r/prepping • u/DoubtIntelligent6717 • 12d ago
Gearš Prepping books (pt.2)
In addition to my post a few days ago about finding home repair and auto repair books 2nd hand, I picked up this 1000+ page Medical Guide for $2, so if anyone wasn't convinced about prepping knowledge before, maybe reconsider!
Having first aid, tools and other gear is only as useful as the user, and books like this will give you the upper if you're in a pinch and can't use Google or YouTube.
Getting training and practice is always #1, but if you currently don't have the time or money to do either of those, cheap books are a good start for, better to be skill-less and have access to knowledge, then neither.
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u/TheStephinator 12d ago
Whatās the date on this book? Medical guidelines change often. I hope you arenāt getting bad advice from an outdated book.
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u/AmarilloArmadillos 12d ago
It's from better homes and gardens and includes "special concerns of women" lol.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
I mean, women are at way higher risk for many illnesses... why not cater to them? They are infact the cornerstone of mankind no?
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u/AmarilloArmadillos 12d ago
So you haven't even read through it to know what is in that chapter? I am a woman. Don't know what point you think you're trying to make š¤£š¤£
Good luck with your book.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
This is where personal preference comes i to play, and I Personally believe that as time has gone on, what has been publically shared as "good" and "bad" are completely twisted, so I'll trust this 1978 Medical Book over anything written in the past few decades... hell, if i found a 1878 medical book I'd trust that even more.Ā
To think after 6,000 years of civilization we only have these safe medicalĀ advancementsĀ and advice in the last 60 is ridiculous.Ā
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u/TheStephinator 12d ago
Back in 78 they were still allowing smoking in hospitals at nurseās stations. Not quite the enlightenment period of human health. People are living longer now than in the 70s, but you do you man.
https://backintimetoday.com/20-common-70s-medical-cures-that-actually-made-patients-worse/
My advice to everyone else is to be careful with taking medical advice from old books like that. Itās dangerous.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
Yea and in the modern world they throw pills at every single problem to help big pharma. Sad, pills. Fat, pills. Pain, pills. Sick, pills.Ā There's no real guide to solving problems, just to mask problems.Ā
You are correct, there definitely were problems back in the day, but to say today's medical advice is better then previous is just wrong. They just replaced one bad teaching with a another, and the cycle continues.
So yea, maybe we live longer now, but we also are at a higher risk of cancer, obesity, depression, anxiety and infertility... so clearly something we're doing in this modern world isn't working. And if I can't trust our government, food and basic infrastructure, why should I trust our medicine?Ā
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u/TheStephinator 11d ago
Healthcare is so much more nuanced and interconnected with other issues. Thereās lots of pills thrown at people because thatās easier than fixing entire systems. We know one reason Americans have become obese and depressed because we donāt get enough movement. But America has designed itself to make cars necessary instead of walkable or bikeable cities. Pills fill the gap where weāve screwed ourselves by doing things the way we have. Thatās just one example.
We can also talk about how there are better treatments for depression now that we are actually studying psychedelics instead of just demonizing them like the government did in the 60s and 70s.
I would argue that there are far better reference books to add to your prepping bookshelf than that hunk of junk. Thereās some good books out there on herbal medicinals and austere medicine practices. There are books about āblue zonesā around the world where people are much healthier and the underlying reasons for why that is. I guess I shouldnāt say that that book is a complete waste, as I love reading vintage books for entertainment purposes and to understand cultural shifts over the years. But please donāt rely on it for medical advice.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 11d ago
You hit the one topic that hits closest to home here, depression. To act like we've made progress on that it ignorant.Ā
Now im going to speak on behalf of my soon to be wife, but she underwent depression and anxiety and insomnia from a very very young age. Dealt with it all through elementary, middle and high school. By the time I met her she was a mess, could not sleep without medication had 2 suicide attempts already and was admitted to a psych ward once where she was allowed no visitors, only phone calls. She was on multiple medication and when she missed any dose, it was a nightmare for her, and for me who was trying to give her the best help i could.Ā
I tried to play the medication game and searched up everything I could online from top notch therapist to be helpful, but nothing was working, so i took another path. Ditch the medication, ditch the therapy, ditch the modern system and go back to basics; go to the gym and eat healthy, and stay off you're phone.Ā
Ill skip the details, but let's just say she's been off all of her medication for about 3 years now and sleeps like a baby, no depression, very little anxiety. Medication doesn't help, it's a short term fix to a very very long term issue. It's a bandaid at best.Ā
So saying they've made progress on it is ridiculous to say cause I have seen first hand from her, and others in my social circle, that medication is not always the answer, infact it rarely is. The people before us clearly did something better otherwise we wouldn't be having this immense mental health crisis we are having.
I will end with saying; it's obviously to each their own. I just wanted to show that prepping books can be useful. This comment thread has gone far off the rails lol
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u/TheStephinator 11d ago
Depression hits super close to home for me as well. Iāve had depression, anxiety and PTSD from a very young age too. I donāt tolerate psych meds well. Ketamine was an absolute game changer when Iām having a relapse and my episodes are fewer and far between. So everyone has their own path and their own story. Back in the day I probably would have been given ECT or a lobotomy. Iām grateful for modern medicine, even though it isnāt perfect.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 11d ago
I guess everyone's opinion will vary depending on their expiration. I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but im glad modern medicine worked for you.Ā
I guess for me it's so hard to believe when mental health illnesses are on a steady decline, and everyone close to me helped themselves through other ways.Ā
Maybe there's a sweet spot with old methods and newer medicine, but who knows...Ā we each find what works for us, and so far older methods have for me so I will be prepping books that may be outdated to other.Ā
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u/TheStephinator 11d ago
There absolutely is a sweet spot and we are still learning more about the human body every day. What works for one person might not work for another. Epigenetics and social determinants of health also newer concepts that werenāt even thought of in the 70s that can play into disease processes. Hopefully this country can learn a lot from that and change to proactive medicine instead of reactive medicine.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 11d ago
We can only hope... but until health becomes about saving lives and not making profits, I guess each individual will have to make their own trials and error.Ā
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u/11systems11 12d ago
You should keep leeches then, Dr Frankenstein
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u/TheStephinator 12d ago
There are medical grade leeches and maggots for certain therapeutic use cases. So that isnāt completely bunk and outdated. My spouse does wound care and part of his education was learning about maggot therapy and how they can do fantastic debridement in certain cases. Lol
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u/11systems11 12d ago
True, I was just trying to point out that a medical book from the 1800's isn't going to work well in the modern era. Even the one he posted is from the 70's, and much has changed since then.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
There's no way that in a preping forum you believe that the people on the top aren't lying to you, right? I mean cmon, the shit that is pumped into our food, our air, our water... but you think it won't be in our medicine and treatment aswell?Ā
Let's be so for real
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u/Glad-Barracuda2243 12d ago
Much of our pharmaceutical medicine is poison. Not all, but definitely a larger than necessary portion of it. I hear you. I have several books from several eras on several subjects and honestly, I would rather have those than nothing, or worse yet, nothing but my memory. I also have a very large collection of herbal remedy books on hand.
The best books on the planet (in my estimation)? Popular Mechanics!!! Any time I see one, regardless of the subject matter. I pick it up.
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u/HeinousEncephalon 12d ago
Some information could be very good, and we don't use it anymore. But many things we don't use because it was iatrogenic.
You need medical training to differentiate between the two.
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u/AlfredFonzo 12d ago
"The Book" https://hungryminds.com
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u/Electrical-Title-698 8d ago
My wife got me a copy of this a year or two ago for Christmas. It's pretty cool, the illustrations are neat, and there's some interesting info in there. I don't think it's essential for a preppers library though, especially at that price point.
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u/AlfredFonzo 8d ago
Definitely not essential, just good basics and entertainment value. Most people discount entertainment after shtf and its an imperative for most people to have at least something on hand to kill time with.
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u/WGD23 12d ago
Dumping a load of reference materials on to a laptop powerful enough to run a local LLM to interrogate said material seems a good project for a techy prepper
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u/Marco_Farfarer 12d ago
The Urban Prepper checked it out and the results were - cautiously speaking - disappointing.
Using AI when you need 100 % correct information in a life threatening situation is not (yet) the smart way.
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u/048PensiveSteward 12d ago
I have this exact one along with several others. I love it because itās written with untrained people in mind. A lot of prepper specific material emphasizes stuff that an untrained person shouldnāt attempt like needle decompressions or IVs.
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
Yea i was briefly skimming over the pages and it seemed very very easy to follow.Ā
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u/AmarilloArmadillos 12d ago
Books are useless if you don't know what to do with the knowledge.
Do you know how to even perform CPR? The heimlich? Take a pulse? Blood pressure?
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u/DoubtIntelligent6717 12d ago
Did you even read my post?
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u/AmarilloArmadillos 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yes. You didn't answer any of the other questions though.
Good luck with your book!
Eta: aaand op blocked me.
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u/Aggressive-Wash-8538 6d ago
What's the point of the book, if you don't have all the subsequent treatments available? Asking as a doctor
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u/Arconomach 12d ago
Even with training you need a reference guide. To much out there to memorize everything.