10 books to help you prepare for the end of the world

The world is a scary place. That’s a fact that it’s hard to escape from when social media is filled with doom-mongering and the news is more depressing than it’s ever been. While the world isn’t likely to actually end, the possibility of irrevocable change to our lives is a lingering threat. 

If that’s not the most depressing opener on a video game site you’ve ever read, whoever wrote the one that tops it deserves an award. Regardless, the end of the world is a terrifying thought, and it’s natural that the “prepper” mentality is picking up some warranted steam. 

I’m not suggesting you start hoarding canned food or stocking up on weapons to fight off a zombie infestation, but it never hurts to learn the theory behind survival in an apocalyptic scenario. And, if you’re a bit of a bookworm, there are books out there to help. 

If you want to prepare for a possible end of days situation, want some tips to help live a more sustainable life regardless of the state of the world, or just want to inject hope into the prospect of an uncertain future, here are 10 excellent books that are worth looking at. 

Do you know how to light a fire with just two sticks? Or how to build an animal trap? Bushcraft is a skill that was brought to mainstream attention by the likes of Bear Grylls and Ray Mears, and it’s an essential skill to learn if the world is going to crumble beneath our feet or (more realistically) if you’re just going for a hike in a National Park. 

We all know the drill. We’ve seen it played out in movies plenty of times. The world ends, and nature starts taking back the cities, including the wildlife. Mother Nature is Not Trying to Kill You not only teaches how to deal with animal encounters, which is useful in and of itself but also how to cope during the natural disasters that are increasing in commonality and severity year on year. 

Increasingly, the end of life as we know it is less likely to feature some form of zombie apocalypse or cataclysmic meteoric event but more likely to be a total breakdown of infrastructure through shifting magnetic poles or megalomaniac, power-hungry world leaders getting a little bit too big for their britches. In that scenario, relying on yourself to create a sustainable life is the only route forward. 

In No Grid Survival Projects 2025, you’ll be taught how to create sustainable energy sources (solar, wind, or hydropower, take your pick), how to effectively compost for waste management, and a whole bunch of other stuff that will enable you to entirely live off the grid. Even in a non-apocalyptic scenario, most of the lessons in this book will at least help you save some money, which is always a bonus. 

In the same vein, the Urban Prepper’s Guide is filled with tips and tricks to help you survive in almost any situation. The lessons learned through this book are equally applicable in worldwide scenarios or more local crises, making them worth learning even if you don’t think the end of the world is around the corner. 

Not only will the Urban Prepper’s Guide teach you how to purify water or build a shelter in a pinch, but it also goes into detail about the first 24 hours, as well as financial preparedness. There’s a whole section on injuries and illness, providing first aid instructions that can come in handy at a moment's notice during everyday life and even touches on communication during a life-altering event. 

If the Zombie Research Association backs a book on gardening, you should probably listen, and that’s the case when it comes to Gardening for the Zombie Apocalypse. While it offers a humorous and light-hearted insight into the uprising of the dead to devour the living, that doesn’t stop this book from being perhaps one of the more useful books I’ve listed here. 

Whether you’ve got a single pot on your balcony or an entire farm at your disposal, this book will teach you about 20 key crops and how to grow them, including what tools you’ll need. Gardening might not seem all that glamorous, but neither is starving during the end of the world, so learning how to grow your own food is something that everyone should do before that time comes. 

They say the best way to avoid becoming consumed by fear of something is to throw humor at it. Boggarts in Harry Potter are based on this very theory: take something scary and somehow make it funny. It’s also the concept of A Short History of the Apocalypse, and while this one might not actually prepare you for the end of the world, it might help ease your stress at the thought. 

Rather than practically useful information, this book looks into more hypothetical situations. How to join a Militia, tips on cannibalism, and how dating will work in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event are all featured. Plus, this one is completely illustrated, so even if you just want a funny picture to look at while the world falls apart, A Short History of the Apocalypse has got you covered. 

Even if Earth isn’t about to implode upon itself and leave a gaping hole in the fabric of the universe, there are a lot of things to be uncertain about. Rawles is a former US Army Intelligence Officer and survival expert, and these are his tips for surviving during even the most temporary of crises.

How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It goes over the basics of water and food sourcing, shelter, and how to stay in touch with distant family, but it also dives into more complex situations like the need for minor surgery or keeping dogs as a form of pest control and even how to ride a horse. 

As an almanac, this book is actually a series of 17 books composed into one tome that will fit into your bug-out bag and prepare you for literally any eventuality. With everything from basic bushcraft to auto repair instructions, this might be the only book you’ll need to carry if the end of days arrives. 

Maready’s Emergency Almanac is a hefty compilation of information and tips that can be useful at any time, not just the apocalypse. You’ll learn how to predict the weather, how to rear and butcher animals, how to construct and use a Baofeng emergency radio, and even how to lock-pick; just don’t use that last one before the final days. 

Look, I know that this is a horribly depressing list to read. I know that thinking about the end of the world is an anxiety-inducing pastime that’s ardently avoided by most of humanity, and I know this because I live with a constant mid-level of fear for the future. Thankfully, I’m not the only one, and Mark O’Connell has taken this fear and turned it into a journey around the globe.

During his travels, he’s met preppers, would-be Mars colonists, billionaires with bunkers the size of the White House, and everyone in between. He’s visited places like Chornobyl, where the unimaginable has already occurred, and learned how different people feel about the decimation of the human race. Notes from the Apocalypse takes fear, and injects hope, and is definitely worth reading if you’re worried about the future. 

When the Dust Settles is unlike any of the other titles on this list because it doesn’t provide instructions for survival but instead looks at how others manage to survive during events that have already occurred. Lucy Easthope is a disaster recovery expert, and she has helped governments and people recover from cataclysmic events for decades. 

Bombings, natural disasters, wildfires, and more, Lucy has seen some horrific things. But she’s also seen the determination that people have to survive and how life moves on from these events that change the lives of people who live through them. When the Dust Settles is enough to instill hope that, even if the worst should happen to us, we can all get through it and make it out the other side. 

If I’m being 100% honest, this is the book that sparked the idea for this entire list, and it absolutely deserves a moment in the spotlight because it’s utterly stunning. A fully illustrated, 400-page long behemoth of a book, The Book is filled with information about how society has evolved over centuries, how they managed to do that, and how that could be recreated should the need arise. 

While how to build a lute might not be the most pressing piece of information you’ll need if the sky starts to fall, it’s included in The Book alongside other more useful information like structures, farming, and first aid. All of the pages are covered with vintage-style illustrations and this coffee table book just feels like an instructional textbook designed to inspire the rebuilding of civilization from scratch. 

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