27 Things I Learned from Alas, Babylon

With winter upon us I've taken up reading to fill my time.  The dark of night isn't as bad if you can imagine yourself somewhere else.  I've started reading survival books, prepping books, spiratual books, and fiction.

Alas, Babylon is a fictional book that was written in 1959 by Pat Frank(pen name).  The book is set in Florida, and follows a handful of characters.  The story line is very well written, and is an amazing book!  That was not my reason for reading the book tho.  I took a prepper standpoint to reading the book and wanted to learn what could happen and what I could prepare for if my town was completely shut off from the outside world. I understand that this is a piece of fiction, but feel in my heart and soul that there is real world applications to this book. 

*The following blog post may ruin the book for you!  If you want to read the book then compare notes that may be the best idea!  I've included page numbers for your convenience.*

1. pg 117 Banks will fail fast.

2. pg 117 Small towns depend on daily deliveries.  Towns will become islands.  What is in town is what you have.  "...Its inhabitants would have to subsist on whatever was already within its boundaries, plus what they might scrounge from the country side."

3. pg 130 Ammo must be on hand.~Hidden if necessary.  ".. if economic chaos lasted for a long time, a meat shortage developed, and it became necessary to hunt small game."

4. pg 133 People will react to the changes and challenges in their own way.  You can't change that.  "Some nations and some people melt in the heat of crisis and come apart like fat in the pan.  Others meet the challenge and harden"

5. pg 135-136 Food will be contanimated if it happens to be a necualr accident.  Milk, green, will not be able to be eaten.

6. pg 137 Gun Safety and the understanding of keeping the family safe.  "Never point it at a man unless you intend to shoot him, and never shoot unless you mean to kill."

7. pg 151 The electricity will go out- Freezers will thaw.  When the power goes out eat out of the fridge and freezer, thaw and can everything!

8. pg 159 Addicts will be looking for their next fix.  Parents will be trying to feed their families.  Looting and killing will happen.  Hide your supplies!

9. pg 165 About 9 days after a Blackout those on refrigerated medicine will die.  ".. all diabetics in Fort Repose, dependent on insulin, died about the same period as the drug lost its potency."

10. pg 170 People will feel useless and depressed when their supplies run out, unless they have survival skills.  "I'm not much of a success, an I, in a crisis? I can't feed my daughter, or my self, or even bury my wife.  I wish I had enough guts to swim out into the channel and sink."

11. pg 173 Gas in cars will need to be conserved.  Funerals will happen in the families yard.

12. pg 185 Its better if everyone~family or community~ work together.  "If everybody worked as hard as they could until sun down every day, then everybody could eat, although not well."

13. pg 216 The Government will shut down with out man power or supplies.  "The other police men had abandoned unpaid public duty to scramble for their families.  The fire and sanitation departments, equipment immobilized, not longer existed."

14. pg 217 Someone has to be in charge.  "He had assumed leadership.""Command was a lonely state."

15. pg 224 Routine and traditions help stressful times.  "There was peace and continuity in the sound of the bell.  The bell announced that there was food on the table and a woman in the kitchen."

16. pg 227 Find your boundaries and keep them safe.  "He slept uneasily unless he knew all was well around his perimeter."

17. pg 235 Health can go downhill fast.  "Small pox, black plague, out of the middle ages, Not so."

18. pg 235 It is important to get over 1,500 calories a day.  "At day's end a mas was exhausted- phsically, mentally, emotionally.  Each sun herald in a new crisis and each night he bedded with old relentless fears.  He awoke thinking of food and fell into his couch at night still hungry, his head whirling with problems unsolved and dangers, unparried."

19. pg 241 Hid what you have!  "There were human jackles for every human disaster."

20. pg 243 Dogs, cats, ect. are going to turn wild after their owners die or let them go.

21. pg 253 Men and women in places of authority are going to change and shut out those they love.  "He had moved into a man's august world of battle and violence, from which she was barred."

22. pg 267 "Well when the rules are off you make your own." 
     Except God's Law is always available.  The rules and laws of man my fade, but God is forever.

23. pg 268 Marriages, babies, LIFE is still going to go on even though something has/is happening.

24. pg 288 Stock up on SALT.  Find natural ways to obtain it.  "Salt was a vital commodity....  They sweated their salt away, and they grew weak, and they grew ill."

25. pg 291 Book are a must!  Journaling is a must!  The only way we are going to survive is to have resources to learn from/refer to.

26. pg 300 School will be shut down.  "...that the responsibility for teaching must rest temporarily with the parents."

 27. pg 303 Old fashioned will be the best.  Hand tools, being able to do things with out electricity or stores. 



I have learned so much from this book.  I hope you will take the time to read it, and learn form it. 

Elizabeth~