking this is the bible of what to do WTSHTF (When The Shit Hits The Fan), but will come away slightly disappointed. They will get a good well written story out of it, but won’t really know how to save their own asses when all hell breaks loose.

So what is this book? Its part introspective diary of a weak whiny white guy’s transformation into stronger self-confident self-subsisting white guy, part survivalist high level guide (things you should know, but not specifics on any on how to do them).

What this book is not:

• How-to book on survival in the wilderness
• How-to escape the country
• How-to get another citizenship (only example is St.Kitts)
• How-to save your life. (that’s the freaking tagline of the book no-less)

Strauss does something vaguely analogous to his journey in the Game. In the Game he outlines how he went from shy and timid around women to learning confidence (which is ultimately the underlying principle of the entire book – see I just saved you $20), in Emergency, he outlines how he overcame his fears of living in our society, and freed himself to actually live.

In the end, do I recommend this book? Maybe if you like reading stories about people making changes in their lives. If you enjoyed the Game, then pick this up. If you actually want to learn to save your own ass and that of your friends, save your $12 and go to the library, check out a bunch of books that are manuals.