Preppers bookshelf

[DumbAss Tanker]

How about "The Bent Stick" and all of "The Boyer's Bible" series?

Face it, if TSHTF, ammo will run out pretty quick.

Need another means to get food, and defend oneself.

Yeah, the only problem is you don't wan't to be the guy with the single shot .22 and ten bricks of ammo, the flintlock shotgun that will last 100 years, or the homemade osage longbow when the guys with the last case of 7.62x39 and several not-quite-yet-useless Kalashnikovs come calling.  You have to plan for high intensity in the short term and near-indefinite sustainability for the long term.  The gee-whiz superduper tactical stuff is junk in the long term, but the problem is surviving the near term to get there.

[Jasonw560]

Yeah, the only problem is you don't wan't to be the guy with the single shot .22 and ten bricks of ammo, the flintlock shotgun that will last 100 years, or the homemade osage longbow when the guys with the last case of 7.62x39 and several not-quite-yet-useless Kalashnikovs come calling.  You have to plan for high intensity in the short term and near-indefinite sustainability for the long term.  The gee-whiz superduper tactical stuff is junk in the long term, but the problem is surviving the near term to get there.

No, I agree about that. I'm just thinking long term. Short term it would definitely be better to have one of Messrs. Kalishnikov or Simonov's rifles with a bedroom full of ammo.

[Big Dog]

How about something NOT survival related, i.e. literature, history, philosophy, etc.

Several very good choices so far. My library would also include-

The Stoic's Essentials:
1. Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
2. Discourses of Epictetus
3. Seneca's Essays
4. Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle
5. The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus

Sociopolitical Essentials:
1. The Road to Serfdom, by Hayek
2. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
3. On War, by von Clausewitz
4. George Washington's Sacred Fire, by Lillback
5. The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao Tzu to Milton Friedman

Fiction Essentials:
1. The Riverside Shakespeare
2. The Stand (Unabridged), by Stephen King
3. Bullfinch's Mythology
4. The Odyssey, by Homer
5. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

Rucksack Essentials-contributed by my son, Moose:
1. Macbeth
2. Hamlet
3. Wilderness Survival book
4. Gray's Anatomy
5. An atlas of the United States

[Celtic Rose]

Along with the first aid book, an old nursing handbook may be really useful.  I have my great-grandmother's from the 1920's, and there is a lot of useful stuff in there that requires a lot less technology than modern healthcare.  Also, it explains how to treat diseases, such a diphtheria, that are much rarer today.  It also will give you a good idea of what was used for medical treatment before technology.  I imagine that an antique medical book would be extremely useful as well.

BTW, did you know that catheters used to be made out of glass 

[DumbAss Tanker]

In addition to things of immediate material value, I'd have to add some timeless classics of literature and leadership -

The Anabasis Xenophon (Aka "The Persian Expedition")
An abridged version of The Peloponnesisan War Thucydides
Aesop's Fables
Beowulf
The Song of Roland (There are particular translations of both Beowulf and Roland that are much more readable than others, the translators' names elude me but the best Roland is one of the Penguin editions with a female translator, while my favorite Beowulf was done in modern English by a male writer)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Tolkien translation
An Arthurian compendium of some sort, though the translation of Le Mort d'Arthur I have is a bit too laborious reading for my taste, perhaps something like Tennyson's Idylls of the King
Robin Hood
The Tales of a Thousand Nights and a Night, Burton translation
The War of the Worlds
I'll go along with Big Dog on Sun Tzu and MacBeth
Poetry collections of Rudyard Kipling and Robert Service
Attacks by Rommel (A timeless classic of military and crisis leadership, which like Sun Tzu teaches a method of thought and approach to crises to the astute reader, rather than simply recounting dated gambits and stratagems)
The Battle of Duffer's Drift (For similar reasons as Attacks)
The Swiss Family Robinson
Sherlock Holmes collection
Mark Twain collection

There're probably some more Interwar and Post-war items I would include but none of them spring to mind, and off-hand I can't think of anything written in the last few decades that compares to any on the list above.

[Big Dog]

BTW, did you know that catheters used to be made out of glass 

OW!

[catsmtrods]

If things really get ugly any book on how to identify and eat wild plants. I have one called Eating from the Wild.

[Big Dog]

In addition to things of immediate material value, I'd have to add some timeless classics of literature and leadership -

The Anabasis Xenophon (Aka "The Persian Expedition")
An abridged version of The Peloponnesisan War Thucydides
Aesop's Fables
Beowulf
The Song of Roland (There are particular translations of both Beowulf and Roland that are much more readable than others, the translators' names elude me but the best Roland is one of the Penguin editions with a female translator, while my favorite Beowulf was done in modern English by a male writer)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Tolkien translation
An Arthurian compendium of some sort, though the translation of Le Mort d'Arthur I have is a bit too laborious reading for my taste, perhaps something like Tennyson's Idylls of the King
Robin Hood
The Tales of a Thousand Nights and a Night, Burton translation
The War of the Worlds
I'll go along with Big Dog on Sun Tzu and MacBeth
Poetry collections of Rudyard Kipling and Robert Service
Attacks by Rommel (A timeless classic of military and crisis leadership, which like Sun Tzu teaches a method of thought and approach to crises to the astute reader, rather than simply recounting dated gambits and stratagems)
The Battle of Duffer's Drift (For similar reasons as Attacks)
The Swiss Family Robinson
Sherlock Holmes collection
Mark Twain collection

There're probably some more Interwar and Post-war items I would include but none of them spring to mind, and off-hand I can't think of anything written in the last few decades that compares to any on the list above.

That's a good list!

I see what you did there. 

[biersmythe]

I've got thousands of books in my library - on many subjects.

Other than the surgical medical tomes , and "off the grid tomes" - I'd recommend a book called "Basic Butchering Livestock and Game" and "Handy Farm Devices and How to Make them". I've also got a couple of books specific to my climate and weather region on growing gardens.

A decent cook book is a plus - I've got a good 2 foot worth of assorted cookbooks.

I am late to the party...but I am here now    I have that tome on butchering as well and it is highly recommended small book BIG info....There are so many great suggestions of what to keep in the mobile bookshelf but I personally would add some of my brewing and wine making books, and possibly my blacksmith and wood smith books as well. The boy scout manual is a good keeper for basic things....I still have mine from 30 odd years ago and I think its better than the new one due to the P.C. crap. The one my dad had was better than mine....hehe things change I guess.