Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life

The controversial author of The Game is back with a safer—of sorts—guide. With the U.S. threatened from within and without (e.g., swine flu, all sorts of religious extremists, subprime mortgages), the author takes three years of wilderness survival and lock-picking classes in an effort to learn how to survive anything from online hackers to terrorist plots. Witty, self-deprecating, and full of weird tips (how to fashion your credit card into a knife), the book is done justice by Strauss’s careful reading. The pacing is purposeful and Strauss’s youthful tone is flush with humor alongside a steady emphasis on the key ideas. A HarperCollins/It hardcover. (Mar.)