"The Practical Prepper" Blog Tour by Kylene and Jonathan Jones

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The Practical Prepper by Kylene and Jones
Rating: 4 of 5 starts
Source: Received to Review
Genre: Non-fiction

Book Description:

My thoughts:  I live in an area (Utah) that has been expecting a large earthquake anytime.  It can happen now or a couple hundred years from now.  We are overdue.  I remember earthquake drills from Elementary School.

I considered myself pretty knowledgable about emergency preparation.  My neighborhood has drills where we pretend that an emergency has taken place.  We put cards in our windows letting others know if help is needed.  Families are given scenarios for emergencies.  As a block captain, I've had to go knock on doors to find out what the (pretend) status of the home is and report the need for help.  I even have an amateur radio license, K7LKF.

So, yes I thought I was prepared-ish.  There are more things that can go wrong than we realize.  This book takes a look at many different circumstances that we need to prepare for.  It isn't written in a way that causes panic, the reader doesn't feel the need to rush out and start buying things that they can't afford just in case.  It takes a practical look at emergencies and a common sense approach to preparing for them.

The author's have a formula at the beginning of the book.  RISK = PROBABILITY x CONSEQUENCE.
Different areas have different probability and different levels of consequence.  It's a great idea to individually evaluate needs using the formula.

I am not as prepared as I thought. But, I do have a start.  This book is great at guiding the reader from their own level of preparedness and nudging them in the right direction.

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About the Author's: Jonathan is a licensed civil engineer and an avid enthusiast of alternative energy sources, especially solar and wind power. He has served as vice president and advisory board member of The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA), as secretary/treasurer for a local chapter of Civil Defense Volunteers, and as an emergency preparedness and communications specialist. As a city councilperson, has been tasked with developing the city emergency plan in his own community. He has coauthored numerous articles with his wife on emergency preparedness topics and published them in The Journal of Civil Defense. He is the owner of Your Family Ark, LLC, an education and consulting business designated to assist individuals and families in preparing for an uncertain future (www.yourfamilyark.org). 

Kylene has an educational background in business management and family studies. She has also served on the advisory board and on the board of directors for TACDA and is currently the editor for The Journal of Civil Defense. She has a passion for researching and experimenting, which adds a sense of real life to her writing and teaching. A firm believer in hands-on learning, she involves her family in emergency training for everything from fire drills to living off food storage and garden produce to turning off the power in the dead of winter just to see if they can survive it. She’s learned many powerful lessons from these experiences, the best one being that we are tougher than any challenge. We will not only survive but will emerge better, stronger people as a result of the adventure.

Jonathan and Kylene make a dynamic combination. Together they have presented in a wide variety events, including community education courses, educational seminars, preparedness fairs, employee education programs, and community classes. With Jonathan’s extensive knowledge and Kylene’s high-energy personality, they have a unique talent for taking a relatively boring topic and turning it into an exciting quest, motivating audiences to join the ranks of provident preppers.