Since standard shipping is approximately $4, the book will cost about $20 including shipping.
1. the above link will take you to createspace.com.
2. open an account (standard e-commerce).
3. When prompted during checkout, enter this discount code: JPW86XRB. That will enable the $4 discount.
4. Createspace collects sales tax if your state has one.

Or you can download the Mobipocket ebook or Kindle ebook for $11.95 (for the Kindle reader or any PC).

For those new to ebooks: an ebook is a digital (electronic, hence the "e") copy which you read on your desktop or laptop computer, or on a Blackberry, ebook reader, etc. To read an ebook on your computer or mobile device, you need to download free software such as Amazon's Kindle reader for PC (Windows computers).

There are a number of ebook formats; some offer DRM (Digital Rights Management) which means the ebook can be read on only one PC or device. I have chosen the Mobipocket and Kindle formats because the readers are easy to download and use.

Getting the Survival+ ebook only takes a few minutes.

1. Download the free Mobipocket reader for desktop PCs, laptops and mobile devices (Windows, Apple or Linux OS)
2. Buy the Survival+ ebook on the Mobipocket website and check out; you will be prompted to set up an account for payment.
3. You will be assigned a PIN number for your reader (this identifies your PC or device).
4. Open the Mobi reader and select Survival+. You can adjust font size, etc.

Or download the free Kindle reader for PCs and get the Kindle version of Survival+.

iPod and iPhone owners: Read Survival+ on your iPod or iPhone by downloading the Kindle app and then buying the book from the Kindle store. Here's how.

A note on price and value. I view this book (and all books) as an exchange of value: the author offers ideas, concepts, resources or entertainment in exchange for a sum of money (or if we were neighbors, a homemade pie, fresh vegetables, an hour repairing my bicycle, etc.)

Since ideas are best exchanged in advance of crisis rather than after the fact, I have made the heart of the Survival+ critique available for free.

Since I am self-supporting and do not draw a paycheck from any investment firm, university, think tank, government agency or corporation, the few dollars I earn from your exchanging a modest sum of money for the complete book are important, especially considering that books not promoted by large publishers are fortunate to sell a few hundred copies. If sales of this book are typical, my compensation for the year it took to write the book will be modest indeed.

If you find the freely offered content of value and want to read the "solutions" part (Section Two), then the exchange value of the print book ($19.95) is approximately one meal for a family at a fast-food restaurant or two tickets to a first-run movie. The price of the ebook (downloadable) versions is $11.95 or about one standard takeout pizza.

It is a peculiarity of our culture that people think nothing of spending $20 for two tickets to a 90-minute movie or on a restaurant lunch for two, yet a $20 book is "too expensive." Is $20 for a book which might change your understanding of society, economy and prosperity really "too expensive"?

It can be argued that people want to be entertained; this is understandable. While Survival+ may or may not be entertaining, it is engaging. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Since launching my blog oftwominds.com in May 2005, nothing seemed more important than warning readers that the unsustainably leveraged credit-mad global financial system was poised to break down. Once the system finally crashed in late 2008, my goal switched to writing a practical guide for not just surviving the coming Great Transformation but prospering: a concept I called Survival+ (Plus). This requires liberating ourselves from failed models of credit expansion, resource depletion, financial looting and a counterfeit prosperity built entirely on debt.

I immediately ran into several great difficulties. Many others had foreseen the same calamity, and their focus narrowed on individual survival: relocating to a remote/sustainable spot and preparing for societal collapse by stockpiling self-defense and food.

While prudent and practical on a short-term timeline, this response struck me as ncomplete on several levels. Most importantly, stockpiling six months' supplies would not sustain anyone through a 20-year Crisis and Transformation; their own Crisis was simply being delayed a relatively short time. In other words: "what happens in month seven"?

Secondly, many "survivalist" proponents focus on individual preparation, as if a single person or household can prosper without a stable, caring community for reciprocal support. This notion ran counter not just to my own experience but to all of human history. While I understood the desire to "opt out" and become an Isolationist--a solution to general turmoil which has roots going back to the dissolution of the Roman Empire and the Warring States era in ancient China--I felt a more practical, longer-term option to Isolationism should also be presented.

If you cannot afford to buy the complete book, email me the contact information of your local library; perhaps they will buy one or accept a donated copy from me.

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