The Disaster Diaries: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalypse

Despite disclaimers of not being a nervous survivalist or “a paranoid pessimist,” Sheridan, an amateur boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, uses a collection of stark disaster scenarios to wise up the reader on how to live through those final times. A world traveler with a variety of skills, he envisions a large earthquake in Los Angeles, a zombie invasion, urban unrest, physical injury, and general mayhem, then lists a group of vital measures to beat the odds. Sheridan notes fear, stress, and denial lessen the chances of survival, while preparations such as a month’s worth of food and water and a go-bag filled with daily essentials insure a winning game plan. With a funky sense of humor blended with straight-faced common sense, he not only addresses the long-term psychological trauma of disaster but adds the importance of learning basic first-aid techniques, firearms training, knife skills, hunting and living in the wild, and expertise behind the wheel for a real world escape and survival. As a quirky survivalist primer, Sheridan’s work spells out how to stay alive when the world goes topsy-turvy. (Jan.)