Personally I'm far to much of a coward and technophobe to put my info files and archives onto anything that needs leccy or batteries in order to work. Books are not very portable but they if looked after can and do last hundreds of years, I've never found any electronic media so far that lasts more than 10 years. And after TSHTF its going to be our kids and grand kids who need the archives more than we will.
Besides you cannot wipe your bum with an E book, where as every booklet Labour shoves through my letter box can be used to wipe my bum on, help compost in the garden or get the wood burner going.
and they keep altering/updating electronic stuff, for example I see loads of videos for sale in car boots but who wants videos when we've all got DVD players?
Evening All
Books are certainly the best option to build the Noahs Ark Library.
Agreed that an iPad or some other tablet might be useful whilst we have some form of power source. True we need to teach skills (knowledge) but we still need that knowledge written down. Remember the monks in the dark ages were those who kept knowledge alive.
Don't forget the masses of data that we have built up from the web
and needs to be printed out. I still recommend acid free paper or maybe acid free folders.
I don't buy the comment about printer ink being non-permanent. Have you tried getting it off your clothes??
Allons-y
Has nobody figured out that solar can be easily attached to a Kindle? Want to go even wilder? A kindle will store data for as long as it's around. So, if you charge it, that'll last about 2 weeks or more, which will provide enough time to get a sunny day and recharge it again. There's a nutty idea! Haha, I'm just being awkward.
A lot can be said for all the various kinds of data storage. Whether it's books, printed, or digital, the point is, it's good to have access to good knowledge.
With all the concepts and ideas, one of the major things to take into account is space and expenses.
If you have very little space, books will be an issue. We have a library (the front room) which houses around 1000 books. Some are prepping, and some are just awesome books. However, if you're like me, you'll want as much info for each quid you spend. I'm with TOF in that I love a good charity shop search. Think of it as being like a treasure hunt. Makes it more fun.
However, if you have very little space, you'd need to be selective of the information sources you stock up on.
With limited space and reasonable finances, it would be easier to save up and get a Kindle plus a small solar charger. Then download PDF's and other data sources. Providing you looked after the device, you'd be happily rewarded with a depth of data, quick access via search option, and a long life and battery usage.
If you had books, you'd need to have the space to store them, but also you'd do well to have read them and made mental notes of which books contained what information. I know which books have the best quick guides to stitching skin and I know roughly where they are on the shelves. If you just have a load of books that you haven't at least skimmed over, you'll have issues with what has what info and where in the book it is.
Whatever your situation, a good foundation of solid books is the best place to start.
Once you have a foundation built, you'd do well to double up the data and start learning it by heart. Learning word for word isn't too important. It's the concepts and skills you need to have down-pat.
There is nothing wrong with downloading another file or collecting another book. Some might be useless for yourself, but a team member might be really good with X skill, and the book could work as an awesome reminder for them.
The problem is, if you have all your eggs in one basket.
Fire destroys all your books, and you'll not be able to save them all. EMP destroys the Kindle, and you lose all the data it had. See the problem? If you can see the problem of thinking one system is better than the other, then you can also see the solution that you do not need to have the different data-sources separated. You are more than welcome to have a copy of every book in both solid and electrical format.
Using all the various data-systems in conjunction to complement each other is probably the best way to go.
But get a solid foundation of good quality books, medical, plant, survival, mechanical, etc, and grow your skills and list from there...whether that's digital, physical, or both. Providing you start, that's what's important.
Love my Kindle more than words can express but the really important stuff is in hardcopy....room for both in my opinion but i do place more importance on physical copy.
S13 yes we already covered Solar recharging and hardware failure ie: having a USB backup as well as the Kindle/tablet
(11 February 2014, 23:00)Devonian Wrote: [ -> ]S13 yes we already covered Solar recharging and hardware failure ie: having a USB backup as well as the Kindle/tablet
Phew! I was getting worried, all this talk about them running out of power. I knew someone had thought of the blindingly obvious.
I'm just waiting for Samsung to completely outdo Apple by launching a tablet where the screen doubles up as a solar panel/charger!!
Now that would be good!!
I'm waiting for the day when a little Indian fella invents a recharger that uses flood water rather than sun.
Oh the joy of it -- I can keep my Harveys Bristol Cream Cooler charged up
Yippee
You can get little mini metal camp fires thingys that also generate leccy