Best Books on General Survival for Preppers (2026)
General survival books cover water, fire, shelter, food, signaling, and first aid in one volume. Some focus on the wilderness and some on disasters at home, so check the description for which you need.
10 books, ranked. Affiliate links.
#1
SAS Survival Handbook
John Wiseman
John 'Lofty' Wiseman's broad survival reference covering every climate and situation. The most-recommended general survival book. Beginner level, 672 pages, 2014 edition.
beginnerLarge reference
#2
When All Hell Breaks Loose
Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin's guide to surviving disasters at home: water, sanitation, food, and heat, with humor and common sense. Beginner level, 480 pages, 2007 edition.
beginner
#3
98.6 Degrees
Cody Lundin
Survival is about keeping your core temperature normal, and Lundin builds the whole book around that idea. Beginner level, 214 pages, 1st ed. (2003).
beginner
#4
U.S. Army Survival Manual
U.S. Department of the Army
Reprint of the Army survival manual (FM 21-76). The current version, ATP 3-50.21, is a free public-release Army publication. Beginner level, 238 pages, 2013 edition. Current successor ATP 3-50.21 (2018), approved for public release, from the Army Publishing Directorate.
beginnerFree legal PDF
#5
Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
FEMA (U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
FEMA's own preparedness guide covering hazards from floods to chemical spills. A government publication you can print for free. Beginner level, 204 pages, 2013 edition. FEMA publication, free from Ready.gov.
beginnerFree legal PDF
#6
The Disaster Preparedness Handbook
Dr. Arthur T. Bradley
An engineer's practical, unhysterical approach to family emergency planning. Beginner level, 536 pages, 2013 edition.
beginner
#7
The Prepper's Blueprint
Tess Pennington, Daisy Luther
A step-by-step plan for preparing a household for disasters of increasing length. Beginner level, 462 pages, 2014 edition.
beginner
#8
Nuclear War Survival Skills
Cresson H. Kearny
Cresson Kearny's field-tested instructions for fallout shelters, ventilation, and radiation meters, from Oak Ridge National Laboratory research. Free online from its publisher. Intermediate level, 282 pages, Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition. Free from the publisher (Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine).
intermediateFree legal PDF
#9
SAS Survival Guide
John 'Lofty' Wiseman
The pocket version of the SAS Survival Handbook. Fits in a go-bag or glovebox. Beginner level, 384 pages, Collins Gem pocket edition (2018 release).
beginnerPocket-size
#10
Wilderness Survival For Dummies
John F. Haslett, Cameron M. Smith
A clear, structured introduction to outdoor survival basics. Beginner level, 464 pages, 2nd edition (2023).
beginner
This list shows our top 10 of 30. See every general survival book in the directory.
How we picked
Every book here is a print reference you could actually use during an emergency, and every edition, ISBN, and page count was checked against Open Library or the publisher. If we couldn't verify a detail, we left it out. The order is our editorial judgment: books a beginner can use come first, then specialist references. Free legal copies are flagged, and we never link to pirated PDFs. Affiliate commissions don't decide what gets listed or where it ranks.
Comparisons
More buying guides: Survival Medicine · Wilderness First Aid · Water Storage and Purification · Food Storage and Preservation · Canning · Foraging · Ham Radio · Homesteading · Off-Grid Power · Survival Gardening · Bushcraft