The Disaster Diaries

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalypse

By: Sam Sheridan

Narrated by: Donald Corren

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Sam Sheridan has been an amateur boxer, mixed-martial-arts fighter, professional wilderness firefighter, EMT, sailor, and cowboy, and has worked in construction at the South Pole. If he isn't ready for the apocalypse, we're all in a lot of trouble.

Despite an arsenal of skills that would put most of us to shame, when Sam had his son and settled down, he was beset with nightmares about being unable to protect him. Apocalyptic images filled his head. If a rogue wave hit his beach community, could he get out? If he was forced outside the city, could he survive in the wilderness? Let's not even talk about plagues, zombies, and aliens. Unable to quiet his mind, Sam decided to face his fears head-on, embarking on a quest to gain as many skills as possible that might come in handy should the world as we know it end.

Each possible doomsday required a different skill set. Trying to navigate a clogged highway when everyone is trying to leave town? Better go to the best stunt-driving school in the country. Need to protect your family but have no ammunition? Better learn how to handle a knife. Is your kid hurt or mentally strained? Better brush up on emergency medicine and study the psychological effects of trauma. From training with an Olympic weightlifter to an apprenticeship in stealing cars with an ex-gang member, from an intense three-week gun course in the 100-degree heat of Alabama to agonizing lessons in wilderness survival, Sam left no stone unturned. Would it be enough if a meteor rocked the earth? Who's to say? But as Sam points out, it would be a damn shame to survive the initial impact only to die a few days later because you didn't know how to build a fire.

This is participatory journalism at its finest. A rollicking narrative with each chapter framed by a hypothetical doomsday scenario, The Disaster Diaries is for everyone who wants to know what it might take to make it through a cataclysmic event - or just wants to watch someone else struggle to find out.

©2013 Sam Sheridan (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"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…. As a quirky survivalist primer, Sheridan’s work spells out how to stay alive when the world goes topsy-turvy." (Publishers Weekly)

"How to survive any possible disaster, from aliens to zombies to everything in between…. An upbeat and entertaining survival guide for the end of the world." (Kirkus Reviews)

"This is no mere guide to surviving disaster; it's also the author's personal account of learning to prepare for catastrophe…. A clever and very useful guide to getting ready to face the unknown." (Booklist)

interesting. engaging.

Occasional language. Farfetch'd imaginings combined with thorough investigation of post-apocalyptic living plus a reality check for balance at the end.

Good enough

It kept my attention long enough ughhhjjjjjhhh you don’t get why I’m saying it fool

read it

read it yourself and make your own decision, thats the only way you learn, especially if this is for you

a real look at apocalyptic Scenarios

I was very impressed with the authors take on how to survive various apocalyptic scenarios.

great

so far I have read and listened to this book 4 times and counting. I love it.

Sam trains for scenarios of the apocolypse

The book is not a story or a how to necessarily. It's both fiction and non-fiction. Sam sounded like a free spirit until his son was born. I can relate. The birth of his son brought on certain fears.So he tells a fictional story where he is faced with a disaster. Then he talks about what he actually did in life to fix, avoid, train or prepare for said disaster. The book clips back to the story and he applies those learned skills. For example some one is shot in his fictional story and then the book goes to the non-fictional side where he talks about how he got EMT training. Back to the fictional story and he stops bleeding and stabilizes his friend. It's an awesome concept for a book. He's hit by flood, earthquakes, zombies, aliens, robots, gangs and all out SHTF cocktail. Performance was great.

A little choppy...

I think this book might have been trying to be too many things at once. At times it was some sort of post-apocalyptic survival story, and at times a "how-to" manual. The switch between "fiction" and non-fiction elements was a bit choppy and jarring as a listener. The narrator had a good voice, and was easy to listen to, but the story itself (and its' organization) fell flat.

Not what u might expect....

Is this a how to or novel? It is a how to survive with small amounts of story. There are good ideas, but I was wanting a story instead of a how to manual. Could not finish...

Prepare Yourself!

If you could sum up The Disaster Diaries in three words, what would they be?

Fascinating, thought provoking.

What about Donald Corren’s performance did you like?

Donald Corren's narration was spot on. I never tired of listening to his voice. He achieved a scholarly tone while keeping an appropriate conversational quality. He transitioned nicely between the fiction and nonfiction sections of the book. Highly recommend!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I kept coming back to this book in between other readings. I imagine will also re-read portions in the future.

Any additional comments?

I found Mr. Sheridan's exploration of both the practical and psychological facets of apocalypse survival to be very personally edifying. The topics he explores are applicable to both the theoretical topic at hand, as well as everyday life. His study in the uses of deadly force (guns, knives, etc.) were especially interesting, and I think should be required reading for anyone owning weapons.

I would LOVE it if every person writing, or considering writing, any work of fiction related to the survival of an apocalyptic event would read this book beforehand, if only to better inform themselves of the human physical practicalities at play. Know the rules before you break them!

Not a Story as much as a Self Disclosure

I'm nearly through this book and have enjoyed the author's description of his learnings and his process of preparing himself to take care of himself and his family in times of small or large disasters. There's a chapter about his 3 week firearms training with an interesting trainer the North Alabama, for example. Another chapter was about his month-long SOLO Wilderness First Aid training in New England. It's a good book for my library and I can foresee listening to it again down the road.