Earlier this year author Neil Strauss published a book about survivalism. I was planning on reading Emergency until I read the Boston Globe review : Next he takes a course in killing with a knife, during which an instructor named Mad Dog demands that he slaughter a live goat. Strauss also studies wilderness survival, learning to build a shelter from leaves, find water, and live off the land. After getting instruction in shooting, he finds himself changing from wimpy writer to would-be kill

This book might indeed save your life. Survival schools. Second passports. Urban Escape and Evasion courses. CERT training. Bugging out. How to escape from attack dogs. Offshore asset protection. Perpetual traveling. Using one’s credit card as a knife. Killing and skinning your own goat. These are just some of the survivalist, “how-to-be-prepared-for-anything” topics covered in Neil Strauss’ latest, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life (2009). Neil Strauss is primar

LOS ANGELES -- Neil Strauss hardly seems like a guy who'd kill a goat and gut it with his own hands.