THE PRACTICAL PREPPER – A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies (Book Review + Interview)

You are responsible to provide for yourself and your family. Entitlement has invaded our culture, producing an attitude of dependence on others to take care of our needs. This is a dangerous trend, and we encourage you to act with honor and integrity, doing everything in your power to care for your own family and to be a good neighbor. Do the best with what you have, wherever you are. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.” – Kylene and Jonathan Jones

Kylene and Jonathan Jones lay out exactly what steps to take to be prepared in their new book – The Practical Prepper: A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies.

I don’t have the words to give this book justice, but I can tell you  it’s definitely going onto my favorites list . This book is exactly what the title says, a very simple guide for anyone to follow. It covers everything you could possibly need to know in a fun way, while at the same time refraining from turning into a never-ending dooms day encyclopedia.

The authors truly practice what they preach – the book is filled with pictures, real-life examples, lessons learned through experimenting, and so much more you could only know if you actually tried it!

About The Practical Prepper

• Tell me about your book.

The Practical Prepper—A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies is a no-nonsense guide to emergency preparedness and survival written for real people with real lives. It begins by assisting the reader in developing a comprehensive risk evaluation and mitigation program designed for his/her precise location and unique circumstances. In other words, what risks do I face and what can I do about them?

The Practical Prepper walks through each step of emergency preparedness and clearly explores possible options, allowing the reader to discover which options may work best for their specific situation. Each chapter concludes by developing a personalized action plan. Once the book is completed, the reader will have developed a comprehensive preparedness plan, tailored to his/her unique needs and have the knowledge to implement that plan. It is like hiring a personal emergency preparedness consultant. The action plans can be accessed online at www.theprovidentprepper.org.

• What is the main message of The Practical Prepper?

The take-home message from The Practical Prepper includes a few important principles:

• There is great wisdom in investing time and resources to prepare for future challenges.
• Develop a plan of action and make steady progress toward your goals.
• Don’t do stupid things! Always place safety first!
• Keep balance in life. Do not go to extremes. Prepare for the future while enjoying the present.

The Writing Process:

• How did you get interested in writing about preparedness?

Our interest in researching emergency preparedness began many years ago as we worked to prepare our own family. We attended numerous preparedness classes and grew concerned at the amount of conflicting information that was presented. That is when we decided that we had better figure this out ourselves and not trust the safety of our family to a well-meaning, but misinformed person.

We conducted serious research using trusted sources. We personally experimented to learn what works and what doesn’t work. We have rubbed shoulders with knowledgeable individuals as we worked to become actively involved in teaching and learning everything we could about prepping.

• What made you decide to sit down and actually start writing?

We had worked hard for several years to educate as many people as we could through building a website, writing articles and teaching classes. One day Cedar Fort contacted us and asked if we might be interested in writing a book on emergency preparedness. We had always thought about it, but this gave us the opportunity and motivation to get it done.

• What kind of research did you do for this book?

Thousands of hours of research went into writing this book to bring the readers the most accurate information possible. We diligently worked to collect information from the best sources available.

• What was the hardest part of writing your book?

The most challenging part of writing the book was pulling ourselves away from experimenting and sitting down at the computer for long, tedious hours.

• What was the best part about writing your book?

The most fun part of writing The Practical Prepper was the actual experimenting and getting to play with all the prepping toys.

• How long did it take to write?

It took one year to actually write The Practical Prepper but much of the original research was conducted over a ten year period.

• Did you learn anything from writing your book?

The teacher always learns more than the student. We discovered volumes of information that we were unable to include in the book due to space limitations. Much of the material we had to edit out will be included on our websites (www.yourfamilyark.org and www.theprovidentprepper.org).

The massive amount of information taught us one important principle; prepping boils down to a few basic needs. We really only need shelter, clothing, water, food and fuel to survive. Knowledge is power!

• Do you have plans for another book?

We would love to write a book where we could share our survival gardening skills, an important part of building our family ark. On our little homestead, we have experimented with many different gardening techniques, raising chickens, preserving the bounty, and preparing delicious meals from our harvest.

You do not have to devote your life to farming in order to grow enough food on a little urban lot to survive. We are not sure if we will actually write another book or if we will just blog our adventures.

Meet the Authors – Kylene & Jonathan Jones:

• If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

If Jonathan were to write a book about his life he would entitle it, “And I Was Hoping for a Simple Life” and Kylene’s book would be “One Grand Adventure—Learning to Love the Chaos.”

• Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Jonathan is a licensed civil engineer and an avid enthusiast of alternative energy sources; especially solar and wind power. He has served on the advisory board and on the board of directors as vice president for The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA), as secretary/treasurer for a local chapter of Civil Defense Volunteers, as an emergency preparedness and communications specialist, and as a city councilperson, has been tasked with developing the city emergency plan in his own community.  He has co-authored numerous articles published in The Journal of Civil Defense on emergency preparedness topics with his wife. He is the co-owner of Your Family Ark, LLC, an educational and consulting business designed to assist individuals and families in preparing for an uncertain future.

Kylene has an educational background in business management as well as in family studies. She has also served on the advisory board and on the board of directors for TACDA and is currently the editor for The Journal of Civil Defense. She has a passion for researching and experimenting, adding a sense of real life to their writing and teaching. A firm believer in hands-on learning, she involves her family in emergency training for everything from fire drills, to living off food storage and garden produce, to turning off the power in the dead of winter just to see if they can survive it. Many powerful lessons are learned from these experiences, the best lesson being that we are tougher than any challenge. We will not only survive, but we will emerge better, stronger people as a result of the adventure.

Jonathan and Kylene make a dynamic combination. Together they have presented in a wide variety forums including; community education courses, educational seminars, preparedness fairs, employee education programs, and community classes. With Jonathan’s extensive knowledge and Kylene’s high energy personality, they have a unique talent for taking a relatively boring topic and turning it into an exciting quest, motivating audiences to join the ranks of the provident preppers.

• So, what have you written?

Our writing portfolio includes: The Practical Prepper – A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies, numerous articles in the Journal of Civil Defense on various emergency preparedness topics, articles published in various newsletters and handbooks, and on our informational websites (www.theprovidentprepper.org and www.yourfamilyark.org).

We write to educate and motivate people to prepare for challenges in the future. We believe that community is critical. If each family will work toward self-reliance and prepare, they will be in a better position to reach out and help others. Working together, we can conquer most of the challenges that we might face.

• Do you have anything specific that you want to share with my readers?

We are often asked what exactly we are preparing for. We are preparing to love life regardless of the challenges that the future presents and to be a force for good. That requires us to acquire knowledge, skills and resources to allow us to be part of the solution, instead of being part of the problem.

We encourage you to do something today. Take some small step toward getting a little bit better prepared. Learn something new, improve a skill or buy a case of canned goods on sale. When we work together, we can defeat any challenge that is thrown our direction. Be a part of the solution.

We invite you to join the ranks of the provident preppers. Learn more at:

• Websites: www.theprovidentprepper.org and www.yourfamilyark.org
• Facebook: Your Family Ark – The Provident Prepper
• Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KyleneAnne/posts
• Twitter: @PrepperPro
• Linkedin: Kylene Anne Jones
• Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kylenejones/
• YouTube: Kylene Anne
• Amazon Author Page:
  • http://www.amazon.com/Kylene-Jones/e/B00KMDZW2G/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1
  • http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Jones/e/B00KML5YTE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_2
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7781727.Kylene_Jones

Your final action plan is to love life. Live every day and make the world a better place because you are in it.” – Kylene and Jonathan Jones

Let Kylene and Jonathan be your personal preparedness coach as you read The Practical Prepper, you will not be disappointed! I sure wasn’t!

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