On an individual level, the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself from life-threatening disease and parasites is to wash your hands regularly [...] Alongside this, as a society you need to ensure your drinking water isn't contaminated with excrement

It's astounding to think that the telescopes extending our eyesight to the cosmos and the microscopes exploring the minute structure of matter all come down to a simple, curved lump of sand

And since the raw materials in the food we eat become assimilated into our cells, about half of the protein in our bodies is made from nitrogen fixed artificially by the technological capability of our own species. In a way, we are partly industrially manufacture

The author recognizes that there will be a grace period after a worldwide devastating event where there will be plenty of spare parts and canned food around, that act as a breather for any survivors of the apocalypse (Lewis Dartnell leaves it open what really can happen). After this honeymoon period, this window of well-stocked store shelves, we need to redo all the hard work that represents thousands of years worth of human development in technology and knowledge.The first few chapters cover some rough basics of chemistry, with a touch more flair than your dusty old teacher in school, and the foundational principles of our current understanding of soil-based food growing. This base is used later in the book, the author use this to refer back to when the chemistry gets a little trickier and the master plan gets revealed: To teach you in incremental steps, where each part can be used for its own benefits, but when you see the whole picture its genius how everything is linked together." - Lewis DartnellOne of the easiest examples to illustrate this is soapmaking introduced early in the book: Soap in itself is great, it gives you a simple tool to stay healthy and fight off bacterias that want to make you sick. The byproduct of soapmaking though are several great beneficial tools (glycerin, charcoal) that you can use for keeping warm, mining ore and so on - Once you tie the rope together you get miniature industrialization going on where every part takes you to a new step.Every topic within the book is kept clean and simple for an easier time for the reader and this is done on purpose by Lewis Dartnell. It would be easy for the author to balloon the size of the book otherwise and the whole purpose of the book (acting as a guide) would be lost in navel-gazing and detail pinching. There is plenty of fun and interesting anecdotes, short stories, history teaching and similar spread out in the book - Keeping the reading light and approachable, yet educational. I will forever remember that the word "salary" comes from Roman times and is connected with Roman soldiers permission to buy salt thanks to Mr. Dartnells way to insert this little story inside the book." - Lewis DartnellThe one and only time the author touches some form of social commentary he misuses the term anarchy and that was a bit awkward (and early enough in the book that I was thinking of dismissing the whole book because of it, which I'm glad I didn't) which teaches, coincidentally I'd say, the lesson of "stick to what you know".Besides that little incident, the book is great and is a welcomed addition to my agorist-library - I like apocalypse-porn and learning new stuff, this book supplied me plenty of both! A use for the book I thought up after putting it down was to mine it for ideas to test out with the kids for fun (making our own crude batteries for example) and others to do for profit (at least try).Even though the book isn't a complete manual for every little thing it covers, its a great starting point and excellent as a map to show how you can string things together and cover a lot of bases at once. Before you go out and buy the book , let me share my favorite quote from the book:" - Lewis Dartnell--- Alex Utopium, editor for Utopium.blog - Scandinavian anti-establishment blogger, currently on a bitcoin diet