The Survival Encyclopedia

Arthur: "All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's something big and sinister going on in the world."
Slartibartfast: "No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe gets that."
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

On the web site Mt Athos, there is an article called the The Survival Encyclopedia. In it the author suggests that everyone create their own survival guide tailored to their needs. You should store it on paper in a ring binder. If you keep it on a CD you will need electrical power to read it. Do NOT rely on the Internet and the web to be available during an emergency.
Here is the list of recommended topics:
Food Storage:

• Canning
• Freezing
• Drying
• Pickling
• Brining
• Smoking
• Long Term Storage
• Buckets
• Nutritional Information
• Food Storage Recipes

Foraging:

• Hunting
• Fishing
• Trapping & Snaring
• Wild Foods

Water

• Chlorine Bleach Purification
• Using Pool Shock
• Primitive Filtering Methods
• Boiling
• Slow Sand Filter
• Rain Water Harvesting
• Storage

Shelter:

• Wilds Camp
• Retreat
• Expedient Shelters

Energy:

• Building A Battery Bank for 12/24/48 Volt power
• Home Made Wind Generator
• Battery Maintenance Information
• Small Scale Photovoltaic System

Health:

• Where There Is No Doctor
• Where There Is No Dentist
• Ships Captains Medical Guide and reader
• Sanitation

Heating, Cooling & Light:

• Building A Rocket Stove
• Emergency Refrigeration
• Kerosene Lamp Info (burn rates, etc…)
• Natural Air Conditioning
• Wood Burning Basics
• LED Lighting

Disaster Preparedness: (List natural disasters common to your area)

• Wild Fire
• Flooding
• Snowstorms
• Windstorms
• Financial Preparations and Documents
• First Aid
• Pandemic Planning
• NBC Planning

Survival Skills:

• Fire Building
• Deadfalls and Snares
• Direction Finding
• Knot Tying
• Hide Tanning

Gear:

• Firearms Care and Repair
• Reloading Information
• Axe Sharpening
• Knife Sharpening
• Tool Sharpening

Homesteading:

• Goats and Sheep
• Pigs
• Rabbits
• Chickens, Ducks and Geese

Gardening:

• French/Bio-Intensive
• Gardening
• Square Foot Gardening
• Companion Planting
• Organic Pesticides
• Cold Frames
• Greenhouses
• Container Planting
• Seed Saving
• Aquaculture
• Vermiculture
• Permaculture
• Composting

Building Materials and Methods:

• Cordwood
• Log
• Cob
• Sod
• Straw Bale
• Traditional
• Post and Timber
• Earthship
• Home Forge
• Home Foundry
• Homemade Charcoal
• Fuel Storage & Preservation
• Bio-Diesel Production
• Alcohol Distillation

Bottom Line

I consider myself an urban survivalist and am not prepared to build and live in a little house on the prairie. If you can learn to build a sod house, raise chickens, etc - more power to you. But realistically, for most of us these are lost skills.

Learn what is useful to you. What can you cook without power in the home? (Wood, charcoal, camp stoves with fuel). How will you keep warm? (coats, blankets, fire, Hyperthermia). How will you protect your house? Where will you find clean water? (Storing Water, Water Filtration )