EMERGENCY

With a nasally tone more suggestive of a cold than a narrative voice, Neil Strauss delivers his tome on preparedness for the end of civilization. Strauss recapitulates the innumerable fear-mongering predictions of the media into a collection of anecdotes and tips for survival that are useful—but would be a whole lot better without the survivalist rhetoric. His goal is to share survival skills—as provided by the best experts available—for a range of disastrous scenarios. Listeners may feel overwhelmed by all the drama, even in this abridgment. But Strauss delivers his message with oral acuity, using well-timed dramatic pauses for emphasis. L.E. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2010]