Starting a blog requires a lot of things. Hard work, perseverance and luck play their own parts in unequal amounts. When I started Final Prepper , one of the first bloggers who was kind enough to link to our site was Dr. James Hubbard from his extremely informative site The Survival Doctor. Dr. Hubbard has been a family doctor for over 30 years and he has been sharing valuable information on his site since at least 2011 so I was honored when we were asked to review his first print book, First Aid: Fundamentals for Survival. First Aid is an extremely important topic and Dr. Hubbard covers a wide range of issues daily on his blog.
Having reference materials in the form of printed books is something that a lot of peppers’ and survivalists recommend. I personally think that every prepper should have their own survival library of books and reference manuals because there may be a day when you can’t get on the internet. There may come a day when everything is fine, but you are miles from a computer and that is when a pocket reference guide like this could save your life.
The book from Dr. Hubbard goes through the basics of first aid from the perspective of someone who can’t call 911. This book won’t teach you how to perform surgery but I think that is what makes this so great. I have several first aid books that go into ridiculous detail on surgery and while I can see the value in that reference if I have all of the supplies and time to learn
everything in there, a book like Dr. Hubbard’s, Fundamentals for Survival cuts to the chase and gives what I think is the most pertinent and important information that the average Joe can learn and use without a lot of fuss to save treat common ailments that you could find yourself facing in a disaster or even a backyard accident.
What I liked
This book is the best I have seen so far at just giving what I consider is the basics of first aid. It is aptly titled “Fundamentals” and Dr. Hubbard has a way of making everything seem very simple, plain-spoken and logical. I really like the way that he gives me what I had searched everywhere for and that was what I needed for a first aid kit. I have several, but they were purchased and I had to build my own kits augmenting them from other kits I purchased. There didn’t seem to be one perfect first aid kit, that didn’t have a ton of Band-Aids as the bulk of the supplies. Fundamentals For Survival breaks the supplies you need down into two categories. Long term Storage and supplies you would need training for. Dr. Hubbard gives you a list and counts of exactly what you need to purchase so you can take this with you to Wal-Mart or go shopping at the local drug store if needed to get most everything you would need (without 200 Band-Aids) for your personal home first aid kit. Like I said, this is all very clearly written with just enough detail to make it easy to follow.
What I didn’t like
I honestly couldn’t find a single thing I didn’t like about this book. The size is perfect for shoving into a backpack or even a side pocket on your cargo pants and the cost is very reasonable at Amazon when I checked.
If you don’t have a decent first aid guide and have been meaning to pick one up, I think you will like Dr. Hubbards, First Aid: Fundamentals For Survival. If you have the complete Merck manual sets and all the surgical instruments and training of a doctor, this isn’t for you. It is a great resource for the rest of us.
