Book Review: When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein

Originally posted 2017-07-02 19:18:00.

Hello everyone!  This review has been a long time coming, but I have finally obtained a copy of Matthew Stein’s When Technology Fails.  I have seen many interviews with Stein via YouTube, so I had been wanting to get a copy of the book for a while and finally did it.  I’m glad I did – I must say this is probably the most comprehensive book in my survival library!  If you’re looking for an expansive book that covers everything from basic emergency supplies to alternative energy, medicine, and construction, I would highly recommend adding When Technology Fails into your reading list.

Stein begins When Technology Fails with a blunt, yet honest look at the world’s situation today.  While many in the ‘preparedness’ community seem to think global warming is a hoax (perpetuated by the Chinese, right guys???)  Stein certainly doesn’t take this approach – instead he outlines quite matter of factly the major potential society ending threats that humans are currently facing – and unfortunately most of them are self imposed.  He separates them into these main categories:

• The eco-threat
• Peak Oil
• the bio-threat
• terrorism

I applaud Stein for not being afraid to boldly state these problems,  especially in the fact free political climate of today’s American culture.  It’s quite funny actually, if you check out reviews of When Technology Fails on the internet, as most of the negative or one star reviews are merely climate change deniers ripping on the author who I am sure didn’t even bother to actually read the book!  Such is life…

The remainder of the book is composed of a wealth of information on various survival topics, everything from basic 72 hour preparedness to longer term self sustainability are covered.  Here’s a listing of the table of contents.

• Introduction to self reliance
• present trends, possible futures
• supplies and preparations
• emergency measures for survival
• water
• food: growing, foraging, hunting & storing
• shelter and buildings
• first aid
• when high tech medicine fails
• clothing and textiles
• energy, heat and power,
• metalworking
• utensils and storage
• better living through not so modern chemistry
• engineering, machines and materials
• making the shift to sustainability

So, that’s a lot of stuff!  Each of these chapters breaks down a lot further and goes into depth about many, many topics.  And what’s better is that Stein has included extra reading that is  referenced at the end of each chapter if you would like to explore a particular subject in even more depth.  It’s a fantastic resource to have on hand for any sort of emergency.  As with the other books I’ve reviewed on this site, When Technology Fails is probably best read in advance and then used as a reference guide later on down the road – it’s quite a bit of information to take in so I am sure it will take several readings to get familiar with the material.  Stein’s work has been very well researched and is very in depth, so do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book while times are good.