Book Review: Patriots by James Rawles

I have to say that I was excited to finally have the opportunity to read the book. I read www.survivalblog.com regularly and had heard much. Boy, was I disappointed.

Did it bother anyone else that Dan Fong was usually referred to as Dan Fong, and not just Dan? What did the new moms use for diaper rash? Or women use for monthlies? Or men use to shave? When they bugged out to the woods, what did they eat without cooking (the fires during daylight only would have had smoke give away their position, right?) and how did they clean their clothes? The toilet paper issue would have been a good idea to bring up in the book IF it had actually been mentioned again after 3, 4, 5 years after the crash, uh, Crunch. Almost everyone had the same voice (talked the same way), and most people don't have the financial means to do that much prepping, so how many people, really, can this book help? Introduction of new characters would give a huge backstory and very rarely speak again. As for the religion being crammed down readers' throats... 'nuf said.

I found this book to be good with basic info, but a huge pain to read. No one seemed real, and the first rule of fiction writing is to help the reader "suspend disbelief" - or make it feel real.

This book should have been just a non-fiction manual, and never been attempted as a novel. Where was the editor during the publishing process (first or last times?). No character development or plot. Very little actual setting. Internal conflict? Points of view? Geez, from a literary standpoint, this book was NOT a novel.

I realize Mr. Rawles has a huge following and is supposed to be one of the most knowledgeable and followed survivalists. That's fine. This is not an attack on him, but just a humble opinion about this book. I read it in a bookstore, over the course of several days. I'm very glad I didn't buy it. I am sorry that I wasted my time.

I have a lot of non-fiction books on many topics, from gardening to fishing to defense to survival to history to science experience to ... well, just about everything. I also have access to the web. Get the info from this book online (now, while there still is an internet), visit thrift stores and yard sales for inexpensive reference books.

Don't waste your money on this book.

Just my 2 cents worth...