“Knowledge is the key to survival. The real beauty of that is that it doesn’t weigh anything.” – Ray Mears.
Knowledge is one of the essential tools in the prepper’s inventory. Having the latest and greatest equipment and gear won’t save you if you lack the proper knowledge of using them. In this post, we will feature FREE PDF books and guides available for you to read in their entirety online. I’ll add to it periodically because there’s so much information out there that can be incredibly useful to our community. I suggest that you use a small thumb drive or even a micro SD card and download these sources and others you come across to build an electronic prepping library that you can access offline.
I also added a whole section at the bottom of this page with massive amounts of PDFs I found on other websites. The more I have researched this topic, the more I have realized there are, well, nearly an infinite amount of free survival PDFs you can find online. What you’ll find here is a starting point to a lot of resources and some you can download now.
Prefer to have physical books on hand instead? If so, start here.
Table of contents
- Emergency Preparedness – Quick Guides & Checklists
- Emergency Preparedness – Survival Manuals
- Traditional Ways
- Hunting & Trapping
- Knots
- Medicine
- Food Production & Recipes
- Foraging
- Old & New Recipes
- Food Preservation
- Nuclear Threats
- Water
- Shelters
- Additional Resources
Emergency Preparedness – Quick Guides & Checklists
- Child Care: Emergency Preparedness Toolbox
- Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for Levees
- Water Purification by Evaporation & Condensation
- Surviving the Unexpected Emergency
Emergency Preparedness & Survival Manuals
Traditional Ways
- Foxfire One: Compiled from the Foxfire magazine, the book is individual stories of mountain folk, told in their voices. From building a cabin to processing a hog to making moonshine, this is probably one of the most straightforward examples of passing down old-world skills. Real pictures, real stories, and real people make this book come alive in your mind. So if you ever need to build a chimney or weave a basket, you’ll have what you need to know with this book in your inventory.
- Foxfire Two
- Foxfire Three
- Bushcraft 8: Bush Leatherwork
- Rediscovering Ancient Egyptian Beer
- How to Make Black Powder
- Bushcraft & Indigenous Knowledge
- Ten Bushcraft Books
Hunting & Trapping
- Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making
- The Basics of Turkey Hunting in Washington
- The Basics of Elk Hunting in Washington
- The Basics of Deer Hunting in Rhode Island
- Deer Hunting: Whitetail Deer Hunting Basics & More
- Duck Hunting Tips for Beginners
- Fox Hunting Basics
- Basic Hunting
- Dove Hunting for Beginners
- Trapper Education Manual
- Traps & Snares
- Deadfalls & Snares
Knots
If a single invention has raised humanity out of the wild, it has to be the knot. The first tied knot was probably an accident, but the second tied knot was intentional. Even through all my years of scouting, I only learned a handful of the thousands of knots out there, but you have to have at least a dozen knots you can tie in your mental prepping inventory. From fishing to making clothes or climbing sheer rock faces, every knot has a function, and each that you learn increases your odds of survival just a little bit more.
- Pioneer Knots & Lashings – Troop 24 – Kennett Square Pennsylvania. A lashing is an arrangement of rope, wire, or webbing with a linking device used to secure and fasten two or more items together in a somewhat rigid manner. Lashings are most commonly applied to timber poles and are widely associated with cargo and structures. If you try and make a structure with a granny knot, it’s going to collapse in on you. These knots and rope techniques are particular to building sturdy structures that will hold up for long periods. Lookout stands, bridges, shelters, and more can all be made with these techniques.
- Sea Scout Knots – Once again, the scouts come through with another guide on knots. Were it not for the knot, sailors would have never existed. From tying down cargo to connecting logs for a raft, sails to a ship, or rescuing someone from the inevitable death of drowning, knots are critical. The same knots are applicable off the ship, as well. They aren’t dependent upon water to function. I used this same manual when teaching young Cub Scouts, so it’s easy to use. Set a goal of learning one knot per month.
- Knots for the Farm
- Knots for Mountaineering, Camping, Climbing, Utility, Rescue, Etc.
- Knots: An illustrated and practical guide to the essential knot types and their uses – Andre Adamides. This is probably one of the best-looking knot books I have ever come across. It has clear illustrations and step-by-step instructions. I also like that it has a little history and explanation of practical uses for each knot. This is a good one to print out the main knots you want to learn and practice daily. It gives you the feeling you are continuing a time-honored tradition.
- Practical Knots & Lashings
- Knots, Splices, Attachments, and Ladders
- Knots, Splices, and Rope Work by A. Hyatt Verrill
- Essential Fishing Knots – TakeMeFishing.org
- Handbook of Knots & Splices by Charles E. Gibson
- Encyclopedia of Knots (including surgical)
Medicine
- HHS Pandemic Plan
- Emergency War Surgery
- First Aid (Military Handbook)
- Wound Closure Manual
- Where There Is No Dentist
- Where There is No Doctor
- Personal Wilderness Medical Kit
- Wilderness Medicine Course (USMC)
Food Production & Recipes
- The Complete Guide to Home Composting
- How to Start a Vegetable Garden
- The Complete Guide to Vermicomposting
- Seed Saving Guide
- Backyard Composting Basics
Foraging
- A Mini Foraging Guide (WA)
- Northern Forest Foraging Guide (Ontario)
- Urban Foraging
- Colorado Forage Guide
- Shellfish Foraging Guide
- Forage Manual (AK)
- A Beginner’s Guide to Wild Edible Plants
- Wild Food School
- Mushrooms: From Forest to Plate
- Edible & Poisonous Mushrooms
Old & New Recipes
- Colonial New England Recipes
- Unusual Old World & American Recipes
- Famous Recipes From Old Virginia
- Philmont Country Cookbook
- Dutch Oven Cookbook
Food Preservation
- Traditional Fermented Foods and Beverages for Improved Livelihoods
- Preservation of Food & Meat
- Solar Dehydrator
- Small-Scale Food Drying Technologies
- Preserving Food: Drying Fruits & Vegetables
- Fermenting Guide & Recipe Book
Nuclear Threats
Water
- Water Treatment
- Giardia: Drinking Water Fact Sheet
- Plants as Indicators of Ground Water
- Distillation for Home Water Purification
- Water
Shelters
Additional Resources
- Wikipedia offline: an instruction guide
- SCP Survival Prepper download docs
- Prepper file share (ton of great resources)
- Collapse survival PDF downloads
- Prepper related documents compiled in Google drive
Best thing you put all valuable books together at one place. It will help us lot of.
Love from India bro 😎
Thank you for doing this! And you have included some of my favourite (🇨🇦 spelling) resources!
Thank you for a great work
Great work! Can I suggest a communications section? Morse code learning, radios and antennas.
Thanks for all the work you do… it is very much appreciated.
Thanks for a great resource
Thank you for sharing. Do you have any books/PDFs on unarmed self defense as well?
Thank you so much for the information, just so you are aware in the section where the gardening encyclopedia should be there is a medical information pdf, just thought you should know, thanks again for this great resources.
the 7 gig does not auto down load……….appears the link was left out. Thanks for all you efforts.
You should had a french/english dictionnairy to help translate for both language and a board of each blood transfusion (who can transfer to who and how to do it with minimal equipment). Maybe its already there but I didn’t have the time yet to check all the information. Its very appreciated all this hard work !!Thank you so much!
Hey Chris. As usual, great information. I truly appreciate the time you put into helping the community grow. I haven’t looked through the complete list yet; but alternative energy is a worthwhile topic. FEMA used to have the pdf plans for a gasifier system on their site. I looked about a month ago and the site has changed drastically, and many of the plans (pdf) are no longer available. Fortunately I have the pdf, happy to share it.
Hi, Cheryl in Florida. Hurricanes. I, too, appreciate all you do. I’m not totally computer-internet ignorant, but I’m thinking I’m going to struggle with this. I am obsessed with my books and after Sally I keep them off the floor, wrapped in plastic and now in tubs. I hope to be able to find the PDF link on my computer and figure out a way to save it and then print it.
Thank you again so much.
https://www.driveonwood.com/library/fema-gasifier/
Oh! You should also had a medication book that describe each medication (name, utilities, etc.)
It’s called the Physicians Desk Reference. It’s downloadable in pdf
This is an huge amount of data. This is a great job. I’ve started doing this a while back but nowhere near the data in the 7GB of data. I’ve also have begun to download youtube videos – including some of yours – to add to my library.
This is so Cool!
Kris–I tried downloading the 7 gb file but it is sending me to a site called Godlike Productions?
Anyone else unable to download the 7Gig file?
me too
The owner of the site just mentioned my link to his site took down his server. He’s going to move the zip file to an AWS link so it will load. It should be back up shortly.
There is a lot of similar stuff at http://ps-survival.com
And at: http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library-download.html
This is awesome, thanx for all your work to help us!
Thank you so much for this everyone! Carry this important knowledge down the line for future generations.
.
b-ok.cc
find any PFD or E-pub dook you will ever need.
A fantastic idea and will be well supported and read frequently
I just wrote about this today on my little site, then saw your video after work and was like wow, what timing. I am downloading files now. I will have to send you a link to a post with a lot of PDF files via your email.
FYI: Personal Wilderness Medical Kit, Wilderness med course and Gardening Encyclopedia all link to the same page
Awesome information, thanks so much!
I`ve been thinking about something like this for a long time, thank you for doing this.
Fanks
How do I download it
Good question… I can’t see how to either
First Link under “Additional Resources“
Guns are illegal in UK. Can you suggest some other forms of defense that we can use please that are non lethal, or maybe lethal but that we can use!! 🙂
Bows and crossbows are legal to own in the UK.
Many large towns have archery clubs. So you can build your skill. It’s a great sport in its own right, but certainly a good way to tick the ‘defence box’ for when SHTF.
GUNS IS LEGAL IN UK, JESUS PEOPLE CHECK FIRST THEN WRIGHT.
Go to the sling shot channel
Thank you for the wonderful information. This was most helpful.
Not sure if it was just me, but there were a lot of links that lead to the same article. It was as if you had copied the same URL to different links. For instance, the link to “Gardening Encyclopedia: Growing, Freezing, Canning, Drying, Storing” leads to “Personal Wilderness Medical Kit”. There were several others. Just thought I would let you know!
Keep up the great work!
Your Orange link tags are pretty hard to read on white. I would change color of your tag links.
Much appreciated…thanks for all you do to help humanity
Thank you so much! I was working on my own digital library for some time. Now I will use the time to develop skills instead!
I loved these Foxfire books. I used to check them out at the local library. There was one other book I checked out, it was called Garden Sass. I don’t remember who it was by. It was in the same category.
This is excellent; thanks!
FYI, the link for Gardening Encyclopedia: Growing, Freezing, Canning, Drying, Storing opens the Personal Wilderness Medical Kit document.
This is fantastic!! Thank you so much for compiling this and offering it free!! God bless!
So here is a website I really love. It is for manuals for multiple type of things, especially vehicles…big thing to have for your vehicle(s).
https://www.manualslib.com/
bamahillbilly2@gmail.com
Hi from Australia, Thanks so much for compiling all this it will save me looking around searching for it all, it is such good info.Thanks!
Here is another link that some will find interesting: https://archive.org/details/folkscanomy_prepper?&sort=-week&page=2
City Prepping, thanks so much for this valuable resource. It is a treasure trove of information!
Is anyone else having an issue downloading the 7gb zip file? I have tried it on 2 256gb flash drives that are completely empty and I keep getting “disk full”. Thanks in advance!
Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size . format your flash drive using ntfs instead.
Thank you so much for consolidating all of those files in one place and then making them available to the prepping community. Sending a virtual slap-on-the-back.
Thank you so much for all this information and for sharing it freely for others. I greatly appreciate this and all your very informative videos. Thank you and God Bless.
I really like watching your video, there seems to be stuff for everyone ability. Wish someone would do something like this for the uk but I don’t think we have the same problems over here ,we’ll not yet.
Keep up the good work.
Great resource!!!
Wilderness Medicine Course (USMC) – your link is wrong; same as one above.
Should be: https://www.militarynewbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2002-US-Marine-Corps-MWTC-Wilderness-Medicine-Course-375p.pdf
” is also wrong
Thank you
check your garding section links need work