Calamity Books, à la Carte_©
Books On Surviving Economic Collapse

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Finance, Water, Sanitation, Food Storage, Cooking, Gardening, Foraging,
Self-Protection, Solar Power, Medicine, Self-Reliance, Communication, Rebuilding,
Government, Survival, Fiction, Reference, Magazines, Other Book Lists

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his is my personal preparation book wish list, begun when Y2K was Y2K minus 1. The focus is upon books which would be of use to me in 'aftertimes' whether one gets a chance to read them beforehand or not. Preference is given to books which would be applicable under a wide variety of possible calamitous circumstances. Such books will probably be interesting, even if one doesn't end up desperately needing them to survive.

For each book, I have tried to indicate what I saw about them that caused me to add them to my own list. A small check mark indicates which of them (75 or about three fifths) I personally was moved to order. I've read twenty or so of them, denoted by larger check marks, and am in the process of writing reviews, some of which I've already posted here. My reactions are not all positive. I reviewed my favorites first. The lemons are more forgetable, so I'll have to look them over again to be able to comment on just why I didn't care for them.

I have an open ended rating system which I've used for my Tiffany Lamp from JM Graphics own record keeping, in which I award a book or article a point for each time it causes me to take some action, even if that action is nothing more than to add something to my "To Do" list. It also counts if I find something quotable in the book and take steps to capture that quote into my own quote cataloging system. The all time highest scorer, so far, was John Holt'sTeach Your Own: A Hopeful Path for Education, at well over 200 (or was it 300? I'll get back to you on that). Longer books obviously have a better opportunity to score high. A book can also be unfairly penalized by not being one of the first I've read on a subject, so I date the scores (when the bulk of the book was read). Together with my subjective comments, the "Personal Usefulness Score" should provide some guidance as to which books you may find immediately informative.

I do not recommend buying these books at online bookstores. They do not have adequate procedures to prevent your address from falling into the hands of unknown third parties.

Finance

How to Prosper During the Hard Times Ahead: A Crash Course for the American Family in the Troubled New Millennium, Ruff, Howard, $17.50
There's room for optimism, if you're prepared.

How To Financially Protect Your Business From Y2K Business Interruption-The Essential Workbook, Ken Lagasse, $45 -- skip for now
This workbook is an invaluable tool to help business owners sustain financial viability and profitability in the face of the most serious crisis the global economy has ever faced-Y2K business interruption. -- Book description on Amazon

Paper Trail: The Guide for Protecting Your Ass{ets} (Y2K Edition), Hugh M. Hyre, $20
...detailed step by step system to obtain, organize and store ALL of the hard copy information you or your family may need. -- Book Description onf Amazon

Survival Bartering, by Duncan Long (Paperback, Published by Loompanics Unlimited, ISBN: 0915179377), $8.00

Water

The Home Water Supply: How to Find, Filter, Store and Conserve It, Stu Campbell, $19
Covers everything from finding water to getting it to treating it and controlling it. Describes ponds, catchments (roofs and paved areas), wells of several different kinds, springs, and running water. -- Reviewer on Amazon

Sanitation

The Composting Toilet System Book; A Practical Guide to Choosing, Planning and Maintaining Composting Toilet Systems, a Water-Saving, P..., David Del Porto, Carol Steinfeld $24

The Humanure Handbook : A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Joseph C. Jenkins, $15.20 -- skip for now
...saving lots of: 1. water, 2. time, 3. money spent on commercial fertilizer and/or 4. sweat lugging so much animal manure from far away places to
our gardens. -- reviewer on Amazon

Food Storage

Stocking Up III: America's Classic Preserving Guide, Hupping, Carol Hupping, $11
(Deluxe) If you like growing and preserving your own food, or if you
want or need to be able to do it without electricity, this book is for
you.

How to Develop a Low-Cost Family Food-Storage System, Evangelista, anita $8
...recommended for anyone preparing for Y2K -- review on Amazon

Don't Get Caught with your Pantry Down!: The Definitive Reference Guide for Becoming Prepared, James Talmage Stevens $30
...the newest and most informative guide dessigned to help consumers find the required preparedness resources - supplies, long-term storage foods, foodstuffs, items of equipment, and services

Root Cellaring : Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables, Mike Bubel, $12
..Includes specific storage requirements for nearly 100 home garden crops, plus dozens of delicious recipes. -- Review on Amazon

.Putting Food By, Janet Greene.

Cooking

The Bread Book: A Natural, Whole-Grain Seed-to-Loaf Approach to Real Bread, Leonard, Thom

Y2Kitchen: The Joy of Cooking in a Crisis, J. Candy Arnold, $25
600 of America's favorite recipes with easy-to-understand directions plus complete nutritional analyses. Both the novice as well as the seasoned cook will find valuable tips from professional chefs to prepare delicious and nutritious meals for everyone's enjoyment. This book details how to survive any cooking crisis including natural and man-made disasters or possible food shortages.-- Description on Amazon

Catastrophic Cooking, Carol Reid, $20 -- looks good
The recipes are designed to be used under the most challenging conditions such as: lack of refrigeration, lack of home cooking appliances (no gas or electricity), restricted food source (your pantry), and limited water source (what you have stored). This book includes recipes (115), menus, and shopping lists which will enable readers to set up their own emergency pantry.

The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook, Dorothy R. Bates, Albert K. Bates, $13
I tell my friends how to use dry ice to fumigate now, and how to use osage orange and bay leaves to get rid of pests in the cupboards and closets. The most comprensive overview I have seen of wild medicinal plants and alternative remedies. -- review on Amazon

15-minute Storage Meals, Jayne Benkendorf $17
LOWFAT MEALS. All meals are low in fat.
HIGH ENERGY MEALS. If you need more energy, these meals are
               for you. They are packed with high energy ingredients.
...COMMON EVERYDAY INGREDIENTS. Tired of recipes using
               ingredients you have never heard of? You're familiar with these!
NO ADDITIVES OR PRESERVATIVES. All ingredients are free of
               harmful additives and preservatives.

Can Opener Cooking, David and Anita Smither, $5.00 to Trinity House Publishing, PO Box, 6582, Lubbock TX 79493 -- couldn't find it

Cookin' with Home Storage, Layton, Peggy & Vicky Tate $18
This is a classic in survival literature. It tells how to make all kinds of things from scratch from a few basic easily stored ingredients.

Woodstove Cookery: At Home on the Range, Cooper, Jane & Sherry Streeter (Illustrator), $10.40

Cooking With the Sun : How to Build and Use Solar Cookers, Beth Halacy (Contributor), Dan Halacy, $8.00
The second half of the book is devoted to some excellent recipes. -- reviewer on Amazon

Solar Cooking - A Primer/Cookbook, Harriet Kofalk, available from Book Publishing Company, P.O. Box 99, 156 Drake Lane, Summertown, Tennessee

Gardening

Growing Garden Seeds: A Manual for Gardeners and Small Farmers, Johnston, Robert Jr., Albion, Maine: Johnny's Selected Seeds., 1983) 32pp

Seed to Seed, Suzanne Ashworth (Seed Savers Exchange at 319-382-5900), $16.00
It is the best book for all types of plants to learn when to harvest your seed, techniques in pollination, and how to avoid cross pollination. This book is a MUST for anyone who plans on saving seed year to year. -- Garden Seed Y2K

How to Grow More Vegetables : Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops, John Jeavons, $13.60
Now in its fifth edition and printed in seven different languages, Jeavon's book is considered a classic in the field (literally) and has brought about a kind of green revolution in food production around the world. -- Amazon Summary (Somehow, I ended up with four copies of this book!)

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, Eliot Coleman, $20
...describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital... --- Amazon summary

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden & Yard Healthy without Chemicals, Barbara W. Ellis, $14.40
...symptoms of and solutions for major pests and disease... -- Amazon synopsis

Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew, $14.00
Anyone can benefit from this book. Young, old, wheelchair bound or experienced gardeners. -- Review on Amazon

.The New Seed Starters Handbook, Nancy Bubel.

Foraging

Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide, Thomas S. Elias, Peter A. Dykeman (Contributor); $13.56

Edible Wild Plants, Brad Angier

Edible and Useful Plants of California, Charlotte Bringle Clarke; $11.96

Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, Michael Moore; $16.80

The Basic Essentials of Edible Wild Plants and Useful Herbs, Jim Meuninck, Peggy Duke (Illustrator); $5.56

Tom Brown's Field Guide: Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, Tom Brown; $10.36

Wild Edible Plants of Western North America, Donald R. Kirk;

The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving, John Hoffman

Live Off the Land in the City and Country, Ragnar Benson

Your Edible Landscape, Robert Kourik

A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Peterson, Lee

A Field Guide to Animal Tracks, Peterson, Lee

Western Edible Wild Plants, H.D. Harrington

Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants, Charlotte Erichsen - Brown

Self-Protection

The Truth About Self Protection, Massad F. Ayoob, $9.30
...The details given here are many and in-depth: among the defense topics covered are mental alertness to your immediate environment, alarms, dogs, martial arts, guns, auto security, and even defensive architecture! -- review on Amazon

Safe not Sorry: Keeping Yourself and Your Family Safe in a Violent Age, Metaksa, Tanya K., $10.40 -- skip for now
If a bad Year 2000 crisis develops, crime and safety are going to be a concern for decent people. This is the best book I've seen that is in the league of self-protection manuals.

Solar Power

Solar Living Source Book, John Schaeffer & the eal Goods Staff, $30

The Independent Home: Living Well with Power from the Sun, Wind, and Water, Michael Potts (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Co., 1993), 300pp

Medicine

Ditch Medicine : Advanced Field Procedures for Emergencies, Hugh L. Coffee $20
Small wound repair. (covers cleaning, debriding (YUK!) and closing of wounds), Care for the infected wound. (covers Antibiotic Therapy), Decompression and drainage of the chest. (Techniques and equipment for Chest Decompression), Intravenous Therapy. (When and why to use IVs, how to.), Emergency Airway Procedures. (For maintaining a clear airway or for emergency vetilation), Anaphylactic shock. (Recognising and treating SEVERE allergic reactions), Pain control (Describes the uses of Anesthesia and Nerve blocks), Amputation (Yeeeaaaaa! All the gory details), Burns (How to treat burns. More horrible stuff), Nutrition and Emotional support.

Plain-Talk Medicine for Uncertain Times & Places: An ER doctor’s practical guide for surviving at home and abroad, Y2K Doc, $20

Fixing Your Feet: Preventive Maintenance and Treatments for Foot Problems of Runners, Hikers and Adventure Racers, Vonhof, John (WinePress Publishing, Mukilteo, WA, 1997)

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment, Mark H. Beers (Editor), Robert Berkow (Editor), $35.
The classic diagnostic medical book, heavy on drug treatments rather than surgical interventions. A new edition is released every four or five years.

The Merck Manual of Medical Information, Home Edition, Merck & Co., Inc., (not ordered)

The Merck Index, Merck & Co., Inc. (not ordered)
The Merck Index is a one volume encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs and biologicals that contains more than 10,000 monographs. Each monograph is a concise description of a single substance or a small group of closely related compounds.

1999 Physicians' Desk Reference, $79 -- skip for now
I have made considerable use of previous editions of this essential reference.

The PDR Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs, $5.60

The Medical Guide for Third World Travelers, Dessery, Bradford L. & Marc R. Robin --- out of print

Preparing for Emergencies, James McKeever --- out of print

Advanced Trauma Life Support, American College of Surgeons --- out of print

Emergency War Surgery: Second United States Revision of the Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook, US Government Printing Office, $38 -- skip for now

Flint's Emergency Treatment and Management, Harvey D. Cain, M.D. --- out of print

Gray's Anatomy : Anatomy, Descriptive, and Surgical [ABRIDGED], Henry Gray, T.Pickering Pick, Robert Howden (Editor), $16 (full version is $190)
Even the old editions, or the reprints of the "classic" editions are worthwhile. A very good text on human anatomy and physiology, highly recommended.

Dr. X's Underground Guide to Y2K Medical Survival $100
I'm glad I read this book, if only to reassure myself that I'm not overlooking some secret trick to procuring the drugs that I need. Apparently, there aren't any. This books tells the same story as everyone else... ie get it from a vet. Unfortunately, this approach would probably require lying, unless one already knows a co-operative vet. I wouldn't recommend this book, since there's no information in it that isn't readily available free online. I thought that it might be a compact way I could deliver the message to my own doctors but they were unwilling to look at it.

HealthWatch 2000, MD, FACP Ted Chandler, $24 -- skip for now
You may be concerned about your bank account, but the real threat is to your family's health. -- review on Amazon

Emergency Medical Treatment: Infants, Children, and Adults: A Handbook on What to Do in an Emergency to Keep Someone Alive Until Help Arrives, by Stephen N. Vogel, $10.36 -- skip for now

Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook, by David Werner, $17
While most laymans' medical manuals deliberately withhold information and tell you to "see a doctor" for certain things, this book does not.

Where There is No Dentist, Murray Dickson $10

Emergency Medical Procedures for the Outdoors, Benner, Gordon A., richard E. Church & Lance Feild
... easy access book that fits in pack or purse

Wilderness Medicine, Forgey, Wm., MD., (Old Saybrook, CN: Globe Pequot Press, 44), 244pp

First Aid Manual, Red Cross
I obtained this book as part of a red cross course, ten years ago. It's quite good in the limited area that it covers.. ie. artificial respiration, CPR, Heimlich manoever and treatment of shock

The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook, Kathleen Handal M.D., $14.40
rewriten for home use.

First Responder, J. David Bergeron, Gloria Bizjak $42 -- skip for now
...very good pictures and photographs. You can see all important facts at first sight. That is very good for people who want to review things they have learned some time ago -- Review on Amazon

.Emergency War Surgery Guide, NATO.

Self-Reliance

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook, by James Talmage Stevens $17.96
Recipes, plus a new 80-page "yellow pages" section listing suppliers of preparedness resources...Storing and making the best use of: Water, Wheat, Drying Fruits and Vegetables, Kitchen Gardening and Spouting, Energy and Fuels, Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation
...The Supply Check lists seem almost overwhelming but at least there is
plan which makes sense. Most certainly, it will take a lot of effort to put our family Preparedness Plan in place and that is a daunting task. The
author offers useful advice and helpful suggestions to help guide us through our decisions. --- a reviewer on Amazon

The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book, Emery, Carla, $22.40
23 reviewers all gave it five stars -- Amazon

Becoming Self-Reliant: How to Become Less Dependent on Society and the Government, Larson, Ken (Suwanee, GA: Rhema Publishing, inc.: 1999), 230pp

Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country, Scher, $28

Country Property Dirt Cheap, Ralph Turner

Travel Trailer Homesteading for Under $5000, Brian Kelling

Building With Junk and Other Good Stuff: A Guide to Home Building and Remodeling Using Recycled Materials, Jim Broadstreet

Log House Plans, B. Allan Mackie

Building and Restoring the Hewn Log House, McRaven

Bushcraft, Graves, Richard
...survival in terms of more permanent living

New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual, Reader's Digest, $21 -- skip for now

The Art of Blacksmithing, Alex W. Bealer

Primitive Technology A Book Of Earth Skills, David Wescott, ed.

Roughing It Easy: A Unique Idea Book for Camping and Cooking, Dian Thomas

Back to Basics : How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills, Reader's Digest, $19
...the ultimate how-to book --- Amazon review

Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them, Rolfe Cobleigh, $10.40
...must for any homesteader

Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management, Kains, Maurice Grenville & J. E. Oldfield, $6.40
...for those who wish to free themselves from dependence on utility companies

How to Live Without Electricity -- And Like It, Evangelista, Anita, $14
...hits lots of areas, from wood cook stoves to candle making to generators to kerosene lamps. -- review on Amazon

Backyard Livestock: Raising Good Natural Food for Your Family, Thomas, Steven & George B. Looby, $12.00

How to Buy Land CHEAP, Preston, Edward (Port Townsend, WA: Breakout Productions, 1998) 127pp

Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance, M. John Storey ($17.50)

Communication

Now You're Talking, West, Gordon (available at Radio Shack)

"Survival Communications," which is available from Universal
Radio. Call (800) 431-3939.

Rebuilding

Disaster Blaster: A Kid's Guide to Being Home Alone, by Karin Kasdin, Laura Szabo-Cohen -- $8

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom, Mary Griffith, $12

Voluntary Simplicity : Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin

Your Money or Your Life : Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin

Timeless Way of Building, by Christopher Alexander

Toward the End of Time, by Updike, John

Education of a Wandering Man, by Louis L'Amour

Endless Enemies : The Making of an Unfriendly World, by Jonathan Kwitny

Stocking Up (Rodale Press)

Tappan on Survival, Mel Tappan

Government... Next Time

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates by Ralph Ketcham (Editor), Ralon Ketcham

Thomas Paine : Collected Writings : Common Sense, the Crisis, and Other Pamphlets, Articles, and Letters : Rights of Man : The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine, Eric Foner (Editor)

Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu, Gia-Fu Feng (Translator), Jane English (Translator), Lao Tsu

Survival, General

The Sense of Survival, A Comprehensive Guide to Survival, by South, J. Allan
The publisher is so small it is hard to order. It is carried by:
Emergency Essentials, 165 S. Mountain Way Drive, Orem, UT 84058-5119
phone 1-800-999-1863 The book is $21
This book is very thorough and very well written, in that it explains exactly what must be done, without assuming prior knowledge and without talking down to the reader. The most recent edition is Y2K aware. I couldn't put this book down, and am resolved that when the runs on banks and grocery stores begin, I will be digging my shelter/root cellar/cache.

SAS Survival Guide by John Wiseman
recommended by "Grandpappy"

Family Survival Planning Guide $10
Looks to be full of independent thinking which would provide some fresh ideas.

Outdoor Survival Skills, Olson, Larry Dean $12
...is a wonderful book. If you only buy one 'Survival' book, make it this one. Please.
Celebrating 30 years in print, this updated classic teaches how to survive in almost any outdoor environment with little or no purchased equipment, by relying on what nature provides. 296 photos, 96 in color. -- Amazon Synopsis

Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival, Brown, To, $10
Wow...if you had to pick any one book to have by your side during an emergency, this is it! Brown includes tons of practical advice especially relavant for getting prepared for the Year 2000 time change and probable temporary utility breakdowns, not to mention longer term survival techniques. Gets you thinking, that's for sure! -- review on Amazon

Guide to Urban Survival and Guide to Rural Survival, Brown, Tom He looks at what materials, natural OR man made, are likely to be available, and how best to exploit them. These two books are the second and third books you ought to buy.

The Survival Retreat, Benson, Ragnar, $8. -- skip
Exerpt at Survival Library
The author demands thinking about the most foundational aspects of a retreat, e.g., where to build it, what it's actually for, when to deal pity and defense, etc. -- review on Amazon

Checklist for Survival, by Tony & Jo-Anne Lesce. -- out of print
It is the best scenario and make you think book that I have seen. It discusses how, when, and where to prepare, use the black market, hide, defend, flee, group, loot, ambush, grow food, get safe water, get fuel, obtain transportation, and forage.

Life After Doomsday: A Survivalist Guide to Nuclear War and Other Major Disasters, Bruce D. Clayton, $24
No far right political slant.

Nuclear War Survival Skills, Kearny, Cresson, $19.50 available online
I'm glad to have read this book. Since time is running short, I would focus on purchasing preps, then read this if/when items begin running short at the stores.

Nuclear Defense Issues, Seyfried, Paul & Sharon Packer, $25) from:Utah Shelter System, P.O. Box 638, Heber, Utah 84032-0638

The Complete Disaster Survival Manual, Wright, Ted

Man and Society in Calamity, Pitrim Aleksandrovich Sorokin

Survivalist's Medicine Chest, by Ragnar Benson, -- skip
Good information on use of veterinary drugs on people.

Boyscout Handbook

Rain of Iron and Ice : The Very Real Threat of Comet and Asteroid Bombardment, John S. Lewis, $10.40
Rain of Iron and Ice shows us the unmistakable evidence-from space-probe flybys of the planets to the scars on our own Earth-of cataclysmic comet and asteroid impacts. By comparing what we know about the earth's geology and paleontology with the ages of the other planets and moons in our solar system, Lewis makes the strongest case yet of the sudden, dramatic extinction's and assesses the risks to planet Earth.

How to Hide Anything, Michael Connnor

The Big Book of Secret Hiding Places, Jack Luger

Naked Into The Wilderness - Vol. I & II, John and Geri McPherson

Survival With Style; In Trouble or in Fun ... How to Keep Body and Soul Together in the Wilderness, Bradford Angier

Fiction

Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse, Rawles, James Wesley, $13
As I understood him, he had compiled the practical survival info some time ago as a "how to" book for surviving a possible societal collapse in the near future. The feedback was so great that he made the info into a novel

Lucifer's Hammer, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, $5.35
The trade paper re-launch of a classic sci-fi bestseller from the authors of the acclaimed alien invasion epic "Football". For millionaire Tim Hamner, the comet he helped discover is a ticket to immortality. For filmmaker Harvey Randall, it's a chance to redeem a flagging career. And for astronauts John Baker and Rick Delanty, it's a second chance for glory in outer space.

On The Beach, Nevil Shute, $5.40
A novel about the survivors of an atomic war, who face an inevitable end as radiation poisoning moves toward Australia from the North.

The Andromida Strain, Michael Crichton
Some biologists speculate that if we ever make contact with extraterrestrials, those life forms are likely to be--like most life on earth--one-celled or smaller creatures, more comparable to bacteria than little green men. And even though such organisms would not likely be able to harm humans, the possibility exists that first contact might be our last.

Out of the Ashes, William W. Johnstone, $5
In this, the first of Johnstone's famous Ashes series, America has been brought to its knees by nuclear apocalypse. Gangs, looters and vandals have seized the streets, while decent citizens have united and are praying for a leader who can protect them.

Alas Babylon, Pat Frank, $29
In point of fact, it is the kind of situation that could, even today, follow any major natural disaster or terrorist act which would disrupt the normal functions of government and the operations of public utilities, resulting in anarchy and the "law of the jungle."

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight - Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation, Thom Hartmann, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Neale Donald Walsch, $19.20
Ancient Sunlight" is fossil fuels. He traces the growth of civilizations and the impending dieoff due to ecological overshoot. He also offers a PLAN to cope and respond to an inevitable and imminent reduction in the availability of fossil fuels. -- Bill P

Nature's End : The Consequences of the Twentieth Century, Whitley Strieber, James Kunetka
An amazing and shocking vision of what may await us all in a few decades, many of the predictions of events in this book (written in the 80s) have come to pass with alarming accuracy.

Fire and Ice, Ray Kytle

Reference

Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, $20
...a survival guide which teaches women how to take responsibility for their personal safety in these less-than-secure times -- Amazon

CRC handbook of Chemistry & Physics, Chemical Rubber Company, (not yet odered)

The Way Things Work David Macauly -- Skip for now (we have the CD)