I have been doing book and training and reference material reviews for my board for years, and given the current state of affairs feel that I need to share this one elsewhere. There have been several quarantine/pandemic survival books published since the first of the year (gee, I wonder why) and thus far none of them were worth my cost to acquire them - which so far has been free save for one example that cost me $3 to download an updated 2020 version. I just submitted this review to Amazon as well as a verified purchaser. We'll see if they post it because the book presently has 5 paid-for reviews that gush and attribute various aspects to the book that literally are not in there. I strongly suspect the author(s) is Chinese or at least a sympathizer. Fairly obvious that English is not their primary language either.
RR
Pandemic Survival Guide:
A Contagion Prevention Guide with Tips to Avoid Virus During a Quarantine. How to Face a State of Emergency and Create a Protection System for Any Epidemic Spread by Max Alton. Published initially as an ebook on April 1, 2020. Now available in paperback at a cost of $11.95.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...t_bibl_vppi_i0Another opportunistic book by an author for whom English must be their second language. The book starts to repeat itself as soon as the third paragraph of the first chapter. It quickly becomes apparent that the author or authors merely
clipped bites from various reports and descriptions and put them together in order to sound knowledgeable on the subject. The result is a miss-mash of news report clips that are intended to convey the impression of medical and scientific knowledge.
It soon becomes obvious that the information is nowhere near up-to-date, the last references to any patient totals being mid-February, with very little mention of infections outside of China.
Any survival information is rudimentary at best. One topic concerns being prepared for potential medical issues. The advice? "A first aid kit with all the bells and whistle." The description of what that means consists of two sentences totaling 49 words.
Chapter 11 is titled: What To Do During a Quarantine. The first heading in that chapter is What Supplies to Keep at Home. What follows that is 3 brief paragraphs, including the advice that "you might need tissues, prescription medicine, soup, lip balm, a thermometer, and other things that help you to feel comforted and well while you are trying to get better."
Following are sub-headings for Water (one paragraph), Food (likewise), "A first aid kit with all the bells and whistles: followed by precisely two sentences containing a total of 49 words.
Following that tidbit is this: "Face masks to help you breath contaminated air." That is a verbatim quote. Personally when I wear a mask it is to avoid breathing in any airborne contaminants.
Next comes Sanitary Products, Entertainment, and Don't Travel. Yes, that is listed as a supply. What follows is Wear Masks When Accepting Deliveries. There are more headers within the chapter that have literally nothing to do with supplies that will or may be needed.
They recommend having 3/4's of a gallon of water per person on hand for every day of the expected quarantine, which they recommend you plan on lasting two weeks. That may be enough for drinking if you are not fighting dehydration but will leave nothing for sanitation including hand washing, dishes, laundry and general cleaning.
There is no advice on how to care for an infected person beyond consider wearing gloves and a mask, don't share dinnerware and silverware with them, and don't share germs.
I have over 40 years of medical practice and have to regard this book as useless even for a complete novice. The Boy Scout First Aid merit badge book offers more useful medical info. And as far as preparing for a quarantine I might suggest the BSA's Emergency Preparedness merit badge book as a good add-on. Even though it doesn't address the issue of quarantine it still has more useful lists and ideas than this book does.
The only reason I read the entire book was to write as accurate and honest a review as possible. It has an attractive cover, and nothing worth bothering with after that.
The paid-for reviews on the page do not describe the book
The above review was submitted to Amazon as a verified purchaser. I am sincerely glad that I obtained my copy as a free download early on, because I would be asking for a refund otherwise. Especially in view of the falsified reviews by supposed buyers.
RR
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